Age of Exploration Activities for Middle School

In this blog, you will get practical tips to best teach the Age of Exploration in Middle School.

It can be very difficult to connect students to history, especially in the age of technology that we are in now. Read here to see how to meaningfully and effectively teach with Age of Exploration activities in your social studies classes.

Engage First to Teach the Age of Exploration

Before diving in and going straight to a lecture or reading assignment, it is important to captivate students’ interest. I have said before that I have seen WAY too many educational philosophies come and go in my many years of teaching, but the one that has stayed in my teaching arsenal is the “Five E Model”…engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. For the most part, I follow this in my social studies lessons.

So how do you engage a student so that they are interested enough to begin learning about something that took place hundreds of years ago? We all have our own “tricks” up our sleeves, but here are a few Age of Exploration activities that might work:

Age of Exploration Activities: Engagement Ideas:

Music: It is fun to start a new unit (or any day, really) with a current song that has something to do with what you are studying. Have songs playing when students enter, and then take a moment to really listen. Ask kids how they think it might be connected to what your unit of study. Some ideas for a unit on the Age of Exploration: “Roam” (B-52’s), “Sailing” (Christopher Cross), “Fly Away” (Lenny Kravitz), “Born to be Wild” (Steppenwolf). The ideas are endless! Pick your favorites and enjoy!
Find a New Route: Think of a place in the school that is difficult to get to. In my school, my 6th graders have a very hard time getting to their language arts enrichment class because it is in the 8th grade wing and they have to travel through so many bigger kids to get there. As a class, take a walk and see if you can “map out” a better route. This might give kids some connection as to why explorers needed better routes.
Collage: Have kids create a collage (a digital version is fine!) about anything to do with exploration. They can put in pictures, symbols, quotes, songs, etc.
Personal Experiences: Many students have travelled and probably even more have explored within their yards/neighborhoods. Give kids a few moments to do a “quick write” about a time that they went somewhere new or went exploring in their neighborhood. Tell them to focus on the 5 senses (what they saw, heard, felt, smelled, tasted) and the 5 W’s (who, what, when, where, why). Then discuss. (Note: A quick write is not something you grade; it is just a chance to get some ideas down so that more students are prepared to share.)

Direct Teaching

Interestingly enough, what I have noticed from being a student or observing other teachers throughout the years is that social studies teachers either directly teach too much or too little. The days of lecturing to kids for the entire period and then testing them on it are over. On the other hand, we can’t expect kids to learn the material themselves by reading and answering questions. The right balance of direct teaching is crucial.

I don’t have any hard data on this, but I do have decades of experience in teaching middle school social studies. I have found that the “sweet spot” is to teach for about 25 minutes and then use the rest of your class time for interactive activities.

When you are direct teaching, the information needs to be very streamlined. Kids don’t need to know every detail about every journey of every explorer. I personally love using Google Slideshows because I can pull out the most important points, add visuals, and have interactive slides for the kids to post their thoughts. If you need help with this, I have a full unit: The Age of Exploration Complete Unit for Middle School (there are 4 interactive lessons in all, all set and ready to go!)

Age of Exploration Activities: Extend with Centers

When my direct teaching is complete (I usually take 2 days for direct teaching, again, in 25 minutes at a time), and then it’s time for centers! Although centers do require planning, once the planning is done, they run themselves. Centers days are my favorite. Once I explain to them, the kids work and I roam and check-in. I absolutely love centers days! Not only are my kids engaged and working in teams, but honestly, it’s just so much easier on me.

Projects

There are so many ideas to have kids show what they have learned in a fun and meaningful way. Here are some ideas:

Student-Created Slideshow with Jigsaw: Students can create a slideshow with information on a specific explorer. Then, group kids to share in small groups. Arrange it so that they are listening to information on different explorers. This is included in my “all in one” resource to teach the Age of Exploration. Click here to view.
Journal: Create a journal of an explorer. I have a free copy; click here to access.
Maps: Students can use printed maps and draw in the routes of explorers. Then, they can explain the route and what they would have done differently.
Centers: You can use art history, geography, artifacts, etc. to create centers. I have a product for this as well…click here to view.

Grab this FREE Age of Exploration journal activity.

Assessment

In my opinion, it is less important for kids to know all the facts by heart and to take a standardized test on a topic such as the Age of Exploration. However, it is good practice to quiz kids on basic facts. What I do is teach one or two short lessons and have kids create study tools on specific terms. For example, they get a list of terms to know and do things such as make flashcards, create acronyms, and other ideas to help them study. This type of quiz and study tools are included in my “all in one” resource to teach the Age of Exploration. Click here to view.

To assess the entire unit, I believe it should be more objective than a regular test. Any of the projects listed above would make great assessments.

One of the best overall activities and assessments that I have used for any social studies unit is hexagonal thinking. This activity requires kids to make connections in a meaningful way. You simply take your terms from the unit, write them on hexagons, cut them out, and connect them in logical ways. It’s easy enough to set up, but if you want something “ready-made”, check out my product in my TPT store.

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Questions? Email me anytime: linda@allinonemiddleschool.com

Best of luck to you and your students. If you have questions, please feel free to comment below.

-Linda A. “All in One Middle School“