NOVA scienceNOW: Maya
Locate and research Mayan cities. Help students learn where Mexico
and Central America are located. Have them find these areas on a world map.
Tell them that the ancient Mayan population numbered in the millions. To help students better understand how widespread Mayan
culture and civilization was, assign groups of students an ancient city (you
might choose Tikal, Copán, Mérída, Bonampaque, and
Palenque) to research on the Internet. Have each group discover in what
present-day country their city is located, and in what areas any ruins can be
found. (The cities are located in the following countries: Tikal, Guatemala;
Copán, Honduras; Mérída, Mexico; Bonampaque, Mexico; and
Palenque, Mexico.) Students might also want to note other pertinent
information, such as details about the people and their lives. After students
complete their research, have them draw a map of the country, mark their city's
location on the map, and label and draw any ruins they discovered in their
research. If they like, students can also include notes, art, or photos of some
of the other details that they learned about the Mayans. Student groups can
present their maps to the class.
Make a time line of Mayan civilization. Ask students why it is
important to understand what life was like hundreds or thousands of years ago.
Why is it important to investigate past cultures? (We can often learn about
our own culture by studying past cultures.) Have the class make a time line
of Mayan civilization. Possible time periods: all of B.C., A.D. 100-900, A.D.
901-1541. Have students write and draw information on index cards or stock
paper. They should include skills and technologies that were developed (e.g.,
farming around B.C. 2000, writing around B.C. 700, solar calendar around B.C.
400), the approximate beginning and end of cities (e.g., Teotihuacan: B.C.
200-A.D. 600, Tikal: B.C. 200-A.D. 900), the arrival of other groups (e.g., the
Spanish, in particular Hernandez de Cordoba), the appearance of new diseases,
and conflicts that arose (e.g., the Spanish conquered the Maya around A.D.
1540). When the class is finished, have groups order their cards
chronologically and clip them, using clothespins or paper clips, to a string or
rope strung across a wall or the board in the classroom. Have groups present
their time line section.
Create a display of Mayan culture and technology. Divide the class
into groups, and have students use the Mayan time line as a starting point for
cultural information. Provide art supplies to each group and ask one group to
make a clay or cardboard Mayan pyramid, one group to make a chart showing and
explaining a Mayan calendar (Mayans understood that the year was slightly
longer than 365 days), one group to demonstrate the Mayan writing system by
making a sample page from a book, and one group to illustrate and explain a
Mayan myth. Display student work.
Consider the positives and negatives of technological developments.
The segment concludes by suggesting that Mayan civilization and technology may
have contributed to a serious drought that resulted in the fall of some Mayan
cities. Technological inventions and developments often have "good news, bad
news" aspects to them. Brainstorm how this may have been the case for some
Mayan cities such as Tikal, and then extend the discussion to consider
20th- and 21st-century technological developments. (A
highly developed irrigation system allows a culture to develop and thrive, but
it can deplete water resources and may result in land and water pollution via
hazardous chemicals, such as pesticides; automobiles, trains, and planes allow
people to travel, but the exhaust from their engines pollutes the environment;
computers have abundant uses, including in medical devices that help people
live longer lives, but computers also contain hazardous waste material.)
Brainstorm and research actual spin-offs for NASA technologies.
Remote sensing is a technology that was used at least 150 years ago for
topographic map-making using images taken by cameras attached to balloons, and
later, it was used by the military to obtain aerial views of large ground
areas. Remote sensing technology has been included in satellites and adapted by
NASA for many uses such as observing Earth's weather patterns and locating
natural resources. Because satellite remote sensing can detect infrared
radiation and reveal hidden land details on computer-generated maps, scientists
in the program segment used it to locate Mayan ruins. Have students brainstorm
familiar materials or technologies that were designed for a specific purpose
and that later proved useful for everyday life. Students may choose to look at
technologies developed by NASA. (Some materials include Teflon, Tang,
freeze-dried ice cream, and memory foam [which is now used for pillows and
mattresses but was developed to pad the seats on spacecrafts.]) Have
student teams visit Covering the Cutting Edge: 25 Years of NASA Tech Briefs
(www.nasatech.com/Features/timeline/timeline.html) or NASA Spinoffs Extend
Life on Earth (www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/technologies/human_spaceflight.html),
and choose two technologies to research and present to the class.
Experiment to find out how fertilizers affect plant growth. In the
program segment, scientists used remote-sensing satellites to locate areas
where Mayan structures seeped limestone into the soil and changed the
vegetation. These areas show up as lighter in the computer-generated maps.
Consider with students how excess limestone or other minerals in the soil might
change the vegetation of a region. Divide the class into groups. Have each
group grow grass or beans. (Note: Choose only one type of plant for the class
to grow.) Ask groups to set up a control and a test plant, and have groups
observe and keep a record of the effect of fertilizers enriched with specific
(and different for each group) minerals. Fertilizers you might use include
powdered lime dissolved in water (see package instructions), ashes from the
fireplace, ammonium nitrate fertilizer, or calcium carbonate from the school's
laboratory. You might choose to have two groups test each fertilizer to see if
they get different results. Have students share their findings.
Offers Mayan-related resources, streamed video, reports by experts, and an
activity that allows one to explore a 2,000 year old Mayan mural.
Collapse: Why Do Civilizations Fall? The Maya
Discusses Mayan territory and the collapse of Copán, a Mayan site
located in western Honduras.
Making Sense of the Mayan Collapse
Describes scientists' work using remote sensing to identify the location of
Mayan ruins in the Guatemalan jungle.
Maya Civilization Time Line
Presents a time line with links to highlighted time line features.
Daily Life in Maya Civilization
by Robert J. Sharer. Greenwood Press, 1996.
Presents a study of Mayan culture and includes the way in which
archeologists study Mayan sites and reconstruct what Mayan societies were
Eyewitness: Aztec, Inca and Maya
by Elizabeth Baquedano. Dorling Kindersley, 2001.
Introduces students to three different civilizations of the Americas,
including the Mayan civilization.
by James Putnam, Peter Hayman, and Geoff Brightling. Dorling Kindersley,
Includes photographs and descriptions of pyramids in Mexico and Central