Learning Goals
Students will be able to investigate the geographic factors that shaped early European overseas expansion by comparing ocean routes, ports, winds, and location advantages across world regions.
Students will be able to analyze how navigation tools, ship design, and military technology affected European states' ability to build overseas empires.
Students will be able to evaluate economic motives for colonization by examining trade goods, profit, mercantilism, and access to wealth in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
Students will be able to justify how political rivalry among European states contributed to empire building by using evidence from maps, timelines, and short texts.
Students will be able to assess the reliability and perspective of maps, artifacts, images, and short texts by identifying origin, purpose, and limits of each source.
Students will be able to synthesize evidence from multiple world regions into a revised claim explaining why European states expanded overseas first.
Students will be able to collaborate in discussion and critique to refine their investigation question, method, and evidence-based interpretation.
Products
European Colonization Investigation Notebook
A research notebook that documents the student’s question, method choices, source notes, evidence analysis, and revised claim about why European states expanded overseas first. It must show raw observations, source reliability judgments, and a reflection on how the claim changed over time.
Routes, Rivalries, and Reach Museum Exhibit Panel with Mini Talk
A team museum-style exhibit panel and 2–3 minute presentation that synthesizes each member’s evidence into one shared historical explanation. The team must include annotated visuals, compare evidence across regions, address anomalies or conflicting findings, and explain methodological choices and limitations.
No rubric has been generated yet.