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Name: Ashley Smith

Curriculum Topic: European Exploration
Lesson Title: Accomplishments of Exploration
Established Goals (VA SOLs):
USI.4 The student will apply social science skills to understand European exploration in
North America and West Africa by
a) describing the motivations for, obstacles to, and accomplishments of the Spanish,
French,
Portuguese, and English explorations;
USI.1 The student will demonstrate skills for historical thinking, geographical analysis,
economic decision making, and responsible citizenship by
d) using evidence to draw conclusions and make generalizations;

Content Summary:
This lesson will serve as the end of the unit on European Exploration. This lesson will require
students to use prior knowledge in order to determine the accomplishments of exploration which
includes the exchange of goods and ideas, improved navigational tools and ships, and claimed
territories. This lesson is a special one because it will be our lesson for a 6th grade cross-
curricular unit for a book titled A Long Walk to Water. The essential question that all content
areas focus on are how do we move goods across distances more efficiently? This directly
relates to the accomplishments of exploration because as technology improved, there was a faster
and more efficient exchange of goods and ideas, improved navigational tools/ships, and new
territories became quicker to access.

Content Relevance:
This lesson is in many ways relevant to students lives. Daily, they experience areas of
cooperation and conflict. They also spread ideas and goods amongst one another. One thing that
students can relate to is how technology and changes in technology is critical to the way they
live. My students only know a world with iPhones and laptops, whether they own personal
devices or not. Changes in technology tend to be central to understanding events in history. This
lesson will require students to make connections between what they know happens with
technology overtime and make inferences on how this makes travel, trade, and transportation
more effective. Additionally, students are working with elements of this novel in all classes so I
am expecting a high level of engagement.

Essential Question:
How does technological change influence peoples lives? Society?

Students will understand:

- Changes in technology affect the way people live.

Students will know:

- The accomplishments of exploration including but not limited to exchange of goods and
ideas, improved navigational tools and ships, and claimed territories.
- The exchanges of goods that occurred during the Columbian exchange.
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- The definition of cooperation (the act of working together) and conflict (to disagree
strongly, have differing opinions, fight).
- The areas of cooperation in and conflict between American Indians and Europeans.

Students will be able to (do):

- Infer areas of cooperation and conflict between American Indians and Europeans.
- Recall motivations, obstacles, and accomplishments of exploration.
- Apply knowledge of the effect of technological advancements on the speed of the
Ozobots.
- Recreate a route from A Long Walk to Water in order to demonstrate how advancements
in technology can make the transportation of goods over distances more efficient.
- Interpret maps of travel routes

Assessment:
At the beginning of the lesson we will do a quick and brief review where I will have students
recall information about information covered from the beginning of the unit. This review will
give me a glimpse of how students are grappling with information. The Do Now that students
complete will serve as a formative assessment. I will be walking around to see what students
come up with. During the map and Ozobots inquiry portion of the lesson, I will be able to gauge
how my students are progressing with their ability to use maps to inquire about additional
information. I have noticed that some students have a hard time with inquiry when looking at
documents. Hopefully, this lesson will help students that struggle with reading work on their
inquiry and inference skills

Materials & Resources:

Student materials:
- Pencil
- Ozobots (1 per pair)
- Scrap paper
- Study Guide
- Chromebook
My materials:
- Smartboard w/PowerPoint
- Large map with Ozobot codes/routes prewritten on the paper
- 15 sets of Ozobot codes for student groups
- Desktop computer with countdown timer
- Quizlet live code (Review Game)

Procedures:
Agenda:
- Do Now (10 minutes)
- What is a goal that you have for your life? What is a motivation? What is an
obstacle? What were motivations and obstacles of exploration?
- Students answer questions on scrap paper and we complete a think, pair, share.
- Review (7 minutes)
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- We will review, as a class, previous concepts and terms including motivations for
and obstacles to exploration as well as information about the African empires.
- Areas of cooperation and conflict (8 minutes)
- Using the study guide that students were given to prepare for the end of the unit,
we will fill in the areas of cooperation and conflict diagram.
- We will have open conversation about possible areas of cooperation and conflict.
I will confirm which answers to include for students. I will be filling in the same
diagram on the white board.
- Accomplishments of Exploration (10 minutes)
- I will walk students through the slide show. Each accomplishment is labeled on
the slide and students will also fill these into their study guide. As I go through
these slides
- I will explain and ask questions about the images and changes that occurred
because of exploration. At the end of the accomplishments, we will talk about the
Colombian Exchange.
- I will show students a map and have them turn and talk to a neighbor about a food
that they would not have if it were not for the Columbian exchange. This will
serve as an engaging way for students to see the importance of this exchange of
goods on our lives today.
- A Long Walk to Water (35 minutes)
- Students will be presented with a statement, Things change over time and
asked to come to the center of the room to look at a world map with lines going
from Europe to the Americas and around Africa.
- The lines have been coded for the Ozobots to travel and students will watch the
trips that the Ozobot is recreating.
- After looking at the voyages students will go back to their desk and write what
changed over time.
- We will have a class wide conversation about what we noticed. Students will
eventually realize that the trips were different years and technology changed.
- Lastly, we discuss voyages that faced obstacles in the book A Long Walk to
Water. Students use the coding sheet, special markers, and blank paper to make a
map that recreates a travel route from the book.
- Review Game (15 minutes)
- In order to review information from this unit, students play Kahoot! and Quizlet
Live.

Accommodations for Individual Differences:

- Students will be assigned a partner with heterogenous pairing. This lesson has several
components that will appeal to diverse learners. Students will be asked to write, draw,
interpret maps, grapple with higher order questions and make inferences. Though some of
these tasks may be difficult for certain students, all students will have the opportunity to
engage and participate.