The Topic: Renaissance This Renaissance project includes a companion page called 'Biographies of the Renaissance.' You find a collection of links to biography sites and websites detailing the life and works of a selected group of Renaissance people. Don't miss it - - there are lots of additional resources for the Renaissance.   Easier - Renaissance means 'new birth.' The term refers to the revival of art and learning that occurred in Europe between the Fourteenth and Sixteenth centuries. This was an era when educated and talented people rediscovered the arts and learning of ancient Greece and Rome and developed new ideas about their world.   Harder - The term, Renaissance, comes from the Latin word 'rinascere' that means to be reborn. The Renaissance was a great cultural movement - - a period of renewal, revival, and growth. The Renaissance began in Italy during the early 1300's. By 1600 the cultural revival had spread to France, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and other European countries.   Many Renaissance scholars and artists studied the art and learning from ancient Greece and Rome, attempting to recapture the spirit of those cultures in their philosophies and their works of art and literature. Renaissance leaders began to reject many of the attitudes and ideas of the Middle Ages. For instance during those earlier times, the most important cultural institution was the Church and the important learning was theology, the study of God. Medieval thinking held that the world was filled with evil temptations. Renaissance thinkers began to emphasize people's responsibilities and duties to their society, a society that could civilize people rather than make them wicked.   The changes in thinking during Renaissance happened gradually. New ideas in art, astronomy, science, literature, mathematics, philosophy, religion, and politics were developed and advanced by a few individuals. But the influence of the Renaissance impacted and shaped the future, leading to a modern era.   Idea of the Renaissance by R. Hooker from World Civilizations, Washington State University http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/REN/IDEA.HTM This webpage, the starting point for a online publication on the Renaissance, explains the naming of the era and recent thinking on the mislabeling. Similar Comprehensive Websites: 2) European Renaissance / Reformation (Links-site) http://www.execpc.com/~dboals/rena.html 3) Renaissance by N.B. Mautz from Development of Western Civilization, University of Evansville http://history.evansville.net/renaissa.html   Renaissance from Annenberg Foundation & Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) http://www.learner.org/exhibits/renaissance/ Explore the Renaissance and discover the forces that drove this rebirth in Europe and Italy.   Renaissance: Dawn of a New Age from Mr. Dowling's Electronic Passport http://www.mrdowling.com/704renaissance.html Learn many interesting facts about the Renaissance including information on the Protestant reformation, King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth, and lots of links to more resources.    Renaissance Faire http://www.renfaire.com/ Step back 400 years to a time of romance. Shakespeare is in the prime of his career. Sir Francis Drake has circumnavigated the globe. The New World exists as a boundless frontier. It is a 'golden age.' Related Websites: 2) Life in Elizabethan England: A Compendium of Common Knowledge http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/home.html 3) Women in the Renaissance (Grades 10-12) http://www.svhe.pdx.edu/summerinstitute/projects2000/rachelcasteel/overview.html   After visiting several of the Renaissance websites, complete one or more of the following activities.   Take An Online Renaissance Quiz. It won't take long . . . it's a brief quiz. Find it at Renaissance Trivia Quiz.   Visit Leonardo's Workshop. Learn about some of Leonardo da Vinci's creative ideas and his work by exploring Leonardo's Workshop from Sanford. Travel back in time. Begin by identifying things that do not fit as you learn about the man and his work. The site contains tons of activities and a few related games.   Compare And Contrast Two Lives of the Renaissance. Select two individuals and research their lives, work, and achievements. You can find a bunch of biographies at Biographies of the Renaissance. Identify how the lives and works of your two people are similar and ways that they differ. Present your findings.   Have A Renaissance Feast. As the culmination - - or a kickoff to learning and exploring the Renaissance period, cook and serve some food typical of the times - - or that is, as close as possible. Research it at Elizabethan Food and Medieval/Renaissance Food. Don't forget song and dance!   