Who Came from Europe? - Lesson Plan

• Go to the Michigan Historical Museum home page
• Go to our First People online exhibits

Background Notes

Europeans came to the Great Lakes area for a variety of reasons, including adventure, soldiering, religion and furs. Some of those Europeans are more familiar to us than others. Among the names students may encounter in the museum's exhibits are: Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, Etienne Brulé, Father Jacques Marquette, Louis Joliet, Robert Cavelier de la Salle, Captain Donald Campbell, Major Henry Gladwin, and Father Claude Allouez.

Objectives

• Given the names of famous Europeans (see above), the student will be able to write one fact about each person. 
• Students will work in a group toward a common goal.

Michigan Social Studies Curriculum Content Standards

This lesson presents an opportunity to address, in part, these standards:

• SOC.I.2 All students will understand narratives about major eras of American and world history by identifying the people involved, describing the setting, and sequencing the events.
• SOC.V.2 All students will conduct investigations by formulating a clear statement of a question, gathering and organizing information from a variety of sources, analyzing and interpreting information, formulating and testing hypotheses, reporting results both orally and in writing, and making use of appropriate technology.

Materials Needed

• List of names of early European visitors to Michigan (see Background Notes)
• Resource materials
• Paper and pencil

Directions

Tell students that they will be looking for information about the first Europeans to come to the land we now call Michigan. Ask them what they would like to know about each person, listing the items they mention on the board. Among others, they may include the person's country of origin, when they lived and died, why they came, how they lived while here and why we remember them. These items become the research topics.

Assign each European from the list in "Background Notes" (and others from your history book) to small groups of students to research. Each group reports their findings to the class. Have the class take notes on each presentation. Following the presentations ask each student to write one fact about each person reported.

Questions for Discussion or Research

1. Why did these Europeans come to Michigan? How did they get here? When? What did they find?
2. What Michigan sites are named for these early European explorers, soldiers, and settlers?
3. How should we correctly pronounce the names of each of the French explorers?

Vocabulary

• Residence: The place where one lives
• Settler: One who establishes a residence
• Site: A place

At the Museum

• Find the names of early European visitors to Michigan in the First People and Two Cultures exhibits.

References

• Stapler, Harry. Pioneers of Forest and City, A History of Michigan for Young People. Lansing, MI: Michigan Department of State, Bureau of History, 1985. (Chapters 2 and 3)
• Dunbar, Willis F., and George F. May. Michigan, A History of the Wolverine State, Revised Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1980 (Chapters 3, 4, and 5)

Contact the Michigan Historical Museum.

Updated 08/09/2010