II. Incorporation of Multiple Intelligences into the Curriculum

Unit Plan: Exploration of the New World

South Carolina Social Studies Standard 4-1

The student will demonstrate an understanding of the exploration of the New World.

Sarah KeithAEDL A443

April 23, 2009sekeith@usca.eduCopyright 2009

This unit is designed in conjunction with Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences.

Each of the four lessons utilizes one or more of the categories of intelligences to instruct an

indicator from the South Carolina Social Studies Standard 4-1. The lesson plans adhere to

ADEPT guidelines and uphold USC-Aiken standards of quality and content.

On my honor as a University of South Carolina Aiken student, I have completed my work

according to the principle of Academic Integrity. I have neither given nor received any

unauthorized aid on this assignment.

Signature:

Unit Vocabulary monarch Renaissance compass compass rose latitude longitude scurvy sundial navigation expedition cartographer barter empire absolute location cash crop circumnavigate claim Columbian Exchange conquistador continent discovery disease Europe Exploration fall line Geographers Grant international trade Line of Demarcation Location Nation New World Old World relative location technology territory trade voyage

The unit includes student readers that utilize the suggested vocabulary by the South Carolina Social Studies Standards. Vocabulary will be written on content charts as it is introduced in the unit. Students will be encouraged to use vocabulary during class discussions. Students will also

master the learning targets more effectively through application or the vocabulary during formative and summative assessments.Lesson Title: Why Explore?

Intelligence Types Addressed:Visual/Spatial: creation of box compass, PowerPoint presentationLinguistic: using vocabulary to develop mastery of learning targets, comparison chartBody/Kinesthetic: creation of box compassInterpersonal: team brainstorm sessionIntrapersonal: engaging writing prompt requires student reflection

Student Preferences:Visual/Spatial: drawing, building, designing, creating, daydreaming, looking at picturesLinguistic: writing, reading, telling stories, talking, memorizing, word puzzlesBody/Kinesthetic: moving around, touching, body languageInterpersonal: talking to people, having friends, joining groups, working togetherIntrapersonal: working alone, reflecting, doing things at their own pace

Learning Methods:Visual/Spatial: working with pictures or colors, visualizing, using the mind’s eye, drawingLinguistic: hearing and seeing words, speaking, reading, writing, discussing, debatingBody/Kinesthetic: touching, moving, working with tools, processing, bodily sensationsInterpersonal: comparing, relating, sharing, interviewing, cooperatingIntrapersonal: working alone, having space, reflecting, doing self-paced projects

Grade Level: 5th

Duration: One hour

Subject: Social Studies

Standard: 4-1: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the exploration of the New World.

Indicator: 4-1.1: Explain the political, economic, and technological factors that led to the exploration of the New World by Spain, Portugal, and England, including the competition between nation-states, the expansion of international trade, and the technological advances in shipbuilding and navigation. (E, G, H, P)

ObjectiveTeams of students will create a chart that lists and compares the political, economic, and technological factors that motivated Europeans from Spain, Portugal, and England to explore the new world. Students will create a box compass.

MaterialsChart paperMarkers

Square boxes with sides no more than 2" high (bottom of a half-gallon milk carton will do) Cardboard circles small enough to lay flat in bottom of box 1 1/2" nails (with head)Large paper clips, straightened (students can straighten them)Compass rose (will be cut out of student sheet Create a Box Compass)Magnets Glue or tape

TechnologyTo extend the learned content, students will use the interactive Why Explorers Explored the World site from ThinkQuest.com

AuthenticityThe learning will be made relevant to the students through the engagement piece, wherein they will reflect on their own experiences to decide if they would have chosen to explore the new world.

Instructional Strategies Graphic organizer PowerPoint presentation Cooperative learning groups Whole class discussion Journal entry Proposed scenario Content charts Guided reading

Subject IntegrationThis lesson utilizes skills developed in the Creative Arts during the creation of the box compass. Science inquiry skills will be reinforced as the class discusses magnetic north during the creation of the box compass. Students will need to draw upon their English Language Arts skills when completing the extended written response and during the guided reading.

GroupingStudents will work in six teams to create a chart that illustrates the political, economic, and technological factors that motivated Europeans from Spain, Portugal, and England to explore the new world.

Focus / Critical Thinking QuestionsTo focus and engage the students, the teacher will pose several critical thinking questions to the students. The students will create an extended written response to a given writing prompt (see Procedure).

ProcedureThe teacher will engage the students by asking them to respond in their journals to the

writing prompt: “Pretend that a planet has been discovered that can sustain human life and is

very similar to Earth. Imagine that you have the chance to convince the President of the United States that you are capable of leading the first expedition to explore that planet. How would you convince the President that America has an interest in this planet? How would exploring this planet benefit our country? What would you hope to find there? How would you get there?”