Complete A Renaissance WebQuest. Follow or adapt the procedures found for one or more of the following webQuest projects: 1) Globish Movers and Shakers - Part II Meeting of Minds (Grades 9-12) by H. Mountz, B. Searle, & B. Amos http://wappingersschools.org/JohnJayHS/departments/english/teachers/searle/ 2) Renaissance by D.M. Souser http://coe.west.asu.edu/students/dsouser/webquest.html.htm 3) Renaissance WebQuest by C. Chernov http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/pylems/chernov/wqrenais.htm 4) Quest for Renaissance Thinkers by R.Ziegenfuss http://www.eastpenn.k12.pa.us/eyer/aam/quest.html   Listen To and Sing Some Renaissance Tunes. You can find several audio files at Music of the Renaissance from the Internet Renaissance Band and The Renaissance Period from The Classical MIDI Connection. J. Lee provides MIDI files and the lyrics at John Wilbye's First Set of English Madrigals.   Coordinate A Renaissance Faire. Start this group project with ideas that you find at (1) Renaissance Faire and (2) Renaissance Faire. Then plan and orchestrate a renaissance fair. Don't forget to record the activities and share them. Who knows, this might become an annual event!   Websites By Kids For Kids Journey Through the Renaissance (2000 ThinkQuest Internet Challenge) http://library.thinkquest.org/C005356/ Take a step back in time and enter a period in which man left behind what has been called the 'dark ages.' Here you will find information on the arts, sciences, wars, politics and religion from the Renaissance period.   Michaelangelo Buonarroti http://www.k12.hi.us/~kapunaha/michaelangelo.htm This student project site houses a brief biography of the Renaissance artist. Related Biographies: 2) Leonardo da Vinci http://www.k12.hi.us/~kapunaha/da_vinci.htm 3) Rembrandt Van Rijn http://www.k12.hi.us/~kapunaha/rembrandt.htm 4) Sandro Botticelli http://www.k12.hi.us/~kapunaha/botticelli.htm   Renaissance Faire from Gage Middle School http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Gage_MS/Renaissance_faire/ Welcome knights and ladies! Your presence is requested at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. And you can learn lots more about the Renaissance period.   Renaissance Personalities http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/projects/renaissance/ Here you learn about the artists, architects, scientists, scholars, and other notable men and women of the Renaissance.   Virtual Renaissance (1996 ThinkQuest Internet Challenge) http://renaissance.district96.k12.il.us/ This Web project introduces Renaissance 'characters' who describe their lives and access a wide list of Renaissance topics such as clothing, food, and architecture.   More Renaissance Websites Addio Gallery http://www.mcs.csuhayward.edu/~malek/Addio.html Here you find a collection of Renaissance paintings. Related Renaissance Art Websites: 2) 15th-Century Renaissance Art by C. Witcombe http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks2.html 2) High Renaissance http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/tl/it-ren/high-ren.html 3) La Renaissance from WebMuseum, Paris http://www.oir.ucf.edu/wm/paint/glo/renaissance/ 4) Renaissance Art from M. Harden's Artchive http://artchive.com/artchive/renaissance.html 5) Northern Renaissance (1500-1615) http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/tl/north-ren/ 6) Renaissance Art: Ammannati Bartolommeo to Angelico Fra http://online.anu.edu.au/ArtHistory/renart/pics.art/index_1.html   Art of the Italian Renaissance by E. Hennessey and R. Perry http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/EDTEC572/final_projects/renaissance_art/art_intro.html The goal at this online lesson is no longer rote memorization,but rather development of a greater understanding and appreciation of the artists and their work. A foundational understanding of Renaissance art is needed to fully utilize this website.   Art of Renaissance Science: Galileo and Perspective http://www.crs4.it/Ars/arshtml/arstoc.html This site is 'devoted to the genius of Galileo and the relation between his role in the Scientific Revolution and the equally remarkable achievements of Renaissance artists.'   Del's Dance Book http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/del/ This Website focusses on Renaissance dance history coupled with images from the 15th and 16th centuries. Related Websites: 2) Dancing Master by J. Lee http://www.shipbrook.com/jeff/playford/index.html 3) Renaissance Dance http://www.rendance.org/     Plague and Public Health in Renaissance Europe http://www.iath.virginia.edu/osheim/intro.html This website incorporates narratives, medical consilia, governmental records, religious and spiritual writings and images documenting the arrival, impact and response to the problem of epidemic disease in Western Europe between 1348 and 1530. Related Websites: 2) Black Death: Bubonic Plague http://www.byu.edu/ipt/projects/middleages/LifeTimes/Plague.html 3) Church's Involvement in the Bubonic Plague http://www.ecnet.net/users/gemedia3/Plague/Plague.html 4) Bubonic Plague http://www2.itexas.net/~jburks/plague.htm 