The Create Your Own Culture Hands-On Learning Project

The Create Your Own Culture Project will give students hands-on practice working with concepts that are sometimes difficult to understand.

What is a culture? What are culture traits? These are questions that students may struggle to define. If they are given the opportunity to create their own culture full of vibrant culture traits, I believe these concepts will be easier to master.

Throughout this project, students are challenged to create unique characteristics and explain them thoroughly.

There are other parts in which students must draw their creations. If used in its entirety, this can be a very powerful and engaging assignment!

Of course, depending on your instructional goals and how much time you have available to you will also determine how much of the packet you may wish to use.

Nothing in the packet is numbered – and for good reason! – so that you can mix-and-match handouts to meet specific goals. A complete project will give students the most immersive experience, but a handful of pages will also prove beneficial.

A word of advice before you start: this assignment works best when students are required to take it seriously. They are asked to justify their answers in the assignment to cut down on “nonsense answers.”

What about an extension idea?

Consider displaying all of these projects displayed with colorful images and bold lettering on a poster board or bulletin board display.

You might even host a multicultural fair in your classroom in which students present and explain the cultures they have created. What fun!

If you should try this, would you please email me a photo or two of the finished work? I love seeing examples of how the assignments I write are used in the classroom.