Lesson #2 Early European Exploration and Expansion
(Unit #5: “Motivations and Impacts of Exploration and Expansion)
1day
Learning Target Objective(s)
• Students will be able to explain the motives for early European
exploration.
• Historical thinking skills:
o Chronological thinking
o Use historical comprehension to analyze data in
historical maps
o Use analysis and interpretation to analyze cause-and
effect relationships and multiple causations
o Reading and constructing maps
o Reading an constructing timelines
Mr. Santos
World History
Instructional Materials &
Resources
• Devices with internet
connection (ipads,
computers, phones, etc.)
• “Age of Exploration:
Portugal’s Motives for
Exploring Africa” resource
from
sascurriculumpathways.com
• “Into Africa” handout
Lesson Essential Question
• What were the motives for early European (Portuguese)
exploration?
Plan of Instruction
Activity
Pre-Lesson
(Prior Knowledge &
Content)
Acquisition / Teacher
Input
(Establish objectives,
set learning
parameters)
Description of Activities/Setting
• Students will enter the class with the
following bell-ringer prompt on the board:
o What were the motives for early
European exploration and
expansion?
• Students will likely have a general idea of
European motives from the former lesson
on Afro-Eurasian trade.
• This will be a collaborative bell-ringer, and
students will have five minutes to
complete it.
Purpose (Rationale)
This bellringer is intended to
be a collabrative effort
between students where they
will be encouraged to reflect
on their notes to make a
historical inference for the
day’s lesson.
• I will be able to transition from a bellringer discussion into my coverage of
course content and background knowledge,
which will be approximately 10-15
minutes.
o My teacher imput will cover
Portugal’s motives for exploration
and expansion into Africa and the
Indian Ocean Trade while also
ensuring to discuss key figures
such as Prince Henry the
Navigator, Bartolomeu Dias, and
This lesson and follow-up
activity will address the
themes of chronology,
pursuing national interests,
and conflict and
compromise.
It is a way to get students
thinking about cause and
effect and continuity and
change from the former
lesson to the current lesson.
This acquisition activity will
help students gain a better
understanding of Portuguese
motives for exploring Africa
and the subsequent
Vasco da Gama.
While motives will be explained
through my teacher input,
enduring impact of early
Portugues exploration and
expansion will not yet be covered.
o Students should be taking notes
which will help provide context
for the upcoming class activity
(which will in itself help students
gain a better understanding of
Portugal’s motives for exploring
Africa and the Indian Ocean)
• The following activity will be “Age of
Exploration: Portugal’s Motives for
Exploring Africa” made available by
sascurriculumpathways.com (linked
below)
o Students will be placed in groups
of four, where they will then be
given laptops, ipads, or other
technological devices that have
internet access.
o Students will go to
sascurriculumpathways.com and
use a combination of 8 different
websites/links for internet
research purposes. Other internet
sources can be used with teacher’s
approval.
o Research will be prompted and
guided by the “Into Africa”
handout available at the end of
this lesson plan.
o The intention of this activity is to
get students doing internet
research to answer historical
questions.
• Before students begin working, I will
discuss examples of both good and bad
exemplars so that students know the
quality of work expected
discovery of a sea route to
India. It will also allow
students to see causes for a
peak in Europe’s interest in
continued overseas
exploration and trade.
• If scaffolding is necessary, I will be able to
answer students’ questions and help clarify
the assignment throughout the guided
practice
• I will check for understanding by making
sure that students are conducting research
and answering the questions on their
This activity is intended to
allow for student acquisition
of course content through a
means other than lecturing.
Students will also be
learning research, analytical,
and collaborative skills in
o
Extending & Refining
(Guided Practice)
handout.
• The majority of scaffolding, guidance, and
checking for understanding is likely to
come from peers working together in their
small groups.
the process of increasing
content knowledge.
Adjusting/ReCentering
(Assessing student
progress, adjustments)
• While this activity is relatively
straightforward, students may still struggle
with historical context and key historical
figures.
• If students need assistance, guiding
questions and a better explaination of both
the historical context and specifics
pertaining to historical figures would likely
help students develop their historical
argument for or against continued overseas
commerce
• After 40 minutes of research and group
work, each group will have five minutes to
present their research findings. This will
allow for students to share their learning as
a means of adjusting and/or re-centering
their classmate’s historical understanding.
My initial impression is that
this lesson will not require a
significant amount of readjustment, if any, as
students will be working
collaboratively in groups.
This is bound to aid in the
process of gaining a
historical understanding of
Portugal’s motives for
exploring Africa. More
knowledgeable others within
the group will likely be able
to provide constant adjusting
and re-centering to
struggling group members.
Extending & Refining
II
(Independent practice)
• In order to show mastery, groups will need
to share their completed handouts with
ample and accurate information.
• Students will spend a few minutes of
independent practice by filling out a
table/chart (provided below) that will be
used throughout the duration of the unit to
record the motives and impacts of
European exploration.
The use of a graphic
organizer will help students
keep track of their learning
throughout the unit. This
particular graphic organizer
will aid in furthering
students’ understanding of
continuity, change, and
consequence.
Closure
(Student-driven,
teacher directed close
to lesson)
• A teacher directed close to the lesson will
review the day’s learning and prepare
students for the next lesson on continued
European exploration and expansion (this
time across the Atlantic Ocean).
This lesson closure will
encourage students’
reflection on Europe’s
motives for exploration and
how these motives are
transferable from Africa and
the Indian Ocean to the
Atlantic Ocean and the
Americas.
Closure
(Student-driven,
teacher directed close
to lesson)
• A teacher-led closure will consist of a
reflection upon the class activity and how
Portugal’s findings in Africa and the
Indian Ocean would soon spark the interest
of Spain
• Students will take a couple of moments to
also write an exit-ticket with two things
that they learned from today’s lesson as
well as at least one question that they have
This closure should help
students reflect on the lesson
while also getting them to
think ahead about the next
lesson on Spanish
exploration and Christopher
Columbus
Assessments
Formative Assessments
• Bell-ringer: the bell-ringer will serve as a means
of formatively assessing students ability to think
critically about current events, specifically the
production and consumption of Chinese goods,
prior to delving into the revival of the Chinese
trade economy in the 14th and 15th centuries
• Class activity: the class activity will allow
students to assess their own learning in relation
to their peers. The teacher will also be able to
formatively assess student understanding
throughout the Internet research process and
through group presentations of their findings.
• Exit Ticket: An exit ticket will serve as a means
of formatively assessing what students have
learned as well as what questions they still have.
Summative assessment
• This lesson’s summative assessment will be the
“Into Africa” handout attached below. The
completion of this handout will demonstrate
the students’ understanding of historical
content as well as research skills.
Key People – Events – Groups - Terms
• Henry the Navigator
• Portugal
• Bartolomeu Dias
• Africa
• Vasco da Gama
• India
Concepts & Themes
• Religious zeal
• Global Interconnectedness
Lesson Vocabulary
• Colony
• Caravel
• Indian Ocean
• Cartazes
• Economic interests
• Colonization
• Slavery
•
•
• Cartography
•
•
Correlations: State
NC Essential Standards
• Primary -- WH.H.5: Analyze exploration and
expansion in terms of its motivations and impacts.
• Secondary -- WH.H.4: Analyze the political,
economic, social, and cultural factors that lead to
the development of the first age of global
interaction.
Correlations: National
Common Core & C3 Framework
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.9: Compare and
contrast treatments of the same topic in several
primary and secondary sources.
• D2.His.7.9-12: Explain how the perspectives of
people in the present shape interpretations of
the past.
• D2.His.10.9-12: Detect possible limitations in
various kinds of historical evidence and
differing secondary interpretations.
Research Notes & Sources (Citations)
•
•
“Age of Exploration: Portugal’s Motives for Exploring Africa”
(https://www.sascurriculumpathways.com/portal/Launch?id=592)
Tignor, Robert, Jeremy Adelman, Stephen Aron, Peter Brown, Benjamin Elman, Stephen Kotkin,
Xinru Liu, et al. Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. Fourth. New York: W.W. Norton & Company,
2014.
Into Africa
Name(s):
Class:
Analyzing Portugal's Motives for Exploring Africa
Complete the following questions and tasks based upon your research.
1. What was Portugal's perspective on the Moorish (Arab) rule in Northern Africa?
2. For what religious, political, and commercial reasons was Portugal interested in Africa?
3. What specific role did the following people play in Portugal's move toward Africa?
King John I
Prince Henry
Bartolomeu Dias
Vasco da Gama
4. How did Portuguese exploration in Africa lead to finding a specific sea route to India?
Date:
5. Construct a timeline charting Portugal's involvement in Africa highlighting events associated with
the following years (using the information in the suggested web sites): 1415, 1434, 1445, 1482,
1488, and 1498
6. Construct a map of the Iberian peninsula and the western coast of Africa designating the location
of the following Portuguese cities and African settlements: Lisbon, Ceuta, Cape Bojador, Cape
Verde, Sierra Leone, and El Mina.
7. What was Portugal's impact on western Africa?
From “Age of Exploration: Portugal’s Motives for Exploring Africa”
(https://www.sascurriculumpathways.com/portal/Launch?id=592)
Motives and Impacts of European Exploration Handout
Portugal
Motives for Exploration
Impacts of Exploration
Spain
Motives for Exploration
Impacts of Exploration