The Age of Exploration
The Age of Exploration provides a way for students to learn about various topics relating to geography, history, and science.
By Daniella Garran
The Age of Exploration can be taught from a number of different perspectives, including those of the explorer, the crew members, the indigenous peoples, and the monarch. Not only should students understand the motives for exploration and conquest from the kings’ and queens’ points of view, but they should also be familiar with the consequences of journeying abroad, such as the introduction of disease, the enslavement of native peoples, and the cultural diffusion that took place.
Assign individual students or small groups an explorer to research. Students should take special note of the route traveled by the explorers. Create a wall map that details the exploration route of each explorer. Be sure to assign each explorer his own color so that students can tell the explorers’ routes apart at a glance. To truly understand the motives for exploration, add to the map the natural resources indigenous to each area explored and the trade routes which ultimately developed.
Have an Explorers’ Convention in which students assume the identity of different explorers including Hernán Cortés, Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Juan Ponce de León, Marco Polo, Sir Walter Raleigh and others meet to discuss their findings. If time and resources allow, consider drafting a short play or a series of skits which feature this unprecedented interaction.
A wonderful opportunity for interdisciplinary education exists if social studies teachers are able to collaborate with science teachers. Students can learn about the process of observation and what can be learned by exploring new and different environments. Students can simulate this experience by drawing, measuring and describing unusual natural objects, much like the explorers did in the new lands they discovered. Here are some more lessons that can help students understand the Age of Exploration.
The Age of Exploration:
This lesson has students research an individual explorer of their choice and then create a visual representation showing their route. In addition, they write an essay. This is an excellent strategy for educators who want students to gain experience conducting research and then learn how to analyze the information collected. Students will also have a chance to apply this research creatively when they create their globe.
After conducting individual research, students learn about a particular explorer and add their information to a large timeline chronicling the Age of Exploration. As part of their research, students are responsible for finding out why the explorers were exploring and what they found in their travels. This lesson can also be adapted for use with older students by requiring them to determine what the unintended consequences of exploration were (e.g.: transmission of disease).
Students read a number of different primary documents from the Age of Exploration to learn more about the hardships and discoveries of the earliest explorers. Then, students create an explorer’s notebook in which they chronicle their experiences “firsthand” and ultimately prepare a report for the monarch detailing their findings.