The Renaissance

Unit Highlights

In this unit, students will analyze the origins, accomplishments, and geographic diffusion of the Renaissance. Students will be able to:

  • Define humanism and explain its impact on Europe.

  • Explain the importance of Florence and other trading cities in the development and spread of the Renaissance.

  • Explain the effect of the Silk Road and the travels of Marco Polo.

  • Evaluate the effect of the printing press.

  • Analyze the advances in thought and art in the Renaissance.

Flocabulary

Unit Vocabulary

  • Age of Exploration

  • Dante Alighiere

  • Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi (Donatello)

  • Florence

  • Humanism

  • Individualism

  • Johann Gutenberg

  • Leonardo da Vinci

  • Marco Polo

  • The Medici Family

  • Michelangelo di Buonarroti (Michelangelo)

  • Miguel de Cervantes

  • Nicolaus Copernicus

  • The Printing Press

  • Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (Raphael)

  • Realism

  • The Reformation

  • The Renaissance

  • Secularism

  • William Shakespeare

Activity 1: The Renaissance Pre-Test

Using your prior knowledge, brainstorm, list, and/or draw what you know about the Renaissance in a thinking map. Complete this assignment on the Thinking Maps Learning Community or on paper. You may include:

  • Information you know or kind of know about the Renaissance.

  • Guesses about the Renaissance.

  • Questions you have about the Renaissance.

  • Information you would like to know about the Renaissance.

  • What comes to mind when you think of the Renaissance.