AB ONLY - Capstone Project: Select Topic and Provide Reasons

Capstone Project: Select Topic and Provide Reasons

A Capstone Project is an Inquiry-Based Student Interest, multi-step Project-Based Learning, or Real-World Solution Project. This course will have one Capstone project, with several checkpoints. Pay close attention throughout the course for each checkpoint.

Capstone Project Concept Review

This capstone is designed so that you can more deeply explore one particular cultural topic. Throughout the Latin I course, we will be learning about certain cultural aspects of Rome. For this project, you are going to pick one of these topics to focus your attention on and learn more about. Ultimately, the goal will be to compare the Roman cultural practice to modern cultural practices, so keep in mind that you will need to connect these topics to modern ones.

Below is a list of the broad topics covered in our lessons. Take a bit of time to do a quick search on a few of these topics and see if one of them stands out.

• Geography of the Roman Empire/Republic/Post-Empire
• Natural Disasters in the Ancient World
• Roman Clothing
• Roman Food and Dining Practices
• Roman Mythology – Gods and Goddesses
• Roman Buildings/Houses (architecture)
• Roman Families
• Roman Games – Gladiators/Racing, etc.
• Roman Roads/Transportation
• The City of Rome (civic planning)
• Water/Roman Aqueducts/Infrastructure (sewer and drainage systems, etc.)

Of course, this is not a complete list of Roman cultural artifacts - not even close! If there is topic which is not listed that interests you, please contact your instructor. The goal of this project is for you to research a topic that really interests you, so you will want to find something you really enjoy learning about.

Project Aim

Eventually, you will create a masterwork to showcase your topic.

For instance, you could create:

• a podcast
• a TED talk
• an essay with multimedia attachments
• a gallery
• something else extra creative

Submission

All of this is to show that you are going to work on this one topic quite a lot this semester, and you don't want to get tired of it too early. For now, you need to submit what topic you want to study and a paragraph explaining why. If you cannot write a paragraph about why you would like to study a particular topic, you might want to rethink your pick.

Additionally, after your paragraph, you need to list a few specific details about the topic you might like to investigate - these are broad topics, so you will eventually be narrowing them down to a more specific focus. These aren't going to be "set in stone" yet but it might encourage you to do some additional research or ask your teacher extra questions.

Finally, set up a bibliography. You will need to add any sources you encounter to your bibliography, though you do not need to use any specific format (if you'd like to practice proper formatting, you can use MLA - but it won't be required). As you research, remember to continually add your sources, so you don't lose track of where you found your information.

To review:

• Create a Word document
  • Name your cultural topic
  • Write a paragraph explaining why you are interested in this topic
  • Include a few specific areas of your topic that you might want to investigate more deeply
  • Include a bibliography page with your initial sources

Submit the Word document

• Submission should be either .docx or .pdf
• Do not submit a weblink. Do not submit any other format.