Students at South Callaway Middle School learned to walk, build tombs and make mummies like Egyptians this week.
According to teacher Michael Nichols, students were divided into groups and given topics related to ancient Egypt.
"Their goal was to become an expert on their topic," Nichols said.
On Tuesday, they presented the fruits of their studies. Some of the facts they found were new to students and Nichols.
"That was the neat part," he said.
Students built props and wrote one-page essays to go with their presentations.
Children embraced their topics enthusiastically. Eli Benningfield spent four hours building his model of the Valley of Kings. He took home a practical lesson.
"I learned maybe next time, don't build something so big," he said.
Members of the architecture group were eager to share what they'd learned about Egyptian building materials.
"They made their houses out of mud bricks," Noah Kinney said.
Landon Adams explained Egyptians used a square cutting tool to shape the mud mixture just so, then dried the bricks in the sun.
Cole Brewer focused on the pyramids, which he said were made largely of sandstone blocks, pushed into place using ramps. Aliens had nothing to do with it, he concluded.
"This is probably one of my favorite school projects so far," Adams said.
Some students including Jayce Ellerman enjoyed the more gruesome aspects of Egyptian life. He talked about the mummification process, which involved pulling the future mummy's brains out through the nose.
Others jumped into the complexity of Egyptian culture. Aaron McDonald and Aidan Cheney learned about the Egyptians' many gods and goddesses, some of whom were ranked higher than others.
"Anubis is my favorite," McDonald said. "He has the head of a jackal and guards the pharaohs' tombs."
In addition to learning about ancient Egypt, Nichols said the project taught the sixth-graders how to find good sources, conduct research and organize information into essays.