Early European Explorers

Seventh Grade Social Studies students will become experts on an early European explorer.  Working in teams of two, students will use Internet resources to gather information about their chosen explorer and create a PowerPoint presentation. Students will present the slideshow they create to the class.

Choose one of the following explorers:

• John Cabot
• Samuel de Champlain
• Giovanni da Verrazano
• Jacques Cartier
• Henry Hudson

Include words and pictures on each slide.  You may also include sounds if you wish.  Your presentation should have at least nine slides, as follows:

1. Title page (include the names of your team members)

2. Introduce your explorer. Where was he born? What was his early life like?

3. Who did the explorer sail for?

4. When did he live? Include a timeline of his life.

5. What was his mission? What motivated him to explore?

6. Where did his voyages take him? Include maps in your presentation.

7. What obstacles did he face on his journey?

8. What were his greatest achievements?

9. List all the Internet resources you used. Include all sources of pictures and maps, as well as facts. You will list your sources using MLA standards, as described on the Purdue Online Writing Lab at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/09/.

Here are some links to get you started:

http://www.mariner.org/educationalad/ageofex/biographies.php

http://library.thinkquest.org/J002678F/welcome.htm

http://www.factmonster.com

http://www.ianchadwick.com/hudson/

http://www.hudsonriver.com

http://www.win.tue.nl/cs/fm/engels/discovery/northam.html#first

Your work will be marked on the following items:

Were you able to save your work in your directory at the end of class, and retrieve it from your directory at the beginning of class?

Is everything spelled correctly?

Do you have at least nine slides?

Does every page have text and one picture?

Did you rewrite the information you found on the Internet to be in your own words? Please do not cut and paste text from webpages!

Did you cite every resource you used, for both pictures and facts?

Did you answer the questions listed above in the presentation description?