Jamestown Settlement

Skills

Collaboration
Communication
Creativity

External References

Map of Jamestown

The entities to get your groups started and building. After everyone has made it to shore reset spawn from ship.

Supporting Files

Photo of Jamestown Colony

The exterior of the colony to give students a look as to the unique shape of the settlement.

Photo of Jamestown Colony 2

This photo shows what the buildings in the settlement looked like. It is necessary as the students are reproducing the settlement.

Learning Objectives

We begin with research about what the settlers of the Jamestown Colony took with them on their voyage. Then the challenge is building a protective fortress and surviving while completing the tasks needed to make a successful colony.

Guiding Ideas

We are going to explore what America's development was like from the first settlers to colonial settlements to what the cities looked like pre Civil War. For the first part of our journey, we will be investigating and building the Jamestown Settlement.

Use any of the following to research the questions below:

the student approved search engines
the social studies textbooks
your social studies website if you have an online textbook

You will need to write your answers and share them with your teacher.

Who were the people who settled Jamestown?
What did they bring?
Household goods?
Clothing? How much? What kind? (Did they pack as we would?)
Seeds? Why would bringing seeds be necessary?
Animals? What kind and how many? Why would they need to bring animals with them?
What hardships did they have to deal with?
What was the weather like in the Jamestown area at that time?
How did they set up government?
Who was in charge?
Did they have laws?
Did they have a "police force"?
How did they relate to the Native Americans in the area?

We will be splitting your class into 3 groups. Each group will select a leader. It will be that leader's job to assign jobs to the members of their landing party. You must work together in order to survive in this strange and, at times, harsh environment.

Scenario: You have just landed on the coast of what will one day be Virginia. This is a strange land, completely unlike your home of England. There are strange animals and strange people who do not speak your language. You have come seeking your fortune. But before you can do anything you must build a place to live and work that will provide shelter and safety.

In order for you to get an idea of what the settlers went through, you need to experience having to gather, build, plant food and exist with essentially nothing to start with.

When your group has finished the questions and turned in your documents and your teacher will open your map. You will be spawned aboard a ship. You must depart the ship, get into a boat, and row to shore together. When you debark the ship look for the V-Shape between 2 hills. Aim for that. Row across the lagoon and look for the chest under a tree. I have provided you with some tools, string, seeds, and a few torches to help you get started.

Once there, you will need to refer to your list of tasks to make the land inhabitable.

You are in Easy Survival Mode.

Good luck!

Student Activities

Debark the ship. You may take one bed each.
Row to shore.
Find the chest.
Divide the materials equally among work groups.
The leader will assign jobs, those who will gather, those who will protect, builders, planters.
Build a shelter, cooperate so that you will rest at the same time.
Build the settlement so that it resembles the Jamestown Settlement (see attached photos).

Note to Teachers/Instructors:

You may want to build a beacon near the chest to aid students as they make their landing. Particularly if it is a dark stormy night. It can help alleviate frustration in lesser experienced players.

After the party has landed and begun their build transfer the spawn point from the ship to the location of their settlement.

Performance Expectations

Pre-Build Questions and background knowledge:

20 pts Yes, answered all the questions Questions were answered in their entirety. Complete sentences used. Obvious from answers research was done. Quality of answers was evident.

16 pts Questions partly answered. An effort was made to answer questions, however, no extra effort was put forth to research possible answers. Answers were not in complete sentences throughout.

4 pts Did not answer questions in their entirety. Answers were not complete. No research was done. Complete sentences not used.

Participated in the selection process 3 leaders from the classroom to lead their settlement:

20 pts Nominated and/or actively participated in the selection process. Voiced opinions. Voted one time.

16 pts Participated but did not voice opinions. Participated but did not voice an opinion. Voted more than once.

0 pts Did not participate.

Collaborated well within their settlement group:

20 pts Collaborated well within the group. Followed directions from the leader. Offered help and suggestions to lesser experienced Minecraft players. Helped gather necessary materials. Offered recipes and advice on the best way to build and craft. Cooperated with the entire group.

16 pts Did the work but not completely collaborative. Did the work. Did not offer to help less experienced players with tips and tricks to survive or gather. A "lone wolf". Did help with the build but did not take direction well from the leader.

0 pts Did the work but was not a good group member. Spent time aggro-ing mobs. Blew things up unnecessarily. Tried to PVP other members of the group. Did not take direction well. Did not stay on task.

Final build looked like the Jamestown settlement. And every effort was made to try to recreate the settlement to look like the image in the assignment:

20 pts Group did a great job of recreating the settlement. All members of the group created a portfolio and exported to the teacher.

16 pts Recreation was fair, but more effort could have been put into the work. Some members of the group created a portfolio and exported to the teacher.

0 pts No real effort is evident in the build that the group was trying to achieve a settlement that looked like the original Jamestown.

Answering the follow-up reflection questions:

20 pts Student answered all the questions in a thoughtful way. Complete sentences were used as directed. Answers are well thought out and show the member was really trying to see what it was like to experience Jamestown.

16 pts Student answered all the questions but no thought was really put forth in the answers. One or two-word answers were given with no real reflective thought behind them. The student was putting no effort in reflecting on the process.

0 pts The student did not answer the questions or answers were very sparse. The student put forth no effort in answering the questions.