Introduction
 

Congratulations!  You have been selected by Francisco Pizarro to conduct research on the ancient Incas of Peru.  It is the job of your group to research four different areas about the Incas that the Spanish would have used as valuable information to aid them in conquering the Incas.

In the year 1438 the Inca empire was created and it was very successful until the downfall in 1532.  Throughout this short period of time the civilization conquered many surrounding tribes and made advances in several other areas.  In the area of science and technology the Incas developed their own calendar and counting system.  They developed their own system of government and societal hierarchy.  The Incas built the Machu Picchu site without the use of sophisticated tools we use today.

This will be a tough job, but it is an honor that you have been chosen to help Francisco Pizarro and the Spanish investigate the Incas.  It is your job to conduct research on the Incas and use that information to create board game about how the Spanish eventually conquered them.
 

Francisco Pizarro and the Spanish conquistadors had to travel a great distance to take over the Inca empire.  However, that was not all that they needed to take over such a powerful group of people.  They needed to gain extensive knowledge about the people and their customs if they wanted to successfully defeat the Incas.  It was necessary to know their strengths and weaknesses so that they knew where to attack.
By the end of this experience you will learn more about why the Incas were so successful, but also how they were eventually defeated by the Spanish.  It is your job to become an expert in these areas and report your information to Francisco Pizarro.  You will:

• investigate the Incas, including their ideas and customs, culture, strengths, and weaknesses.
• create a journal of the information that you collect about the Incas and their defeat to send to Francisco Pizarro.
• create a board game with your partners that uses your information about the Incas and gives a visual representation of the journey the Spanish took to reach the Incas.

Congratulations!  You are about to start an incredible journey into the lives of the Incas.  Before you start your teacher will divide your class into groups of four.  It is very important that you work well with your group members because they are your fellow explorers and you must report to Pizarro together.

This is going to be a long, hard journey for you and you should not go out there without any background information.  Listed below are some things to consider when you embark on your journey back to the time of the Incas.
 

• Before you begin you will need to know some additional information about the man you will be working for on this investigation.  Discover more about Francisco Pizarro and his intentions for the Incas.
• It is important that you gain some information about the people you will investigate so that you know what to look for.  Learn more about the Incas and their characteristics.

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We are so glad that you are going to help investigate and record information on the Incas.  Now that you are familiar with who you are working for and also who you are looking for, you are ready to start on your journey.  Each person in your group is considered an expert in an area of the Incas and will be required to gather as much useful information in that area as possible.  You will be assigned to one of the following areas of expertise:
 

• government
• history and rulers
• agriculture and economy
• science and technology

Government and Religion
It is your responsibility to investigate how the government of the Incas is run and structured.  Think about how the government structure led this civilization to be taken over.

Web sites:

• You need to know how the empire expanded and the structure of the government.
• How did the Incas communicate through their different sources of power?
• Understand that government and religion were inseparable.
• The military of the Inca played an important role in their success.

• You should be well informed on the rulers and their wives.
• The history of the Incas is very short but contains a lot of valuable information.
• Get more information on the different rulers.  Go to The Incas page on this site.

• Research the importance of agriculture on the economy of the Incas.
• How important was their economy in their eventual downfall?
• The Incas used a tax system to keep their economy healthy.

• The importance of geometric advances in the creation of Machu Picchu.
• The Incas used their scientific knowledge to create additional agricultural resources.
• They developed their own calendar with their knowledge of science and math.

Counting was difficult without a writing system until they developed their own system.

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Sequence of Events

1.  Your teacher will assign you to a group and specify your role in the group.
2.  Look above and search the web sites that correspond to your area of expertise.
3.  Write down information in your travel journal that you learn from the web sites.
4.  Collaborate with the other members of your group about what each of you learn.
5.  Create a board game of the route that Pizarro and the conquistadors would take to get to the Incas.

Materials-
   -game board size piece of paper or poster board
   -scissors
   -index cards
   -glue/tape
   -gathered information about Incas
   -markers
   -materials to make game pieces
   -1 die
   -construction paper
   -anything else that you want to add to your game to make it unique
 
 

• The four people in your group will create one board that creates a map of the route the Spanish took to get to the Incas.
• Each square will be one of four colors, representing each of the four areas of expertise.  Alternate colors on the route from Spain to Peru.  For example, if your colors are red, yellow, blue, and green, your pattern should look like this: red, yellow, blue, green, red, yellow, blue, green, red, yellow...
• You will also make four rectangles on the board for the four areas of investigation and label them correctly.
• Each person in your group will make 8-12 questions about their topic and write them on index cards.  The answer should be written upside down and small on the same side of the card.  Someone else will read the question to the person whose turn it is.  Place the cards in their respective spots on the board.  Here is an example of a question for History and Rulers:  Who was the first Inca ruler?  Ans: Manco Capac
• Each player needs a distinct game piece that they can move along the board.  You may create these out of any materials that you desire and are available.
• Decide your rules and write them down on a piece of paper (including the number of players and the age requirements).
• *These are the specific items that you need.  The rest is up to your group to decide.  Be creative.
• When all the games are completed, switch with other groups in your class and play the games.

Students will be evaluated on their individual and group work on their travel journals and games.
There is a possibility of 16 group points and 12 individual points for a total of 28 points.

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Journal Organization	No order to the information collected; sloppy handwriting	Minimal order to the information gathered; handwriting is sloppy	Some order to the information gathered; handwriting is legible	Information is organized with headings; handwriting is neat
Amount of Information Gathered	One or two pieces of information for the area of expertise; does not cover all the areas for the topic	Three to five pieces of information in area of expertise; covers almost all of the areas under the topic	Five to eight pieces of information for the area of expertise; covers all of the suggested areas for the topic	Nine or more pieces of information in the area of expertise; covers all the suggested topics and beyond
Quality of Information Gathered	Information has little to do with the area of expertise and the suggested topics.	Information is related to the area of expertise but does not cover the suggested topics	Information is related to the area of expertise; covers the suggested topics for that area	Information is obviously related to area of expertise demonstrated by labels and subsections for the suggested topics
Game Questions from Journals	Less than eight questions and material is not related to what was supposed to be collected	Less than ten questions and material is sometimes related to collected material	Less than twelve questions; material is related to what was supposed to be collected	More than twelve questions and all material collected is used in questions
Accuracy and Physical Appearance of the Game	Route does not display that taken by the Spanish and overall display is messy	Route is close to that actually taken by the Spanish; average overall display	Route is the same as actual taken by the Spanish; neat display of board	Route is drawn exactly as the Spanish took;  added in more on the board than was expected
Group Cooperation	No cooperation between group members; work not evenly distributed	Minimal cooperation between group members; work not evenly distributed	Group members worked together and completed all tasks; work evenly distributed	Group worked very well together and collaborated on construction of the game; even distribution of work
Creativity	Lack of creativity in the assignment	Some creativity in game board creation	Creativity in creation of game board	Went above and beyond the requirements and used original ideas

Congratulations!  You successfully investigated the characteristics of the Incas and aided Francisco Pizarro in conquering them.  Your game should show the physical path an the important information to defeat the Incas. 
How do you think Pizarro collected his information before he conquered the Incas?  What changes would you make in the Inca civilization so that they could prevent their downfall now that you have all of your information?

Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com

Any information listed on the page is credited to:

Crisp, P. (1994). The Incas. New York: Thomas Learning.

Thank you to Shelley Sherman, Rachel Ragland, and Debra Schabes for their instruction on WebQuest design.