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Virtual Jamestown in the Classroom

New Additions: See Images of the New World and Jamestown Changes, Edsitement Lesson Plans from the National Endowment for the Humanities

The "Leadership in Jamestown" and "Jobs in Jamestown" teaching scenarios were adapted from the work of Mickey Hickman and Erin Wigginton.* Mr. Hickman is the author of Catch Them Thinking in Social Studies, Simon & Schuster, 1999, an approach that uses cross-curricular and problem-solving techniques. The other teaching strategies were devised by Dr. Cheryl Mason and graduate students in the University of Virginia Curry School of Education.

Copyright & Fair Use

For information on using copyrighted Virtual Jamestown materials and how to properly cite materials found on the site, click here.

Jamestown Teaching Material

• Images of the New World a major Edsitement lesson plan written by David Jaffe, CCNY. Part of an NEH May 2007 spotlight showcasing Virtual Jamestown and featuring the 400th anniversary of the founding.
• Jamestown Changes. Edsitement resources from NEH on Jamestown
• Leadership in Jamestown
  Students will identify historical ideas about the New World and colonization and formulate ideas about leadership. They will also evaluate candidates for the leadership of Jamestown, debate their merits, and write persuasive arguments.
• Jobs in Jamestown:
  Students will use census data to research occupations of colonial settlers and create graphs to answer questions about labor and economy in Jamestown.
• The Jamestown Newsletter:
  Students will research questions about life in the colony and use ClarisWorks to create a newsletter about Jamestown.
• Jamestown's Economy:
  Students will use photographs of material artifacts to study the economic relationships between Native Americans and colonists.
• Jamestown Fort:
  Students will identify the location of the original Jamestown Fort and identify artifacts from archaeological explorations.
• Language and Runaway Slave Ads:
  Students will examine and compare the language masters used to describe runaway slaves and runaway indentures.
• Planning an Escape:
  Students will study runaway slave advertisements in order to determine the range of factors a slave had to consider before escaping.
• Runaway Indentured Servants:
  Students will use runaway slave advertisements to compare masters' attitudes toward slaves and indentured servants.
• Who Got Away? Eighteenth-Century Runaway Slaves:
  Students will read runaway slave advertisements, consider which slaves may have been best equipped, and speculate about who may have successfully gained freedom.
• State of Affairs Between the Native Americans and the European Settles
  Students will use online primary resources to examine relations betwee n the Native Americans and the European settlers during the Age of Discovery.

Role Playing Exercises: