Introduction

You are a member of a manor experiencing financial difficulties in Medieval times.  Your lord has issued a decree that all individuals must submit evidence detailing job requirements and personal effectiveness throughout the past year, in order to justify your continued service.

Your livelihood depends your research and application.  How persuasive and effective can you be in your presentation to the lord?

For the lord to evaluate your positively you must provide him with your group's portfolio that will include:

• a business letter detailing job descriptions and personal effectiveness of each group member
• a visual representation of each job description
• an artifact from your societal role
• an edited video-tape persuasive narrative detailing his need for your continued service
• a catapult built, based on research and teacher criteria
• a spreadsheet documenting the efficiency of the catapult
• a PowerPoint presentation describing the application of projectile motion in weapons through history

Students will be introduced to the project with a lesson and direct application of performing an effective web search.  Students will then complete "State of the Manor," a webquest designed to introduce medieval times to the students.  The research and resulting projects will prepare the students for their study of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

Senior English and physics students will participate in this multidisciplinary unit.  The project will span a period of two or three weeks, prior to the introduction of The Canterbury Tales.  Students will be assigned to groups arranged by societal roles and will then select a particular role through random drawing.  As the English students are researching the feudal system, writing their business letters, developing their process paper, creating their artifact, and video taping their persuasive presentation the physics students will be researching medieval weaponry, learning about projectile motion, creating and testing a catapult, and then presenting further research about projectile motion used in weaponry throughout the ages.

You may use the following resources to research your societal role and physics applications to defense.  You will use this information to write your business letter, process paper, videotaped persuasive presentation, PowerPoint presentation concerning projectile motion and its use in weaponry throughout the ages, and to obtain ideas for your artifact.

Websites for Catapult:

Middelaldercentret: "The Medieval Centre in Denmark presents a late 14th century environment to the public."
Encyclopedia Britannica
The Trebuchet Resource Site
The Maplesearch Medieval War and Weapons Site
Medieval Times
Catapult Books
Ballistics Projectiles Formula
Catapult
The Trebuchet at NF Observatory
Catapults in Greek and Roman Antiquity
Maxwell Middle School Catapult Project
Trebuchet Story with Plans

Applications of Projectile Motion to Weapons Through the Ages:

Structural Damage Associated with Ammunition
Weaponry
Evolution of Weaponry Age Projectile Weapons
Weaponry
Castles of Britain-Medieval Weaponry
Ocean Design Weaponry
Interactive Time Machine-The Rifled Musket
Weapons of the Civil War
The Emergence of Modern War-Weaponry
Alternatives to Lethal Weaponry in Law Enforcement
Civil War Artillery
Grey Company Trebuchet Page
NC State Engineers' Research Aims at Power and Safety of Weapons
Holy Book of Trebuchets
Lock, Stock, and Barrel
Basic Facts Concerning Altillery
Tank Munitions and Vector Calculus
Presentation to Senate on Precision Weaponry
Medieval Arms Race
NOVA Builds a Trebuchet

Heraldry, Knights, and Tournaments:

Heraldry on the Internet
Oath of Kings of Arms
Avalon Project: Assize of Clarendon 1166
Clisto's Battle Statistics and Background
Charter of Homage and Fealty
Feudal Oaths of Fidelty
Feudal Obligations
Knighthood, Chivalry and Tournaments
Therion's Armor and Weapons Page
Why Armor Was Made
Shields, Knights and Heraldry (free software kit to download and create shields)

Life in the Villages:

Middle Ages
Homes of the Middle Ages
The Lost Medieval Village
Everyday Activities At An Estate
Medieval Technology Pages
Town Life in the Middle Ages
Medieval English Towns
Medieval England: Daily Life in Medieval Towns (craft guilds, merchant guilds)
Feudalism and Medieval Life
Feudal Life
Medieval Demongraphics Made Easy
Women in Medieval Guilds
Internet Medieval Sourcebook: Roles for Men and Women
The Medieval Manor

Religion and the Church in the Middle Ages:

Religion
Monks and Nuns
The Amiens Cathedral Project
The History of Notre Dame
The Rule of Saint Benedict
Saints' Lives
Medieval Religion in England
Life in a Medieval Monastery
Medieval Churches and Monasteries
Medieval Britain: Religious Orders

