Ancient Greece – Lesson #7

Simulation - Democracy in Athens

Grade: 6/7

Subject: Social Studies

Time: 53 min

Resources & materials: Overhead of laws in ancient Athens; character cards; slips of paper for drawing names for the council; clay pots; stones; changing & creating laws worksheets

Objective & Purpose

Understand how the democratic process was used to pass laws and elect officials in ancient Athens

Intro/Hook

Put a list of laws on the overhead Ask the class if there are any laws that they would like to change Agree as a class (by taking a vote) on which law we will try to change

o Ask whether this decision making process was democratic Explain that today we are learning the process by which laws are changed in

ancient Athens Tell the students that are all residents of ancient Athens Give them a each a character card

o 10 men (green), 8 born in Athens, one born in Delphi, one born in Sparta

o 2 boys (purple)o 2 girls (yellow)o 1 criminal (pink)o 8 women (red)o 7 slaves (orange)

Learning Activity 1 – Changing Laws Simulation

Laws were voted on at big meetings called assemblies

Call up students with pink cardso Ask student to state what their card says (criminal)o Explain that criminals were not allowed to go to assembly and were

not a part of the democratic process Call up students with purple cards

o Explain that boys were not allowed to go to assembly and were not a part of the democratic process until they reached manhood

Call up students with yellow cardso Explain that girls were not allowed to go to assembly

Call up students with orange cardso Explain that slaves were not allowed to go to assembly

Call up students with red cardso Explain that women were not allowed to go to assembly

Call up students with green cardso Explain that men were allowed to voteo Men who were not born in Athens were not allowed to go to assemblyo Men whose a fathers were born outside of Athens were not allowed to

go to assembly Explain that the first step of changing /creating laws started with the council

o The council was made of 500 meno Names were drawn at randomo Consisted of both rich and poor meno Draw three student names from the men eligible to vote

A citizen would approach the council and tell them that they want to change or create a law

o Have a student act this out The council would then decide on a list of laws to discuss at the upcoming

assembly Before the assembly, women would persuade their husbands as to how they

should vote at the assemblyo Give women in the room a chance to persuade their husbandso Slaves and children can talk amongst themselves about how they

would vote if they were allowed to vote Assemblies were held every ten days Tell the class that we are going to have an assembly and that we need all

assembly members at the front of the room Find an assembly member who is dawdling or who does not come to the

fronto Tell them that a police officer would have whipped them with rope

dipped in red paint Council begins by having the oldest member speak

o Find out who the oldest is and ask them to voice their opinion about the law

Then let other assembly members speak

If anyone is speaking for a long time:o Other council members can boo themo They might even be dragged off by slaves

Assembly members voteo Have them drop stones into clay pots

Votes are tallied and the new or changed law is now upheld by the courts of law

Learning Activity 2 – Changing & Creating Laws Worksheet

Give worksheets to students Ask students to put the steps in order (work individually) Students find a partner on the other side of the room and compare their

orders of events Go over answers with the class

Closure – Free Write

Amount of time given will depend on how much time is left in class (can do this as an oral exit slip)

Pretend you are a man living in ancient Athens. Your name has just been drawn to be a member of the council. You will have to attend meetings about laws on a regular basis for the next year. This will consume a lot of your free time that could otherwise be spent practicing athletics, studying, or working. How do you feel about being on the council?