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The Fear of Exploration Because of... Sea Monsters

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Instructor: Carrie Sadik

Workshop: World Oceans

Targeted Grade Level(s): 8th grade

Content Area(s) Covered: American History

Anticipated Duration: This lesson can be an introductory, 1-day lesson, as it is part of month-long study on early North American exploration.

Rationale:

Examine the underestimated cause as to why exploration into the western hemisphere was not common before the 1400’s.

Objectives:

The learner will be able to reconstruct the causes-effects of exploration to North America.

Sunshine State Standards:

• SS.A.1.3: The student understands historical chronology and the historical perspective.
• SS.A.4.3: The student understands U.S. history to 1880.
• SS.B.2.3: The student understands the interactions of people and the physical environment.

Resources/Materials Needed:

1. A “monstrous” size large squid that can be placed around the classroom (taking up all the walls) that was made in art class
2. Lighting: the lights should be off with the exception of outdoor lighting or one light. 
3. Recording of the ocean playing audibly in the back. 
4. Pictures of mythical or real “sea monsters” should be available on transparency, slide, or computer images. 
5. Textbook:  A History of US, book 1, The First Americans
6. Computer Lab with reliable Internet access

Procedures: 

1. Anticipatory Set:  the walk-in to the classroom.  Fear should come up into the student (whether that is fear of the squid or fear of what is this teacher up to) and you will likely see that no student will sit close to the squid along the walls.  This will just encourage all feelings you are trying to invoke into the students so that a state of understanding may develop for sea farers’ fear of the unknown. 
2. Now, pass out articles from newspapers of any date that have extreme ocean fatalities, victimizations, vanishings, etc.  Have students read them at their groups and then share a summary of the article with their neighboring group.  Then they must finish this sentence as a group:  “The parties involved in these incidents must have felt __________ because of ______________.”
   
   Exactly the point!  You weren’t there, yet you can be affected by all these news stories.  Some people might say these stories have given them a cause to not travel on the water.  Not much has changed over 500 years. 
3. Begin reading from A History of Us, Book 1, The First Americans about their fears of sea monsters and the unknown.  All of this information today is used with other information about early explorers to N. America:  Leif Erikson, Coronado, Magellan, Columbus, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, etc. 

Informal/Formal Assessments:

The assessment is a journal that students must prepare.  They must choose an explorer that they would like to pretend to be as they create this journal that contains: diary entries, specimens, drawings, log books, maps, etc. 

Evaluation/Reflection:  

• I’ve done this assignment (the journal) for 2 years now and love seeing students’ creativity and accuracy to ideas, thoughts of that time.  I have not included “sea monsters” in this assignment, because I didn’t have a way to approach the idea, but after attending this workshop I’ve been inspired to include them. 
• For the project/journal it is best if students can spend time in a computer lab to obtain information. If there is an efficient way to express the actual travel distance/time during the 1500’s for students to grasp that would add to their understanding as well as depth of the ocean floor, students would be in more amazement of this discovery.