Once students have had adequate time to finish, the teacher will facilitate a class discussion wherein students will volunteer some of their responses to the questions posed in the prompt. The teacher will tell the students that Europeans began to explore the new world for similar reasons. The teacher will then assist the students in guided reading of The Age of Exploration. The teacher will stop the reading periodically and ask a scaffold of questions to check for student comprehension. The teacher will also make note of each vocabulary word in the reading selection and ask students to define the word as it appears in the context. If the teacher has prepared a PowerPoint presentation, the reading can easily be enhanced through use of pictures and multimedia.

The teacher will split the class into six groups which will be assigned one of three factors (two groups for each factor) contributing to the decision to explore the new world: political, technological, and economic. The teacher will review what each factor entails. For example, economic factors deal with trade and the use of natural resources. Each group will use the text from The Age of Exploration to create a content chart listing the multiple reasons for exploration associated with their assigned factor. For example, the compass and astrolabe will fall under technological factors. Once the students have finished their charts, the teacher will post them at the front of the class. The teacher will facilitate multiple student volunteers to summarize the information contained in their group’s chart.

The teacher will then create a large chart on a new paper with the European nations (Portugal, Spain, and England) that gave the greatest contribution to initial exploration of the new world. Students will use the groups’ content charts to classify each country’s reasons for exploration.

The teacher will then explain that the compass was just one of the innovations that helped sailors navigate around the globe. The students will then create their own box compass at their desks. The teacher will model the construction for the students (see Create a Box Compass), pacing the steps carefully. The teacher will remind the students of the scientific principles behind magnetism and the compass.

The students will then complete the graphic organizer as an assessment.

AssessmentPre-Assessment: Student responses to the writing prompt during the engagement of the lesson will serve as a pre-assessment of how well the students comprehend the basic concepts of the targeted learning standard.

Formative Assessment: The teacher will stop the guided reading periodically and ask a scaffold of questions to check for student comprehension. The teacher will also make note of each vocabulary word in the reading selection and ask students to define the word as it appears in the context.

Summative Assessment: The students will complete the graphic organizer Why Explore?

Student PagesCreate a Box CompassWriting PromptThe Age of Exploration readerWhy Explore? graphic organizer

ResourcesSchraff, Barclay, Ed. (2008). The Mariner’s Museum. Accessed Online April 22, 2009 from http://www.mariner.org//educationalad/ageofex/activities.php

South Carolina Social Studies Standards Support Site. Accessed Online April 23, 2009 from http://ed.sc.gov/agency/Standards-and-Learning/Academic-Standards/old/cso/social_studies/sd2005/

Teaching American History in South Carolina Project. “Age of Exploration.” Retrieved online from http://www.teachingushistory.org/lessons/age_of_exploration.html

Create a Box Compass

Materials: • Square box with sides no more than 2" high (bottom of a half-gallon milk carton will do) • Cardboard circle small enough to lay flat in bottom of box • 1 1/2" nail with head • 1 large paper clip, straightened • Compass rose (at bottom of page)• Magnet • Glue or tape

Directions:• Pierce the center of the box bottom with the 1 1/2" nail from the bottom up into the box.• Take the straightened paper clip and compare to the diameter of your compass rose. If longer, trim it. • Rub the paper clip against a magnet for several minutes. • Glue or tape wire to the cardboard circle, slightly off center. • On same side, mark center of cardboard circle and pierce halfway through. Place cardboard circle on point of nail in box. Let circle settle. It will turn gently until one end of the needle points to north. • Create a compass rose either by printing the example or drawing your own. it should be the size of your cardboard circle.• Glue the compass rose to the cardboard circle with the fleur de lis placed where the needle end points to north.

Writing Prompt for Journal Entry

Pretend that a planet has been discovered that can sustain human life and is very similar to Earth. Imagine that you have the chance to convince the President of the United States that you are capable of leading the first expedition to explore that planet.

How would you convince the President that America has an interest in this planet?

How would exploring this planet benefit our country?

What would you hope to find there?

How would you get there?

Why Explore? Graphic Organizer

Choose one country from the three discussed in class (England, Portugal, and Spain). Complete the graphic organizer using bullet points to show the reasons that country decided to explore the New World. You may not have information for the Cultural box, but think about things that we

have discussed – religion, traditions, culture, etc.

The Age of ExplorationFrom the Teaching American History in South Carolina Project

Prior to the Age of Exploration, adventurous sailors occasionally recounted tales of beautiful and faraway lands, but the folk back home had very little knowledge of vast continents between Europe and Asia. Nor did Europeans even begin to imagine that sophisticated Native American civilizations thrived in other parts of the world. After 1492, numerous Europeans explored the “unknown” Americas hoping to find faster and cheaper trade routes to the distant east. At the same time, strong central governments emerged, funding expeditions, which might lead to new sources of revenue. As explorers crossed and re-crossed the globe, they laid claim to lands in the New World, initiating a wave of conquest and colonization of the Western Hemisphere.

Advances in Mapmaking, Navigation, and Shipbuilding

Accurate mapmaking helps navigators better find locations and measure distances. Today, landsat imaging helps cartographers create highly detailed and accurate maps. Old World cartographers, however, created maps without modern technology. Imagine mapping coastlines and inland rivers without a bird's eye view of new lands! Yet, these map-makers were surprisingly accurate given their limited technology and knowledge of the New World. Interestingly, long before the Age of Exploration, Ptolemy mapped the ancient world suggesting that the earth was round, estimating its size, and dividing it into a grid system of latitude and longitude. During the Renaissance, cartographers rediscovered classical Greek and Roman scholarship, paving the way to advances in navigation.

The Portuguese took the early lead in developing navigational techniques. Aided by Prince Henry the Navigator in 1416, the Portuguese developed celestial navigation using quadrants and astrolabes. Celestial navigation determined latitude by observing the sun and stars. Many sailors, however, determined their course by dead reckoning, which used compass readings and measurements of a ship’s speed to determine position. Both of these techniques were only effective in measuring latitude; early navigators did have the technology to determine longitude. As early as 1530, Flemish astronomer Gemma Frisius suggested that longitude was related to time. Yet, clocks would not keep time at sea. Not until John Harrison’s 1761 seagoing chronometer accurately kept time at sea could sailors mark longitude. For more information on mapmaking and navigation, see the Marriner’s Museum of Newport News, Virginia.

Advances in shipbuilding included improved sail designs, stronger hulls, and sleeker lines. New sails made the most efficient use of available winds and even allowed seaman to sail into the wind. Stronger hulls better withstood the tremendous impact of rough Atlantic seas. Sleeker design lines allowed ships to sail faster, slicing through water far more efficiently than older barge-like ship designs. Learn more about shipbuilding from The Columbus Navigation and Mariner Museum websites. The Mariner Museum has particularly good information about Columbus’s first voyage and Portuguese shipbuilding during the time of Prince Henry’s influence.

Various Explorers and Claiming Territory in the New World

Explorers during the Age of Exploration attempted to find an easy ocean route to Asia. Portugal’s Bartholmeu Dias sailed west around the tip of Africa, rounding the Cape of Good Hope in 1487. Vasco de Gama took the same route but continued on to the Indian Ocean in 1497-1499.

In the meantime, Christopher Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic, believing he could reach Asia that way. Instead, he encountered Caribbean islands. Between 1492 and 1504, Columbus made four voyages to this area for Spain, and always believed that he had reached the East Indies by sailing west.

Amerigo Vespucci charted 6000 miles of the South American coast, declaring that it was a previously unknown continent. In return, German mapmakers labeled the new continents “America” in his honor. Following Vesspucci’s work, early world maps including the New World emphasized the South American rather than North America. As late as 1554, South America remained preeminent. With an early jump on New World conquest, Spain claimed sovereignty over most of South and Central America, and portions of North America. Additional explorers continued to chart these land claims and record their resources. During this time, Vasco de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and viewed the Pacific Ocean. Ponce de Leon traveled through Florida. Hernando de Soto explored much of southeastern North America, including South Carolina. As these explorers charted European claims, others continued searching for a western route to Asia. Ferdinand Magellan rounded the tip of South America and circumnavigated the globe in a voyage lasting from 1519-1521.

Lesson Title: Early Explorer Time Line

Intelligence Types Addressed:Visual/Spatial: PowerPoint presentation, visualizing timelinesLinguistic: Paragraph construction, journal entryInterpersonal: Working in cooperative pairsIntrapersonal: Journal entry asks students to reflect on their feelings

Student Preferences:Visual/Spatial: drawing, building, designing, creating, daydreaming, looking at picturesLinguistic: writing, reading, telling stories, talking, memorizing, word puzzlesInterpersonal: talking to people, having friends, joining groups, working togetherIntrapersonal: working alone, reflecting, doing things at their own pace

Learning Methods:Visual/Spatial: working with pictures or colors, visualizing, using the mind’s eye, drawingLinguistic: hearing and seeing words, speaking, reading, writing, discussing, debatingInterpersonal: comparing, relating, sharing, interviewing, cooperatingIntrapersonal: working alone, having space, reflecting, doing self-paced projects

Grade Level: 5th

Duration: One hour

Subject: Social Studies

Standard: 4-1: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the exploration of the New World.

Indicators: 4-1.2: Summarize the motivation and accomplishments of the Vikings and the Portuguese, Spanish, English, and French explorers, including Leif Eriksson, Christopher Columbus, Hernando de Soto, Ferdinand Magellan, Henry Hudson, John Cabot, and Robert LaSalle. (H, E, G)

4-1.3: Use a map to identify the routes of various sea and land expeditions to the New World and match these to the territories claimed by different nations—including the Spanish dominance in South America and the French, Dutch, and English exploration in North America—and summarize the discoveries associated with these expeditions. (G, H)

ObjectivesStudents will chronologically order the accomplishments of explorations into the New World. Students will compare the accomplishments of the major explorers.

MaterialsFile folder for each studentRulers, markers, crayons

TechnologyThis lesson utilizes the Website for The Mariner's Museum . Students may also use the Explorers website to gather research information.If time allows, the class should play the interactive flash game The New World located at the site Arcadetown.com (http://www.arcadetown.com/thenewworld/gameonline.asp). The game requires students to make choices that affect their ship’s ability to make it to the New World. The game is an excellent reinforcement of content. Instructional Strategies

Narratives Cooperative learning Interactive internet site Guided reading

Subject IntegrationThe students will sharpen the research and writing skills developed in English Language Arts.

GroupingThe students will work in pairs to accomplish the objectives within the lesson.

Focus / Critical Thinking QuestionsTo focus the lesson, the teacher will ask the students why understanding events as they happen in order is important. The teacher will then ask the students how they think it would have felt to have been one of the explorers to first discover an area.

ProcedureThe teacher will focus the lesson using critical thinking questions. The teacher will ask

the students, “Why is it important to understand history as it happened in order?” The students will respond by volunteering their answers, and the teacher will facilitate a brief discussion of timelines. The teacher will then ask the students to reflect in their journals using the following prompt: “What do you think it might have felt like to have been one of the first explorers to discover an area? What are some of the things you would be excited about? What are some of the things you would be scared about?”

The teacher will distribute the file folders, markers, and crayons to the students. The students will use the Mariner’s Museum website to research an explorer (each pair of students will research the same explorer, but create their own timeline). Students will use a ruler to measure and equally divide their open file folder into six sections to create a time line. Students will identify six significant events in the explorer’s life that are relative to the exploration of the New World. Students will select or create graphics that represent these events. Students will use their research information to write captions explaining each graphic. Graphics and texts should discuss exploration routes, and explain the significance of exploration voyages and discoveries.

Once the timelines have been completed, the teacher will ask each pair to present their set of time lines. The teacher will keep a content chart of important information on each explorer (where they went, what they found, etc). Once the presentations are over, the teacher will ask the students to choose the explorer that they felt was the most successful. Students will then write a well-developed paragraph using information from the content chart. The paragraph should include information about where the explorer was from, where he went in the New World, what goods or resources he found, any interactions with indigenous people, and results of his voyages once he returned home.

AssessmentPre-Assessment: Student journal entries will be used as pre-assessment information.

Formative Assessment: The class timelines and presentations will serve as formative assessment information.

Summative Assessment: The student paragraph about their favorite explorer will serve as summative assessment.

Student PagesAge of Exploration reader

ResourcesJones, Rene. (2005). Early Explorer Time Line. Retrieved online April 20, 2009 from http://www.teachingushistory.org/lessons/early_exp_over.html

Lesson Title: Webquest: European Exploration

Intelligence Types Addressed:Visual/Spatial: Pictures, mapsLinguistic: Creation of “death warrant” of explorerMath/Logic: Solving the web-quest’s posed “problem”Music: Singing sea-shantiesInterpersonal: Cooperative learning pairs

Student Preferences:Visual/Spatial: drawing, building, designing, creating, daydreaming, looking at picturesLinguistic: writing, reading, telling stories, talking, memorizing, word puzzlesMath/Logic: questions, working with numbers, experiments, solving problemsMusic: singing, playing instruments, listening to music, hummingInterpersonal: talking to people, having friends, joining groups, working together

Learning Methods:Visual/Spatial: working with pictures or colors, visualizing, using the mind’s eye, drawingLinguistic: hearing and seeing words, speaking, reading, writing, discussing, debatingMath/Logic: working with relationships and patterns, classifying, categorizing, the abstractMusic: rhythm, singing, melody, listening to music or melodiesInterpersonal: comparing, relating, sharing, interviewing, cooperating

Grade Level: 5th

Duration: One hour

Subject: Social Studies

Standard: 4-1: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the exploration of the New World.

Indicator: 4-1.2: Summarize the motivation and accomplishments of the Vikings and the Portuguese, Spanish, English, and French explorers, including Leif Eriksson, Christopher Columbus, Hernando de Soto, Ferdinand Magellan, Henry Hudson, John Cabot, and Robert LaSalle. (H, E, G)

ObjectiveStudents will complete the web-quest to compare the accomplishments of significant explorers of the new world.

MaterialsComputer lab

TechnologyThis lesson is based upon the use of multiple internet links contained in an academic web quest. As an extension, the students will listen to sea shanties and sing along using the site SeaShanty.net.

AuthenticityCompleting the webquest will provide students with opportunities to make the learning relevant by applying the mastered learning targets to their own intuitions and feelings.

Instructional Strategies Cooperative learning pairs Problem solving Questioning

Subject IntegrationThis lesson incorporates elements mastered in English Language Arts. The content is reinforced through the Creative Arts when students participate in singing a pirate shanty.

GroupingDuring the webquest, students will work in cooperative pairs. One student will be the Researcher, and one will be the Biographer (responsibilities outlined in the Procedure).

Focus / Critical Thinking QuestionsThe teacher will focus the group by asking them the critical thinking questions “How do you think countries benefited from the discovery and exploration of the New World?” and “What negative effects do you think did the discovery of the New World have? Why?”

ProcedureThe teacher will begin by introducing the webquest to the students. The teacher will

review how to use hyperlinks and basic internet research techniques. The students will be grouped into pairs: a Biographer and a Researcher. The Researcher is responsible for identifying which country funded the exploration and identifying which region of the new world each explorer discovered (including a map). The Researcher will also explain how each country / explorer related to the indigenous people of the region, and identify the number and range of years for the voyages made by the explorer. The Biographer will determine the years each explorer lived, and describe significant contributions the explorer made to his country. The Biographer will also analyze the impact each explorer had on his country, and capture a picture of the explorer. Students will then collaborate to create the “winning” explorer’s “death warrant.”

As an extension, the teacher will lecture about the trials and tribulations of explorers while they were on the sea. The teacher will explain to the students that sea shanties were songs that sailors used to boost their morale while making the long voyage across the ocean. The teacher will ask the students, “What sort of things do you think sailors had to deal with? Why?” The students will sing along to some shanties using a web link (see Technology).

AssessmentThe students will be scored according to the rubric provided by the webquest.

Student PagesWebquest (printed here, but will be used online)

Resources(2004) Webquest: European Exploration. Accessed online April 23, 2009 from http://cte.jhu.edu/techacademy/fellows/BESNOY/www/uswqkb02.html

 

European

ExplorationIntroduction The Task The Process Resources Conclusion Evaluation

Web page Template

   

Introduction

Although the Vikings traveled to North America more than 900 years ago, it was

Christopher Columbus' good luck in 1492 that whipped Europe into a frenzy.  Queen

Isabella and King Ferdinand, the Spanish Monarchs whom funded Columbus'

exploration, were the first to realize the potential wealth of the New World. Spain

became the richest and most powerful nation

in the world. 

"How long will it last? ........No one knows. More importantly, will other European

Countries allow Spain to reign supreme???

That remains to be seen........"

move to the task

-Pirate Edward Corrigan

Top of page

 

The Task

Pirate Corrigan is a ruthless man who preys on explorers. He has assigned your motley

group to spy on the European Explorers whom are heading to North America. Pirate Corrigan requests that all groups create a

death warrant (via a web page) for only the most exceptional explorer. Based on the

scoring rubric, Pirate Corrigan will handsomely reward any group that

successfully completes the assignment.  However, anyone caught to be a coward... 

(failing to complete the task)

......will walk the plank!!!!! 

"Those explorers braved rough seas and unreliable navigation methods...many

survived the natural elements. European monarchs made fortunes from the explorers. Should the monarchs be the only ones who

reap vast fortunes??

Let it be me......" move to process

-Pirate Edward Corrigan

Top of page

 

Process Within your group, break into pairs.

Select one of the two investigation roles below and begin your assignment. After your group has completed the process,  ya'll will complete make a

web page template.

Researchers BiographersResearchers

Identify which country funded the exploration. Describe, in 3 well developed sentences, which region

of the new world each explorer discovered. (you need to include exact and relative location)

In 4 well developed sentences, explain how each country/explorer related with Native Americans

In 3 well developed sentences, Identify the number of voyages that each explorer made. What were the range of years for each voyage?

Capture a map of the explorer's voyage(s).move to bottom of section

Biographers Determine the years that each explorer lived. Describe, in 4 well developed sentences, significant

events in the life of each explorer. (you must identify what contributions he made to his country)

In 5 well developed sentences, analyze, the impact each explorer had on his country.

o Explain how the economic and military power of each country change? 

o Describe how the country benefit from the voyage? 

o Elaborate on the new wealth brought to the country.

Capture a picture of each explorermove to bottom of section

"I love a good challenge...it tests your character and separates the

Lake Puppies from the Sea Dogs...

And I'm top dog....." move to resources

-Pirate Edward Corrigan

top of page

Resources

A list of possible explorers to eliminate are below. As a group, select 4 explorers from

the list and spy on their lives.

