Age of Enlightenment (1700-1850) Lesson Plans

Learners use a core map and several drawings to explore Captain Cook's journey's in the context of Enlightenment science, politics and commerce. They are introduced to eighteenth-century science and exploration.

Students participate in a lesson plan that is about the finding of information to support a historical into the thinkers of the Enlightenment. They conduct research that is used to find information that is essential to have material for analysis.

Students examine lives, philosophies, and political beliefs of four Enlightenment Thinkers: Baron de Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke. Students then work with partner to write short speech from perspective of one of the philosophers.

Sixth graders probe the main concepts of the Age of Enlightenment in this five lesson unit. The great thinkers and their ideas form the basis of this exploration into the philosophy used to help form our nation.

Students engage in a discussion of the Enlightenment and its impact in the realm of art and technology. They conduct research with the help of the internet and other resources. Students read the information and perform analysis of it.

Tenth graders explore the Enlightenment. In this Enlightenment lesson, 10th graders review their knowledge of the era as they compose letters from the perspective of citizens at the time to their parents.

Young scholars examine the key ideas of the Enlightenment. Using primary source documents, they discuss how the Enlightenment allowed for the rise of democratic ideas. They identify the origins of the American Revolution and the drafting of the Constitution. They also examine the effects of the Civil War on the United States as a world power.

Students discuss how people have used engineering, science, and math together to create famous landmarks. Students will research the number of people it took to build the landmark and define engineering terminology such as compression, tension and force. While this lesson is scant, a KWL chart and statistical data on 6 different landmarks is included.

Young scholars discover the ideas of enlightenment by reading historical poetry.  For this philosophical lesson, students read poems by Sir Walter Scott and Sergeant Joyce Kilmer while discussing the themes of the writing with classmates.  Young scholars view the Bill Murray film Groundhog Day and complete several activities based on the characters and existential viewpoints from the film.

Young scholars assess their own energy use to help develop an awareness of the different types of natural resources affected by consumers. Their calculations show them how much they are personally impacting the Earth. Very meaningful and enlightening lesson!