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By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Correspondent
As the school year winds down, most middle school students are thinking about their two and a half months away from homework and tests. But before Dover Sherborn Middle School’s sixth graders could feel the relief of summer vacation around the corner, they were tasked with one final project: to create their own civilizations.
Students invented unique civilizations in groups of three to four based on the acronym they learned about in social studies this year. The acronym, PERSIA GEMS, stands for politicians and government, education, religion, social classes, ideas, inventions, and innovations, arts and architecture, geography, economy, and military, and helped the students to brainstorm and sketch ideas for their civilization.
DSMS’s STEAM (social studies, technology, engineering, art, and music) teachers also worked with the sixth graders on the project as the groups created their civilization’s flag, national anthem, a 3D printed artifact, and a Google Slides presentation. The groups worked diligently, as they only had about two class periods for each component. Sixth grader Maggie Bruce recognized the importance of teamwork to successfully complete the civilization project: “We had to work fast, so we really had to work with each other to get everything done,” said Bruce.
After their art, music, engineering, and computer components were completed, the students had only a little bit of time to compile all of the information about their civilization onto a tri-fold display board to present to their peers, parents, teachers, and to the community on Thursday, June 15.
Members of the community were invited to see the sixth graders’ projects late Thursday morning and utilized the school’s iPads to scan QR codes on students’ display boards to view the Google Slides presentations, which included the recording of their civilization’s national anthem. Students set up their groups’ display boards in the DSMS lobby, library, and upstairs, where some groups also performed their civilization’s national anthem on guitar and electric keyboard.
The school’s visitors were also able to see the 3D printer on display in the lobby and see the 3D printed products that the students designed using computer-aided design (CAD) software in their engineering classes. “My favorite part [of the project] was designing our 3D house and seeing it come to life,” said sixth grader Ada Schwarz. Glued or pinned on to their display boards were the civilization’s flag, sheet music of their anthem, and other artwork. Some groups even included menus with popular eats and drawings of common outfits worn by the people in their civilization.
This year’s Dover Sherborn Middle School sixth graders were the first at DSMS to take on such a project. The students proved their creativity and inventiveness as their civilizations came to life on their display boards and successfully incorporated the knowledge and skills that they gained throughout the school year.
With a solid foundation now set in place for the sixth grade end-of-ear civilization project, the community will be looking forward to more imaginative and fresh ideas from next year’s students.
