Grade/Course



Grade: 6

Unit: Egypt – Mummification Experiment Day 25-30 – Pacing Guide 5/2003

VSC Standards: Social Studies Skills 6.D.2.a-c: Engage in field work that relates to the problem being studies, gather data, make and record observations, SSS 6.2.c & e: Organize information from non print sources – find relationship between gathered information & summarize information obtained from field work, Peoples of the Nations and World 2.B.2.b: Examine the practices and beliefs of world religions.

Technology Connections: ancientegypt.co.uk/





Concept: How the artifacts of a religion tell us about the culture.

Text/Instructional Materials: A Message of Ancient Days, “Great Map Mysteries”, Scholastic, Inc., resource books on mummification, weighing scales, oranges, baking soda, coffee filters

Student Outcome: Students will be able to understand the significance of the mummification process and compare the concept of religion of the Mesopotamians, Egyptians and the Christian religion in the U.S. today.

|Purpose |Activity |Time |

|Anticipatory Set |Students will solve “The Case of the Missing Mummy” in the book, Great Map |5 min. |

|Introduce concept of mummification |Mysteries, by Susan Julio, Scholastic, 1997. | |

|Introduce new concept(s), content or skills |Teacher discusses how religious beliefs of an afterlife have changed throughout |25 min. |

|Lecture |time. We know that ancient cultures believed in an afterlife because of the | |

|Reading |artifacts that were buried with the corpse. | |

| |In ancient Egypt, the belief system about the afterlife directly influenced how you | |

| |lived your life while you were alive. Remind students of the Creation Myth we read | |

| |in a previous class and our analysis. | |

| |3. Discuss the mummification process, using pictures from “mummy” books as | |

| |resources. | |

|Guided and or/independent practice with teacher |Students will participate in a group experiment where they will mummify orange |20 min. |

|feedback |slices. Students will make a prediction about the natron (baking soda) and either | |

| |prove or disprove their hypothesis in a four-day experiment. (See attached | |

| |directions) | |

| |One orange slice will be packed in natron (baking soda) and stored in a baggie; one | |

| |orange slice will be packed with a moist paper towel and placed in a baggie and one | |

| |left alone in the baggie. | |

| |Students will weigh and check for smell and appearance over a four-day period. They| |

| |will prove or disprove their hypothesis of the role that natron (baking soda) played| |

| |in the mummification process. | |

|Making Connections |Students will make the connection between the use of natron in ancient mummification|5 min. |

|Application |rituals with the evidence on the orange chart of the orange slice packed with baking| |

|Transfer |soda. Make sure students understand that the whole key to mummification was that | |

| |the ba and ka needed to recognize the dead person so the body had to be preserved | |

| |(mummified) so it was still recognizable after death. Compare a mummified person | |

| |with the condition of the “mummified” orange on the fourth day as opposed to the | |

| |other orange slices. | |

|Assessment of Proficiency |On the overhead, in a three-way Venn diagram, compare the philosophy of the |20 min. |

|Re-teaching as necessary |afterlife in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the United States Christian religion. | |

| |BCR: Using the Venn diagram, compare and contrast the role of life after death in | |

| |the religious philosophies of the Mesopotamians, Egyptians and Christians in the | |

| |United States. | |

|Closure |Share the BCR’s and predict what might be the religious/philosophic beliefs of some |10 min. |

|Relevance to outcome |future civilizations we will study (India – Buddhism, Hinduism, China – Buddhism, | |

|Relevance to past and future learning |Taoism, Confucianism), Greece and Rome will be. | |

Kate de Barros/Magothy River Middle School/ Revised 6/2005

Mummify an Orange Slice

Purpose: Create a hypothesis to explain why the Egyptians used natron on their mummies.

Using baking soda as a “natron” agent, conduct an experiment designed to show that the ancient Egyptians used natron to dry out and preserve the mummies.

Teacher supplies: plastic baggies, coffee filters, paper towels, baking soda, masking tape, a tablespoon, oranges, sharp knife, scale to weigh orange slices.

Procedure:

1. Assign students to groups of four. Assign roles for each student in the group: leader - read & follow directions, recorder, materials person – get & set out ingredients, producer – carry out the tasks.

2. Teacher directed pre-discussion as to where natron came from (resource from the Nile River banks), the value of it (drying agent), and what was the desirable goal of mummification (preserve body so ba & ka could recognize it in the afterlife.) Discuss the use of baking soda as a readily available substitute for natron and what it might do (dry out) and a wet paper towel (moisture produces decay.)

3. Teacher sets out supplies: baking soda, 3 orange slices per group, two coffee filters per group, masking tape, wet paper towel per group.

The recorder from each group makes a chart for the group with the following information:

|Day |Orange Slice # 1 - plain |Orange Slice # 2 – wet paper towel |Orange Slice # 3 – baking soda |

|1 | | | |

|2 | | | |

|3 | | | |

|4 | | | |

|Conclusions: |

| |

| |

| |

| |

4. On the overhead, teacher has written down initial procedure to set up the experiment and days 2-4 follow-up procedures.

1. Materials person gets supplies (3 baggies labeled with masking tape – Orange # 1, #2 and #3 and with initials of the group), two coffee filter packets made with two tablespoons of baking soda folded over and taped with masking tape, three slices of oranges and a scale.

5. Students weigh and record all three orange slices by themselves on the chart. Then they put slices in the baggies (Baggie # 1 – orange slice with baking soda packets on either side, Baggie # 2 – Orange slice with paper towel, and Baggie # 3 – plain orange.

6. On Day 2, remove orange slices from each baggie and weigh, smell and note appearance of each slice. Record on chart. Re-bag orange slices. Continue for the next two days. Remember to wash hands after touching the orange slices.

7. Repeat steps 5 & 6 on the next two days. Record changes in weight, smell and appearance on the chart.

8. Write a paragraph summarizing the results of your experiment. Remember to reference your hypothesis. Mention which orange lost the most weight and had a change in appearance and smell and your reason why. What can you conclude about baking soda, a wet paper towel and the orange which was left plain? How do you think this might apply to the using of natron (baking soda) to preserve human bodies? Compare this experiment to what we learned about mummification in ancient Egypt.

Kate de Barros/Magothy River Middle School/2005

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