Rise of the Medieval City

A WebQuest for 6-12th Grade Social Studies or Literature

Designed by Chris Espinosa

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Introduction

This lesson was a project done for Education 537, Technology Across the Curriculum, which is part of the MAT program at Pacific University.

This lesson is designed for a History unit on Medieval Europe, but can be applied generally to any discipline  which looks at the Medieval city, or Medieval cultures.  Students will research Medieval cities, and different groups within those cities, and design a Medieval city of their own. The project's goal is to get students to understand different cultures within the Medieval city, and to understand how those cultures interact and depend on one another.  Furthermore, the project helps students understand reasons for the growth of cities in the late Middle Ages.  A secondary function of this project is to have students develop negotiation skills.

Learners

This project is best suited for students in 11th or 12th grade European History classes, but can easily be modified to fit any number of classes that deal with Medieval cultures.  This lesson would also be helpful as an introduction to the Black Death, or Renaissance Europe.  Students should have some experience with navigating on the net, and be knowledgeable about utilizing databases.

Curriculum Standards

This lesson specifically addresses some of the Oregon State Social Studies CIM requirements:

Social Studies Standards Addressed

• Understand the causes, characteristics, lasting influences, and impact of political, economic, and social development in world history
  
• Compare and contrast institutions and ideas in history, noting cause and effect relationships.
• Analyze an event, issue, or phenomenon, from varied or opposed perspectives or points of view.
  

Students will have an opportunity to hone their research and writing skills, and develop negotiation skills while working within a group. 

Process

Step one: Each team of five must decide which role each member will play.

Church  Officials: Large churches were usually in the center of town.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html
http://www.netserf.org/
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval_church.htm

Jews: Often Lived near castles for protection
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1t.html
http://www2.kenyon.edu/Projects/Margin/jew.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/ghetto

Artisans: Tried to be near the marketplace to sell their goods.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1t.html
http://www.historyforkids.org/


Merchants: Lived near marketplace, or close to main gates for trading purposes.
http://www.fidnet.com/~weid/medievaleconomics.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/12834/text/marketplace.html
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1t.html

Beggars: Often lived by churches to collect alms from worshipers
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1t.html
http://www.ku.edu/kansas/medieval/108/lectures/paupers.html
http://www.the-orb.net/textbooks/nelson/paupers.html
 
Step two: After careful research, as a team, you will decide the best location for your city, and the lay-out of your city.

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gbetcher/373/MedTowns.htm
http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/  
http://www.the-orb.net/
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html
http://www.historyforkids.org/

Step three: Each student will research the role of their respective character's group of people to see what they offer the city, and decide where in the city that group best suited (remember, you will likely have to have more than one site in mind).

Step four: Each team will negotiate between themselves to figure out which section of town their respective group of people will control (eg: city center, near the main gate, along river or wall, etc.).

Step five: On a poster board, the team will recreate the Medieval city that your team imagined.  The team will need to identify which part of the city each group of people controls, roads leading to and from the city, and major buildings (such as the church) in the city.  Along with the poster, each individual member of the team will write a one to two page paper that explains the role that their group of people play in the Medieval city, and why they choose/didn't choose the section of the city that their group of people controls.  In additions, each individual student will fill out a sheet evaluating each member of his or her group.

Step six: There will be a five minute presentation given by each team defending their proposed city plan. Each presentation will be followed by a short question and answer session.

Resources Needed

Describe what's needed to implement this lesson. Some of the possibilities:

• Internet access
  
• Knowledge of links above
  
• Sufficient time for research and project development
  
• See http://www.uoguelph.ca/history/urban/citybibIV01.html for a good bibliography of books on the Medieval city
  

In higher grades (10-12), one teacher is sufficient, but for lower grades (6-9) it might be better to do this project with more than one teacher, as much of the reading can be hard or tedious for younger students.  This may also be a good project for a cross-curriculum project (eg: incorporating both History, and Literature)

Evaluation

Each student will be evaluated both as a group, and as an individual within that group, and will be given a single grade.  The rubric below illustrates how the project will be evaluated. Peer evaluations will also be taken into account.

Credits & References

 The WebQuest Page and the Design Patterns page were the resources used to create this webquest. 
Top image, and map image can be found at: http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il
Full "Beggar" image found at: http://classes.bnf.fr/ema/grands/795.htm
"Jews" image found at: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/jewishsbook.html#The%20Jewish%20Middle%20Ages
"Artisans" image can be found at: http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/n/nanni/banco/
"Church Officials" image found at: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/07/euwc/ho_1984.343.htm
Full "Merchants" image found at: http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/ARTH200/artist/guilds.html

We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. On the line after the original author's name, you may add Modified by (your name) on (date). If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL.