Phase 2: Choosing an Explorer

In the next step, each team will identify one explorer who is worthy of being honored with a new holiday and to learn about that person so they can design an appropriate celebration. 

  1. Provide a list of explorers from which teams may select. Choose explorers for the list based on available resources in your school library so that you can ensure students have adequate print sources for their research. 
  2. Help teams plan how to cooperatively assign tasks for completing the necessary research and filling out the Phase 2 Data Chart. Teams might assign each person to study one source and answer several questions, or each person could be responsible for one question and locate the answer in various sources. As before, there must be at least two sources (one Internet and one print) to answer each question, though the same source can certainly provide information to answer more than one of the questions. Remind students to record their sources on bibliography slips. 
  3. Assist teams in generating a list of aspects of their explorers that are worth celebrating based on their research. They may include whatever other interesting facts they found that might be relevant. 
  4. Teams should also at this point begin creating a map of the explorer’s voyages. The map should be hand-drawn in color on paper at least 8 1/2" by 11".