Overview
This Workshop focuses on the early colonial period in New England (1600-1700), with an emphasis on the role of geography and place. Participants will engage with maps and other primary sources, explore the colonial New England landscape and learn from scholars at a variety of historic sites, universities, and archival collections. Maps are one of the few visual sources from the early colonial period. A close look at the language and perspective on maps reveals how New England was viewed in the European imagination, early contact and conflict with Native Americans and how English settlers began to form a new identity for themselves, connected to and apart from that of Native Americans.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
What does a geographical focus contribute to our understanding of the concepts of conflict and colonization in New England?
What kinds of evidence do maps provide as primary sources? What do they NOT provide?
How can we combine maps with other sources to investigate the history of a place?
How does the geography of a place impact what happened there? How does spatial awareness contribute to an overall understanding of daily life and historical events?
How can being in an actual place where historical events occurred help to enrich understanding and teaching of a topic?
OUTCOMES
Participants will be able to identify primary sources that they can use to teach the role of geography, place and conflict in the 1600-1700 time period in New England.
Participants will be able to effectively search for primary sources from a variety of digital collections and link to at least 6 primary sources, including historic maps, to use in their classroom.
Participants will create a lesson or “toolkit” of at least 6 primary sources that tie to their curriculum for teaching the early colonial period in New England.
Participants will be able to demonstrate how they will integrate at least one new primary source related to the early Colonial period (1600-1700) in New England into their teaching through a lesson plan.
Participants will be able to demonstrate how to use various inquiry methods when teaching using maps and primary sources related to the early Colonial period (1600-1700) in New England through a lesson plan.
Image courtesy of Plimoth Plantation