This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the Aztec Empire through the study of its capital city. Students will learn about the geographic characteristics of Tenochtitlan, the cultural siginificance of artifacts excavated from the Templo Mayor (Great Temple), the economic factors involved in sustaining the Aztec Empire, and ultimately the reasons for the empire's demise.

This inquiry provides students with an opportunity to evaluate a series of innovations by three complex civilizations - Maya, Aztec, and Inca. Students explore how complex societies and civilizations adapt to and modify their environment to meet the needs of their people.

In this project, students select a modern trend and follow it through various media outlets. By choosing articles, analyzing them, and writing about them, students begin to see how their respective trend influences the modern world. In the second half, students go back through history and research the same trend in the past. After compiling historical data on the trend, students combine the modern and the historical into a research paper that expresses their new understanding of the world.