If I knew then, what I know now…
Plimoth Plantation living museum, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Image credit: Nancy, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.
The first settlers to the New World faced many difficulties. As they met each challenge, they either learned lessons and became more successful colonists, or eventually the colony failed.
- What lessons have you learned about being successful in the New World?
- What good decisions did you make?
- What decisions do you wish you had made differently?
Think about your answers to these questions as you read this scenario:
A printer in London is putting together a book for new colonists called “The Savvysavvy Colonists’ Guide to the New World” and has asked you to contribute to the book. You will work with a group to write an informational column that explains the decisions you made as colonists, both good and bad. You will offer advice to these new colonists based on your own decisions and what you have learned about early settlements. Use pages 23 – 29 in your Engineering Portfolio. Review the rubric before you begin.
Teacher Note
On this page students will complete a writing project to summarize what they have learned. Students will write a “Savvy Colonists’ Guide to the New World,” with each group contributing a column.
Essential Questions
- How do geographic characteristics determine choices? (For, example, climate guides decisions about food, clothing and shelter.)
- How do individual communities use scientific ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and the environment?
STEM Career
Connection
STEM in the 1600s
Settlers in colonial America may not have called it STEM, but they used plenty of science, technology, engineering and math in jobs such as farming, printing and sailing.
