Developments in Europe
Teacher Resources
Lesson Guide
Wondering where you can find teacher instructions, vocabulary, guiding questions, and sample answers? Check out the guide.
PD Video: Primary-Source Power
This lesson features students’ first encounter with sourcing. This 26-minute video features sourcing tips from historian Bridgette Byrd O’Connor’s PD event.
Driving Question: How did religious influences and political decentralization shape medieval Europe c. 1200 to 1450 CE?
As was the case in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, regions in Europe took a variety of approaches to state building between 1200 and 1450. After the fall of the Roman Empire, some parts of Europe retained unity while others became fragmented. Regardless of the outcome, governance was shaped by economic expansion and religious influences.
Learning Objectives:
- Explain how the beliefs and practices of the predominant religions in Europe affected European society.
- Explain the causes and consequences of political decentralization in Europe from c. 1200 to c. 1450.
- Explain the effects of agriculture on social organization in Europe in the period
- Use historical thinking skills and reasoning practices such as sourcing, contextualization, comparison, continuity and change over time (CCOT), and claim testing to evaluate historical events and processes.
Vocab Terms:
This is the first sourcing activity in the course, and if you’re looking for a few additions to your typical classroom routine, we’ve got you covered. Check out OER Project supports like the Sourcing Tool and related Feedback Form, and find some tips and tricks for teaching this skill—all in a quick one-pager.
Answering questions for Advanced Placement is not dissimilar to being a reporter: you must find the Who, Where and Why of the story.
In the wake of chaos and disorder, new patterns often emerge that point the way to a new beginning. In the case of Europe circa 1200–1450, decentralization would lead to a new system that would forever change the continent—and the world.
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Guiding Questions
Think about your favorite band breaking up and the two main singers starting solo careers. The Christian church had a breakup, and their main singers became the Byzantine and Latin churches.
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Guiding Questions
Want to know more about the source collections in OER Project’s courses? Here’s a handy list of all the collections across our course offerings.
A diverse tapestry of different communities stretched across Afro-Eurasia in the thirteenth century. Analyzing primary sources will help you make sense of the religious diversity of this region. Then, you’ll use the graphic biography to assess how Jewish communities interacted with other religious communities in this era.
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Guiding Questions
Remind students that they will see these Themes Notebooks at the beginning and end of each unit. If your students didn't complete the notebook at the beginning of the unit, you might want to skip this activity and try it in next unit.
By comparing their responses in this activity to those at the start of the unit, students get a sense of what they’ve learned and how their thinking has changed. It’s a cool way to have them self-reflect before moving forward in the content.
It is not uncommon to change your mind about things over time, usually based on new knowledge you acquire. The Themes Notebook helps you evaluate how what you thought at the beginning of a unit may have changed over time.