Cortez Balboa CabotColumbus de Soto Cartier

  Hudson  top of page

Henry Hudson

This is a great map site of Henry Hudson's voyages. Henry Hudson: brief biography of this explorer who unsuccessfully searched for a western passage to the East Indies. Henry Hudson - describes his four ocean voyages Henry Hudson: Explorer of the Hudson River This page contains important facts about Henry Hudson

resource list

Hernando de Cortez

Hernando de Cortez - Visit this site for a good biography of Hernando de Cortez Hernando de Cortez and the Conquest of the Aztec Empire - This is a brief biography  Hernando de Cortez - This is a very detailed description Cortéz' expedition to Mexico beginning in 1519 and ending with his conquest of the Aztecs in 1521 Hernando Cortez Timeline - short timeline of the major dates and events in his life.

resource list

Christopher Columbus

This is an introductory site for Christopher Columbus Middle Ages: Christopher Columbus - brief info on his life  Christopher Columbus and the Spanish Empire - features a biography of Columbus,  This site about Christopher Columbus details the effects of exploration on the New World and its inhabitants. This is a valuable page with simple facts and good

pictures.

resource list

John Cabot

Very little information exists today concerning Giovanni (or Zuan) Caboto, now called John Cabot.  John Cabot - This is a very detailed  This is a valuable page containing important facts and a map of John Cabot's voyage. John Cabot: This project includes information about his life and voyages. John Cabot and his son were great explorers. DO NOT MISTAKE HIS SON'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR HIS!! John Cabot: Photograph

 resource list

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

This location about Balboa is comprehensive. Nunez de Balboa is the First European to see the Pacific Ocean from the Americas Balboa reaching the Pacific (drawing)

Vasco Nunez Balboa: this site lists important facts about Balboa's accomplishments.

resource list

Jacques Cartier

This site serves as a brief overview of Jacques Cartier's accomplishments. This page contains important facts and pictures. It also includes a map. Jacques Cartier: A comprehensive article on his life and times. In 1534, Jacques Cartier began a series of explorations. Jacques Cartier: A Lie and A Claiming of Possession

resource list

Hernando de Soto

This site contains key accomplishments and a map of Hernando de Soto's exploration. Hernando de Soto State Archaeological Site Hernando de Soto was a Spanish Conquistador who came to

North America in search of gold and other riches.  Hernando de Soto led 600 explorers and settlers to Florida in 1539

resource list

 

Conclusion

 With the defeat of the French in 1763, Great Britain claimed almost total control of the Atlantic Coast line. The American colonies

proved to be very profitable for Great Britain, as well as troublesome. 

"As I foresaw, whom ever controlled the New World would dominate the European

continent. Will Great Britain continue to control the North American continent or will the American Colonists grow tired to bowing

down to the King of England? 

You Tell Me..." 

- Pirate Edward Corrigan

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Evaluation

4

Interprets the information gathered for the death warrant in accurate and highly insightful ways. Provides a highly creative and unique synthesis of the information.

Insightfully determines the types of information that will benefit the class and effectively seeks out that information.

Analyzes information in detail, accurately and insightfully determining whether it is credible and relevant ot a specific task.

Uses the important information gathering techniques and information resources necessary to complete death warrant. Identifies little-known information resources or employees unique information gathering techniques.

No grammar or spelling mistakes. Only uses complete sentences.

Includes all of the required information and completes the assignment on time.

3

Accurately interprets information gathered for the death warrant and concisely synthesizes it.

Accurately assesses a task to identify areas requiring additional information for clarification or support and seeks out the needed information.

Accurately determines whether information is credible and relevant to a specific task.

Uses the important information gathering techniques and information resources necessary to complete the task.

No grammar or spelling mistakes. Mostly uses complete sentences, but some incomplete sentences.

Includes most of the required information and completes the assignment on time. 

2 Makes significant errors in interpreting the gathered for the death warrant or synthesizes the information imprecisely or awkwardly.

Does not accurately assess the information needs of the death warrant or fails to seek out needed information.

Makes some significant errors in determining whether information is credible and relevant to a specific task.

Fails to use some significant information gathering techniques and information resources necessary to complete the task.

Several grammar and spelling mistakes. Uses incomplete sentences.

Includes some of the required information and completes the assignment on time.

1

Grossly misinterprets the information gathered for the death warrant or fails to synthesize it.

Makes little or no attempt to assess whether a task would benefit from additional information.

Makes little or no attempt to determine whether information is credible and relevant to a specific task or totally misjudges the relevance and credibility of information.

Fails to use the most important information gathering techniques or the major information resources necessary to complete the death warrant.

Almost no correct grammar or spelling usage. No complete sentences.

Includes none of the required information and not completed on time.top of page

      Updated 06/30/04 

Lesson Title: The Columbian Exchange

Intelligence Types Addressed:Visual/Spatial: Linguistic: Body/Kinesthetic: Math/Logic: Music:Interpersonal: Intrapersonal: Naturalistic:

Student Preferences:Visual/Spatial: drawing, building, designing, creating, daydreaming, looking at picturesLinguistic: writing, reading, telling stories, talking, memorizing, word puzzlesBody/Kinesthetic: moving around, touching, body languageMath/Logic: questions, working with numbers, experiments, solving problemsMusic: singing, playing instruments, listening to music, hummingInterpersonal: talking to people, having friends, joining groups, working togetherIntrapersonal: working alone, reflecting, doing things at their own paceNaturalistic: being involved with nature, making distinctions

Learning Methods:Visual/Spatial: working with pictures or colors, visualizing, using the mind’s eye, drawingLinguistic: hearing and seeing words, speaking, reading, writing, discussing, debatingBody/Kinesthetic: touching, moving, working with tools, processing, bodily sensationsMath/Logic: working with relationships and patterns, classifying, categorizing, the abstractMusic: rhythm, singing, melody, listening to music or melodies Interpersonal: comparing, relating, sharing, interviewing, cooperatingIntrapersonal: working alone, having space, reflecting, doing self-paced projectsNaturalistic: working in nature, learning about natural events, exploring living things, order

Grade Level: 5th

Duration: One hour

Subject: Social Studies

Standard: 4-1: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the exploration of the New World.

