General description of the assignment

• Small groups (two or three students each) collaborate on researching important aspects of selected sites we will be visiting as a class, and present their results to the whole class in 15-20 minutes on-site during class meetings.
• Each presentation must describe, at least briefly:
  • When, how, and why the site was constructed (to the extent modern research can recover this information).
  • What the Romans did there (to the extent modern research can recover this information). This aspect of the presentation may, if you wish, include live reenactments: for example, passages from a Roman political speech read stirringly out from the Rostra, a scene from a Roman play enacted at the Theatre of Marcellus, Roman emperors' home life relived on the Palatine, [fake, non-fatal!] gladiatorial battles fought at the Colosseum, exercise and massage demonstrated at the Baths of Caracalla. The research group may recruit additional reenactors from the class, but the members of the group remain responsible for the design of the presentation and the research that informs it.
• Within one week following the presentation, each member of the research group must submit to the instructor a 3-5 page report of the project (typed, double-spaced), comprising:
  • What you learned from your research about the construction and use of the site (3-4 pages). This part of the report will normally approximate the presentation, but each student should write up her or his own report, discussing in detail the contribution of his or her own research.
  • A brief description of how the collaboration worked (1/2 - 1 page).

Personnel management

• Each student must participate as a researcher in two (2) different projects during the course of the term.
• A complete sign-up list will be made available in class early in the semester.
• Students may sign up in pre-formed groups for their researched projects. Or students may sign up individually and form new relationships from collaborating together.
• Students may keep or may change their groups for the two projects.

Assessment

• Each member of a research group will be graded individually on the quality of the research demonstrated in the presentation and in the written report, and on how effectively the presentation as a whole conveys accurate information about the ancient site to the whole class. Uncontrollable impediments to clear and informative presentatations (such as the roar of Roman traffic) will not be overemphasized, but do try to plan around the conditions you will face so they will not turn into impediments.
• Individual grades on the two presentations in which each student participates as a member of the research group will be averaged together to form the student's Researched Project component of her or his overall course grade.

Revised 29 July 1999 by jlong1@orion.it.luc.edu (e-mail address at Rome TBA)
http://www.luc.edu/depts/classics/