Castles:

Life in a Medieval Castle
Castles on the Web
The English Medieval Castle
Build a Medieval Castle
Castles in Medieval Times
Life in a Castle
Castles
Kids' Castle

Additional Resources:

A Brief Citation Guide for Internet Sources in History and the Humanities
Medieval Clip Art
Medieval and Renaissance Food and Feast Image Collection
Rules for Medieval Games
Medieval and Renaissnace Food Homepage
Medieval and Anglo Saxon Recipes
Angelcynn: Clothing of the Pagan Anglo-Saxons
The Official Medieval Movies Page
Images of Medieval Art and Architecture
The Castle of Wales
Castle Terminology
Heraldry on the Internet
General Medieval Music History
Welcome to the Middle Ages

Teacher Lesson Lab
 
 

Concepts

 Students will research Middle Ages through a variety of resources. Based on this research, students will develop artifacts and projects that reflect understanding of the time period. Students will extend their research to encompass weaponry through the ages.

Learning Objectives
 

 To write a correctly formatted, appropriate business letter that uses standard mechanics and usage.

To complete a works page in MLA format.

 To use word processing skills to complete a documented process paper according to teacher criteria.

 To create a visual representation illustrating the job requirements for a societal role.

 To provide an artifact representing the role.

 To create a video narrative persuading the lord of the manor of the importance of their societal role.

 To apply the concepts of projectile motion to build a catapult to teacher criteria.

 To create a spreadsheet documenting the efficiency of the catapult.

To create a PowerPoint presentation highlighting the application of projectile motion in weapons through history.

English and physics students will research the Middle Ages using various resources including "State of the Manor" WebQuest.

 English students will write a business letter to include job descriptions and develop products for societal roles.  This will culminate in an oral presentation.

 English students will individually write process papers detailing an aspect of the Middle Ages.

 Physics students will research the applications of projectile motion to weaponry throughout history and develop a PowerPoint presentation.

 Physics students will construct catapults and develop statistical data on Excel.

 All students will produce a video narrative detailing the state of the manor.

 Projects and information will be shared with the elementary students with a multi-age project.

Learning Strategies
English students will work in four or five major groups representative of the feudal society. Using "Sworn to Serve" WebQuest, individuals will research a societal role within that group.  These students will write a business letter to include job descriptions and create a visual representation illustrating the job requirements for that societal role.  Then students will collaboratively prepare a video narrative persuading the lord of the manor of the importance of their positions.  The feudal groups will use DV Studio to edit individual videos and create one video to present to the lord of the manor. English students will write a documented expository paper explaining a process from some aspect of life in the Middle Ages; eg. how to become a knight, how to make armor, how to construct a catapult. Physics students working collaboratively will apply the concept of projectile motion to the construction of catapults. Using Excel, students will keep a record of distances reached by the catapults. As a continuation of their study on projectile motion, students will research weapons through the ages and collaboratively produce a PowerPoint that illustrates the concept of projectile motion and its application in defense. The culmination of the project will be an invitation to the elementary students to attend a Medieval Day hosted by the high school students.

Assessment
Formal

 Business letters and the process papers will be assessed by a rubric that emphasizes format, mechanics and usage, content, and style.

 Video will be assessed using a rubric emphasizing content and presentation.

 Catapult will be assessed by projectile’s attainment of specified distances.

 PowerPoint presentations will be assessed by teacher designated criteria emphasizing content, creativity, and presentation, including mechanics and usage.

Informal
Teacher observation and student feedback will provide evidence of effective collaboration within and among the groups.

Classroom and Information Management
Students will work in and out of the English and physics classrooms as well as the computer lab. Individual and collaborative work will result in completed projects based on stated teacher criteria. Resources include trade books, media, Internet, calculators, as well as peer and teacher consultation.

Tools and Resources
 Teacher instruction
 Internet
 Teacher created WebQuest
 Microsoft Office
 Digital video camera
 DV Studio
 Digital camera
 Scanner
 Computer lab/ classroom
 Materials and tools for construction and creation of products