Indicator: 4-1.4: Explain the exchange of plant life, animal life, and disease that resulted from exploration of the New World, including the introduction of wheat, rice, coffee, horses, pigs, cows, and chickens to the Americas; the introduction of corn, potatoes, peanuts, and squash to Europe; and the effects of such diseases as diphtheria, measles, smallpox, and malaria on Native Americans. (G, H, E)

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate the exchange of plant life, animal life, and disease that resulted from the exploration of the New World. Students will understand how the voyages of explorers facilitated the exchange of foods and items across continents. Students will trace these concepts into the modern globalized food system and discuss ecological impacts associated with consumer food choices.

MaterialsMap of the world for referenceFive continent posters to represent the three regions of the “Old” and “New” worlds

- Three posted on each side of the room (new opposite old): North America, Central America, South America on one side; Europe, Africa, and Asia on the other

Crop name cards

Technology

AuthenticityThe learning is made more relevant to the students with the discussion at the end of the lesson regarding their impact upon global food markets.

Subject Integration

Grouping

Focus / Critical Thinking QuestionsThe teacher will engage the students by asking them, “What plants and animals are native

to these areas?” If students get stumped, ask them to consider the cuisines of the “New” World regions (for example, Mexico should elicit responses like beans, corn, chili peppers, etc).

ProcedureEngage the students by asking them what fruits or vegetables are native to this area.

Gradually fill in a list of goods on the “New” world list, being sure to include the following foods: sunflowers, corn, avocadoes, peppers, beans, chocolate, potatoes, tomatoes, and peanuts. Then ask the students to help fill in the “Old” world chart to include the following: wheat, beets, onions, cabbage, apples, carrots, peas, radishes, watermelon, coffee, rice, sugar cane, and mangoes.

The teacher will pass out the crop name cards, one to each student. Each student moves to the appropriate continent as designated by the pre-posted signs on the walls. Once students have found their place, the teacher will go around the “world” and ask students to state where they are standing, to describe the climate as best they can, and to name the crop they represent. Have each student reflect on the reason certain foods might have originated in this area (for example, Chinese fried rice). The teacher will tell the students that this is a visualization of the state of the world in 1492. The teacher will ask students to imagine Italian food with no tomatoes, or French desserts with no chocolate, or Irish food with no potatoes. The teacher will ask students to suggest other culinary dishes that would not have happened if it had not been for the Columbian Exchange.

The teacher will identify the students representing the five most important crops: potatoes, sugar, corn, tomatoes, and coffee. The teacher will ask the representative student to walk from the continent of origin to other continents that have a historical connection to that food since 1492. To encourage students to where the crops should go, the teacher will ask students what food is like in various countries. Use the summaries provided in Crop Files! (see Student Pages). The teacher should incorporate guided reading of the Crop Files to facilitate the journeys of each crop.

The teacher will then ask students to break into groups of four to brainstorm about the impact of eating food that needs to be shipped long distances. Have students consider the impact of buying tomatoes grown in California when tomatoes are also locally grown in South Carolina. Outline all the inputs that increase with distance: trucks, processing, refrigeration, disease, etc.

The class will then use charts from the website The Columbian Exchange to orally summarize the exchange of animals and disease during this time. The teacher will ask the students “What do you think the effect of exchanging diseases with people that had never experienced them before had?”

AssessmentFormative: The crop moving activity and the questioning within this activity will serve as formative assessment that the teacher will use to guide instruction. Students may need more instruction using the website to reiterate concepts.

Summative: For homework, students will write a well-developed paragraph tracing the movement of one of the major crops. The students will answer the following question: “Given the history of the crop ____, what might have changed if Columbus had not made his discovery of the New World in 1492? Be specific, and use culinary examples.”

Student PagesCrop Files!

ResourcesRedefining Progress. (2005). Accessed online April 24, 2009 from http://www.rprogress.org/training_manual/Columbian_Exchange.pdf

Crop Files!

