Mankind: The Story of All of Us - Episode 1: Inventors

This worksheet accompanies "Inventors," the first episode of the History Channel series Mankind: The Story of All of Us. Twenty-three fill-in-the-blank questions follow the episode in order as it traces humanity's earliest turning points -- the control of fire, the move from hunting and gathering to farming, the first cities and writing systems, and the early technologies that made civilization possible. Students write as they watch, which keeps them engaged through a fast-moving episode and leaves them with organized notes for review. The worksheet fits world history survey courses, the opening unit on early civilizations, and homeschool history studies, and it works equally well as a planned-absence assignment. A complete answer key is included, so a substitute can run it without background knowledge. The design is clean and low-ink for two-sided printing. Use it for a full period, as a guided viewing aid, or as end-of-unit review of how human societies first developed.