Topic: Causes of discoveries

Target group

6th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

Reasons of discoveries evaluates the impact of geographical discoveries on the socio‑economic and cultural life of Europe and the New World.

VIII. Great geographical discoveries. Student:

explains the causes and evaluates the impact of geographical discoveries on the socio‑economic and cultural life of Europe and the New World;

places in time and space Krzysztof Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan discoveries, and places in space the colonial estates of Portugal and Spain.

General aim of education

The student will learn about the reasons and specificity of key geographical discoveries.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• what were the scientific and technological foundations of geographical discoveries;

• what was the ideological justification of geographic discoveries;

• what was the economic driving force of geographic discoveries;

• what were the profits from the new conquests;

• what were the key geographical discoveries.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Introduction

1. The teacher states the subject of the lesson, explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

2. The teacher plays the recording of the abstract. Every now and then he stops it, asking the students to tell in their own words what they have just heard. This way, students practice listening comprehension.

Realization

1. Reading the content of the abstract. The teacher uses the text for individual work or in pairs, according to the following steps: 1) a sketchy review of the text, 2) asking questions, 3) accurate reading, 4) a summary of individual parts of the text, 5) repeating the content or reading the entire text.

2. Discussing information presented on the timeline. The teacher then divides the class into groups - as many as there are events on the axis. Each team works on one assigned issue, deepening the information contained in the abstract. Then the students present their discussions.

3. The teacher together with the students sums up the current course of classes.

4. The teacher displays the map from Task 2. He reads out the task and, if necessary, helps student work out the answers.

5. Students in pairs solve the Exercise 1. The teacher checks if the task has been correctly completed and gives feedback to students.

6. Students in pairs solve the Exercise 2.

7. Students in pairs solve the Exercise 3.

8. Students perform Task 3 and Task 4. They prepare their answer in writing. The teacher controls the correctness of their statements, supplementing it with additional information if necessary.

Summary

1. The teacher asks: If there was going to be a test on the material we have covered today, what questions do you think would you have to answer?
   If the students do not manage to name all the most important questions, the teacher may complement their suggestions.

2. The teacher briefly presents the most important issues discussed in class. He answers the additional questions of the proteges and explains all their doubts. Students complete notes.

Homework

1. Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

2. Make at home a note from the lesson, for example using the sketchnoting method.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Causes of discoveries

The beginnings of the European expansion overseas should be connected with the feudal system, the rulers’ obligations that resulted from it, the economic and social crisis, and most importantly with the difficulties faced by the Portuguese and Castilian knighthood in the fifteenth century. The possibility of avoiding intermediaries in Asian trade, the search for cognitive values, and finally promoting Christianity were secondary goals of the expeditions. Another aspect of the expansion was the material benefits, such as the new system of organization of agricultural production (plantations) and the trade related with it. The first deep‑sea expeditions were organized by the Portuguese. They built ships called caravels and popularized the astrolabe, the „portolan” map, and the compass. At the head of one of the first expeditions of the fifteenth century was the King’s brother, Prince Henry the Navigator. In 1415, the explorers reached Ceuta. The voyages after that were deep‑sea expeditions. As a result, the following Atlantic islands were discovered: Madeira (1419), Azores (1427) and Cape Verde (1446). In the initial phase, the expeditions fulfilled their social goal, which was to engage young knights in some appropriate activities. The real breakthrough that resulted from the expeditions was cultivating the acquired area's crops that were unable to grow on the Portuguese soil – mainly sugar cane.