POTATOIn the Andes Mountains of South America indigenous people, including the ancient Incas, survived on potatoes for the past 7,000 years. After the Spanish conquistadoresarrived in South America in 1531, their sailors recognized the potato’s nutritional value and adopted it as a food source for long voyages. By 1600 farmers in Spain were planting crops of potatoes and by 1800 the potato had become one of the most important foods in Europe due to its combination of essential vitamins, minerals and fiber and its easy adaptation to different climates. The potato was so productive and easy to grow in rocky soil that the people of Ireland developed an exclusive dependence on potatoes as a primary food source. The lack of alternative foods led to the Irish Potato famine when a potato blight began in 1845. This precipitated a mass emigration to the United States where current Americans consume more potatoes than any other vegetable, mostly in the form of French fries.

SUGARSugar cane, though native to Polynesia, was first refined into sugar in India in about 700 BC. It made its way west for the next couple thousand years and finally, in the Middle Ages, to Europe, which had previously relied on honey for sweetener. Sugar is unnecessary to the human diet, and even becomes harmful in excess and addictive, but was prized for its medicinal use in making herbal concoctions more palatable. In 1400 it was still a very expensive commodity due to small production, and Europeans were just beginning to learn to grow sugar cane outside of the tropics. The Spanish had planted sugar cane in the Canary Islands, where Columbus acquired it for his second trip to the Americas in 1493. Sugar cultivation is very labor-intensive and the Spaniards set about enslaving the native inhabitants of Hispaniola to grow and process sugar for growing markets in Europe. In 1516 the first shipment of sugar arrived in Europe which fueleddemand for sugar, especially among the British, as a sweetener for tea, coffee, and chocolate. Meanwhile the enslaved indigenous labor force in the Caribbean was dying off due to the introduction of “Old” World disease so sugar producers turned to Africa to supply labor. These producers cleared large swaths of land with slash-and-burn techniques, to great ecological detriment, to build plantations which depended on slavery to produce an adequate supply of sugar to satisfy the demand of the European upper classes. Some 12 million Africans were transported to the Americas as slaves between 1450 and 1900 as part of the triangular trade system. Demand for sugar remains high all over the globe, and causes tooth decay, digestive disease, and addictive dependence.

CORNCorn, or as the indigenous Americans called it, maize, is native to the area around present day Mexico City. It was first cultivated 7,000 years ago and rapidly spread from Mexico throughout the Americas to become a staple of the Mayan, Aztec and Incan civilizations. These people relied heavily on corn for a primary source of energy and prepared it by boiling the ears or grinding the kernels into meal which helped preserve it through the winter. The Spaniards who arrived in the Caribbean saw corn growing everywhere but had never seen it before, since it was unknown in Europe, Asia, or Africa. Columbus introduced corn to Europe where it spread widely and then on to Turkey, Africa and Asia. Many Europeans did not develop a taste for the grain but they used it to feed livestock which increased the availability of protein sources throughout the continent. Corn continues to play a vital role in the Americas and it reigns supreme in the Midwestern U.S. where 40% of the world’s corn is grown. Most of our corn is not eaten but fed to livestock and used to make a variety of products, including explosives, paint, and gasoline additives. Plus, cornstarch processed into syrup (high-fructose corn syrup) has surpassed sugar as a sweetener and can be found in soda and almost every processed food.

COFFEEThis shrub with red berries that can only grow in tropical climates originated on the mountainsides of Ethiopia under rainforest canopy, although it’s now more commonly associated with Central America and the South Pacific isles. The demand for coffee began as a medicinal drink (prescribed at various times as an enema, aphrodisiac, nerve calmer and life-extender) for the elite but soon became a working-man’s pick-me-up. In the 1870s industrialization of roasting technology and railroads facilitated the global spread of coffee consumption, though it has always been more popular in the West, as peoples in the East generally maintain a preference for tea. Coffee is the second most widely exported legal commodity (second only to petroleum) and Americans consume more coffee than any other nation. Over 20 million people in the world produce coffee, over fifty percent of them small, family farmers who mostly live in poverty, subject to the whim of constantly fluctuating commodity markets or large plantation owners who clearcut rainforest. For example, coffee production in the hands of society’s elite has lead to the continued subjugation of Mayan Indians in Guatemala. Now consumers can buy coffee that has been certified as ‘fair trade’ which means farmers are paid a fair market price for their coffee and thereby ensured a sustainable future.

TOMATOThe Aztecs deserve the credit for introducing the world to the tomato, not the Italians as many people assume. The Spanish first encountered this fruit during their conquest of Mexico in 1519. The Aztecs ground tomatoes with

chilis to make salsa to accompany a wide array of dishes. Though the Spanish in Mexico enjoyed tomatoes, many Europeans considered them poisonous upon arrival because they belong to the same family as the deadly nightshade. It wasn’t until the early 1800s that the poisonous myth was debunked and the tomato was adopted in Europe, particularly Italy, for its versatility in sauces and soups. Today the tomato is one of the most popular fruits or vegetables across the globe, and the U.S. is the largest commercial producer of tomatoes in the world. Americans consume 12 million tons of tomatoes annually, both fresh and, most often, in processed foods like ketchup.