PRESENTATION TOPICS FOR

SECOND HALF OF SEMESTER

20 minutes maximum (that means not more than 6-7 slides; no “death by
PowerPoint” please)
Provide and illustrate three (3) main points; must be easy for your colleagues to
remember; use visuals, multimedia; make it entertaining; where appropriate,
provide comparisons with other periods/personalities/topics we have covered this
semester

HISTORY IN SCHOOLS SHOULD NOT BE ABOUT MEMORIZING

FACTS, BUT ABOUT
HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION
AND INQUIRY SKILLS

Those who give a presentation need not take the quiz in Week 12

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More than one student can deliver the presentation, as long as each of you gets to
speak.
You can sign up for more than one presentation.

Suggested topics:

TUE, 2 Feb:
TOPIC 1: Mesopotamia – Hammurabi Code; origin; function; purpose; effect on
society

THU, 4 Feb:
TOPIC 1: Egyptian civilization and its artifacts
TOPIC 2: Egyptian Museum in Cairo; mummies

TUE, 9 Feb:
TOPIC 1: Who was Confucius? What were his teachings?
TOPIC 2: Influence of Confucianism on today’s Asian societies – China, Japan

THU, 11 Feb:
TOPIC 1: “Chinese religion” in today’s Malaysia – a combination of Buddhist,
Taoist and Confucianist beliefs, philosophies and practices
TOPIC 2: Malaysian-Chinese culture: What are Chinese New Year celebrations
about?

TUE, 16 Feb:
TOPIC 1: Ancient Indian mathematics and other sciences
TOPIC 2: Ancient Indian writing, religion, art
THU, 18 Feb:
TOPIC 1: Malaysian-Indian culture: Thaipusam
TOPIC 2: Malaysian-Indian culture: Deepavali

TUE, 23 Feb:
TOPIC 1: Ancient Greco-Roman mathematics, physics, astronomy
TOPIC 2: Ancient Greco-Roman writing, art, architecture

THU, 25 Feb:
TOPIC 1: Roman philosophy, religion, government
TOPIC 2: Roman engineering and construction

TUE, 2 March:
TOPIC 1: Islamic civilization: trading networks and maritime expeditions

THU, 4 March:
TOPIC 1: Ibn Sina and his contributions
TOPIC 2: Arab mathematics and other sciences

TUE, 9 March:
TOPIC 1: European Protestantism: philosophy, work ethic, and influence on
capitalism
TOPIC 2: What is ‘Anglo-Saxon’ culture and civilization, and its influence on
today’s world?

THU, 11 March:
TOPIC 1: 19th-century British colonial empire – India, Malaya, Singapore
TOPIC 2: ‘Fin de siècle’: Western culture at the end of 19th / beginning of 20th
century

TUE, 16 March:
TOPIC 1: British systems and institutions that we still use in Malaysia today

THU, 18 March:
TOPIC 1: Francis Fukuyama: The End of History (you don’t need to read the book;
just present a brief overview and main ideas based on your online research)
TOPIC 2: Samuel P. Huntington: The Clash of Civilizations (you don’t need to read
the book; just present a brief overview and main ideas based on your online
research)