In this online lesson, students learn about the causes and effects of the Reformation in Europe through various media.

In this online lesson, students are introduced to resources that will help them better understand the effects and implications of the reopening of the ancient Silk Road between Europe and China, including Marco Polo's travels and the location of his routes.

In this lesson, students use a variety of multimedia resources to analyze the origins, accomplishments, and geographic diffusion of the Renaissance and the historical developments of the Reformation.

This lesson offers a comparative analysis of both the Golden Age of Islam and the Age of Enlightenment and their significant contributions.

In this lesson, students will complete a comparative analysis of both time periods in history and their significant contributions. Students will understand the common themes of exploration, free thought, inquiry, and intellectual dialogue and discourse during the Age of Renaissance as well as the Golden Age of Islam. The module overview, from which the supplemental resources can be accessed, is located at http://teachmiddleeast.lib.uchicago.edu/foundations/golden-age-islam/index.html

In this lesson, students will compare and contrast the empires of the Ottoman Empire, Rome, and China, learning the similarities and differences as well as identifying and explaining characteristics of why empires rise and fall.

The past is often neatly partitioned in time periods and eras with generalized names meant to characterize what life was like during that time. In this multi-day lesson, students question the validity of using ?Dark Ages? to describe Europe from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance. In the process, students examine a variety of primary and secondary sources highlighting different social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental facets of life in Europe during this period.

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the impacts of the printing press by examining its utility in society, both as an instrument to preserve cultural products of the past and as an agent of change. Students create an evidence-based argument about whether the printing press promoted continuity or change after considering the ways in which it preserved existing systems of belief and thought, enabled the dissemination of information, and led to increased exploration and systemic change within European societies.

Galileo has long stood as an emblem of intellectual freedom and the triumph of truth over superstition. Yet his achievements can also help students recognize the contingency of even the most inevitable-seeming historical developments and how the consequences of historic turning-points extend into our lives today.

In this lesson, students read about the Protestant Reformation. A set of discussion questions is provided. In an associated activity, students decide whether or not various government acts related to religion violate the First Amendment.

In this lesson, students learn about Machiavelli's life and belief systems and how they influenced his book, The Prince. A set of discussion questions is provided. In an associated activity, students will evaluate past presidential decisions and discuss whether Machiavelli would agree or disagree with them. Students will also provide their opinion on each decision.

Students will watch a short set of videos and respond to questions set provided on the Protestant Reformation and determine if the Diet at Worms should condemn Martin Luther using primary sources. 

In this lesson, students explore the battle over the Church of England during the reign of Elizabeth I. Discussion questions are provided. In an associated activity, students will consider alternative choices Elizabeth I may have made instead of beheading Mary, Queen of Scots. After small group discussion, they will share their choice(s) with the class.

This article explains how the Reformation put an end to the relative unity that had existed for the previous thousand years in Western Christendom under the Roman Catholic Church. It discusses the role of Martin Luther and other important figures of the movement.

With this digital collection, students will review a small sample of the different ways in which religious change drove the development of print culture. Through them, students will gain a better understanding of the immense challenges caused by religious change in this period, and the different ways in which print culture was shaped and re-shaped in order to meet them. Students will keep the following questions in mind as they review the documents: 1. Why did so many religious thinkers and leaders seek to solve the problems they encountered through the printed word? 2. What is the intended audience for these works? How did the authors and creators try to interact with that audience through the materials they produced? 3. How does the changing nature of print culture reflect the changing nature of religion during this period? 4. How does the religious printing market reflect the increasingly globalized world in the early modern period? 5. What parallels are there between early modern print culture and modern mass media?

This lesson presents two sides of a debate about Magna Carta's significance. Students read an Op-Ed essay in The Times and an essay in the Wall Street Journal, and decide what they think: Is the document worthy of celebrating 800 years later? Or is its importance just a myth?

With this digital collection, students will explore the visual culture of Tudor England, a rich blend of Continental Renaissance Classicism and native English Medieval traditions. It encompasses the visual arts like painting and architecture, as well as new developments in print culture, performance, and pageantry. It is colored by dramatic swings between Catholicism and Protestantism, expanded educational opportunities, and by new discoveries across the Atlantic. Students will consider the following questions as they review the documents: 1. Why was the sixteenth century such a tumultuous time in English history? 2. How does studying visual culture help us to understand history better?

This unit brings together multimedia resources describing the Renaissance and Reformation. Multiple documents are available for examining the origins and cultural impact of the Renaissance on philosophy, art, science and government.

In this project, students select a modern trend and follow it through various media outlets. By choosing articles, analyzing them, and writing about them, students begin to see how their respective trend influences the modern world. In the second half, students go back through history and research the same trend in the past. After compiling historical data on the trend, students combine the modern and the historical into a research paper that expresses their new understanding of the world.