Summary
This lesson is a single-day introduction to key vocabulary terms and central ideas of the Enlightenment period. Students engage in a discussion about general concepts raised by philosophers of the time, sort terms into common themes, and begin to make connections between Enlightenment ideas and the modern world of today.
Essential Question(s)
How do principles brought about during the Enlightenment relate to and influence the modern world?
Snapshot
Engage
Students discuss five statements related to the Enlightenment and determine whether they are always, sometimes, or never true.
Explore
Students organize a Honeycomb Harvest composed of Enlightenment vocabulary.
Explain
Students independently justify the connections they made between terms in the Honeycomb Harvest activity.
Extend
Students make connections between vocabulary words and life today.
Evaluate
Students complete revisit statements from earlier in the lesson by connecting them to the Enlightenment period.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Always, Sometimes, or Never True handout (attached; optional; one per student)
Food Hexagons handout (attached; optional)
Enlightenment Hexagons handout (attached; one per group)
Honeycomb Harvest Justification handout (attached; one per student)
Poster boards or sticky easel pads
Sticky notes
Scissors
Highlighters
Permanent markers
Glue sticks
Engage
10 Minute(s)
Use the attached Lesson Slides to facilitate the lesson. Transition through slides 1–4 to introduce the title of the lesson, the essential question, and the learning objectives.
Move to slide 5 and share the Always, Sometimes, or Never True strategy. Designate three areas of the room to represent the “always,” “sometimes,” and “never” options.
Transition to slide 6 and read the first statement on the slide. Have students move to the area of the room that indicates whether they believe the statement to be always true, sometimes true, or never true. Have students discuss their choice with others in the same area of the room. Invite one volunteer from each area of the room to share out. Repeat this process with all five statements.
Explore
20 Minute(s)
Organize students into groups of four to five. Move to slide 7 and pass out one copy of the attached Enlightenment Hexagons handout to each group. Share the Honeycomb Harvest strategy and have students cut out the hexagons and arrange them based on the connections they have with one another. Provide each group with a piece of poster board and have students glue their hexagons onto it.
Explain
10 Minute(s)
Pass out one copy of the attached Honeycomb Harvest Justification handout to each student and move to slide 8. Have students individually choose three terms and write them in the first three hexagons on the handout. Between the terms, have students explain how the terms are connected. Have students repeat this with five more terms.
If time permits, allow a few students to share their rationale.
Extend
5 Minute(s)
Transition to slide 9. Have students work together as a group to identify three terms that connect to life today. Have them highlight these terms on their posters. Invite students to discuss these terms with their groups. Then, have them come up with rationale to support their choices. Have them write their rationale on sticky notes.
Have students place the sticky notes next to the terms on their posters. Ask a few groups to share out the terms they chose to highlight and their explanations.
Evaluate
5 Minute(s)
Display slide 10. Share that the statements on the slide are the same from the ones they read at the beginning of the lesson. Tell students they should now complete an Exit Ticket relating these phrases to what they learned.
Give each student a sticky note. Have students select one of the statements and explain how it relates to the ideas of the Enlightenment. Have students write their responses on their sticky notes and place them in a common location such as the classroom door or whiteboard as they leave class. These sticky notes can serve as a formative assessment of the lesson.
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). Always, sometimes, or never true. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/145
K20 Center. (n.d.). Bell ringers and exit tickets. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/125
K20 Center. (n.d.). Honeycomb harvest. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/61