Hello again to all, Aedan here. So excited to show you what we have been doing in humanities for the past couple weeks. This post will be talking about the project we have been doing on explorers. We learnt lots throughout this unit and I really enjoyed it. I think that this has been my favourite unit in humanities so far and I think I did very well in it. So, without further to do, welcome to another fantastic journey.

Project overview:

For this project we were going to learn lots about the age of exploration and finding new land. In order to succeed in the final product we would have to do lots of background research on explorations, explorers, tools, and what convinced people to start exploring new places. This whole unit was placed right near the end of the Renaissance. After lots of activities and thorough research we would begin the final project. For our final project we had two tasks.

1.  We would create a comic book that shows an exploration that an explorer we researched went on. We would also have to include ourselves in the comic book and tag along in some way.

2.   After creating a comic book, we would have to create a presentation. This presentation would have to convince the queen to fund you on another exploration. The presentation would include at least one visual component.

After completing both those tasks and presenting in front of the class the project was over. Sounds easy? No. This project was tough and challenging, but really fun at the same time. So, now it’s time to read about my journey through the different stages of this project.

What motivates exploration???

For this section of the project we learnt about the different reasons for exploration from Economy to trade. Lots of different reasons made explorers want to explore, but some were forced to. Some of the ships carried slaves, others trading goods. Some ships were just trying to spread the word of God and Christianity. Overall there were many reasons for exploration, even just questioning what hadn’t been discovered. Throughout this part of the project we did some work sheets and reading, but the thing that stood out as the most important was a T-chart that we did on different reasons and motivations to explore. In this unit we also chose an explorer from that era. I originally chose Francis Drake, but ended up using John Hawkins for my final project. Below are my T-charts and research on Francis Drake that I had done.

What challenges do people encounter when they explore???

For this part of the project we looked at the different challenges faced during an exploration. A big part of this was having the means to explore. The means are the tools (like a ship and men) you need in order to explore. After learning lots about the different tools used including many different ships, we learnt about expansionism

We learnt about the different places the explorers actually went and why they decided to go there. A big part of expansionism is tied in with what motivates exploration. The different reasons for expansionism was mainly for exploration to be easier. Expansionism is basically just expanding your land you own and even the sea. Expansionism made farther explorations easier and made countries bigger.

What are the long-term effects of exploration???

For this part of the project we learnt about the long-term effects caused by exploration. One of them being the slaves. A big problem with exploration was the fact that many slaves were brought along and sometimes exploration even threatened to wipe out a whole culture. For this part of the project we learnt lots about the middle passage.

We learnt about what it was like for the different people on the ships of these explorations. Many of the African slaves were brutally beaten and many died. This obviously left a big impact on the Africans and the world as we know it today. Some of the members on the ship even felt that they were pushing it to far. Many of the African slaves died from a disease called Flux. This was because it was a very unsanitary place they stayed. Some of the Flux disease even got brought to different places where the slaves went. The middle passage was not a good thing at all and left a huge impact on our society.

Comic!!!

After all the background research it was time to begin our project. We got to choose an explorer from a list that we must include in our comic as we go on one of their explorations. I originally chose Francis Drake, but after starting some research I decided to do John Hawkins. Shortly after starting our comic we did a peer critique. I found this very helpful for a different perspective on my comic book. So, without further to do, here is my comic book. Hope you enjoy.

I feel like my biggest strength in this whole project was creating this comic. I found it very fun to make and I’m very proud of the outcome. Hope you enjoyed it!

Presentation!!!

Let’s just say this didn’t turn out as planned… I first created a big keynote that had mostly pictures. I created a nice convincing script that was made to convince the queen to fund me on another exploration. I was fully prepared to present everything. I arrived at school and when it was my time to present I was really nervous. Like abnormally nervous. Normally I’m ok with presenting in front of an audience, but this time was not my time. I started reading my script and going through my keynote, but I lost my spot on my script and I was so nervous that I couldn’t find it. I decided that I had memorized enough so I just winged it. This was not a good plan. Throughout the presentation I paused to try and remember what to say. I’m going to take this mess up as a learning opportunity and remember that I’m not good at memorizing a whole script and that I shouldn’t be worried in front of an audience because it makes it worse. Overall I really enjoyed this project and I’m really happy with my comic. Hope you enjoyed reading this post. And remember kids… stick with that script.

Until next time… Aedan Loughran