5) Plague, Prose, and Poetry: The Effect of Bubonic Plague on Fourteenth Century European Literature http://www2.itexas.net/~jburks/literature.htm   Renaissance and Reformation Chronology http://orb.rhodes.edu/schriber/chronology.html Here is a timeline that covers the Renaissance period. Other Renaissance Timelines: 2) Renaissance Timeline http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/leonardo/timeline.html 3) Renaissance Timeline http://www.timelines.info/history/ages_and_periods/the_renaissance/ 4) Timeline of the Renaissance http://chaos1.hypermart.net/ren/    Renaissance and Baroque Architecture from Digital Image Center, Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library, University of Virginia http://www.lib.virginia.edu/dic/colls/arh102/index.html Here you have a photo collection of buildings and structures created during the Renaissance and Baroque times. Related Website: 2) Renaissance Architects (Links-site) http://www.owu.edu/~jwbiehl/architects.htm   Renaissance Consort by Y. Higaki http://www.hike.te.chiba-u.ac.jp/cons1/ This site contains a demonstration of renaissance consort and renaissance instruments. See and listen! Related Websites: 2) Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Instruments from Iowa State University http://www.s-hamilton.k12.ia.us/antiqua/instrumt.html 3) Renaissance Music Links http://www.classicalmus.hispeed.com/rena.html 4) Wind Instruments of the Renaissance http://www.dreamscape.com/quando7/index.htm   Sixteenth Century Renaissance English Literature (1485-1603) by A. Jokinen from Luminarium http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/ This is an extensive site covering the writers and their works. Related Website from Luminarium: 2) Background Information: Sixteenth Century Renaissance English Literature (Links-site) http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/renaissanceinfo.htm   Two Families of the Renaissance by M.G. Malvasi at Suite101 http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/history_for_children/23420 Come meet the Medici and Borgia families, two of the most powerful families of the Renaissance. Yet each is remembered for very different reasons. Other Related Articles at Suite101: 2) Renaissance aka, 'The Shift' by D. Leathers http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/Renaissance/37921    Websites For Teachers 'Ancora Imparo' (Still I Am Learning), a Grade 5 unit plan by M. Pudiak & K. Reip from Core Knowledge http://www.coreknowledge.org/CKproto2/resrcs/lessons/598Ancora.htm This unit focuses on the Italian Renaissance, a rebirth in learning. It explores the influence of ideas from Greece and Rome, and the shift in world view.. Students will map out trade routes, research the role of the church, and evaluate Renaissance ideals as outlined in The Prince by Machiavelli. They will also be exposed to the art and music of the Renaissance and will try their hand at sculpting, painting, and performing.   Ideas and Ideals of Man, From the Renaissance to the Reformation by P.N. Herdon from Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute http://www.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1986/3/86.03.04.x.html This unit of study is intended to be a ten to fifteen day inquiry into the streams of thought which fed the Renaissance. Students will be encouraged to trace the development of ideas which had their origin in classical antiquity and the Middle Ages and which have continued to the present.   Illusion of the Renaissance (Grades 8-12) by S. Willard from Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute http://www.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1986/3/86.03.08.x.html This unit was designed for a studio art course. Along with learning the rules for perspective drawing, the students are informed about how the rules can be manipulated. Students then have the opportunity to develop their imaginative and creative abilities.   Italian Renaissance Elementary Lesson Plans by T. Ward http://members.aol.com/TWard64340/Renaissance.htm Here are three art lessons. They center on the work of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello.   Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press (Grades 6-12) from Education World http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/00-2/lp2178.shtml Students use library or online sources to create time lines of the life of Johannes Gutenberg and tell the impact his invention, the printing press, had on the development of newspapers. Related Lesson Plan from Education World: 2) Printing Press (Grades 3-5) http://www.education-world.com/a_tsl/archives/00-2/lesson0019.shtml   Lives of Renaissance Women by J. Coffin, M. Irvine, and R. Sousa http://www.bctf.bc.ca/lessonaids/online/LA9245.html The purpose of this unit is to illuminate the lives and contributions of all classes of women who lived between 1350 to 1650 in Western Europe and England-The Renaissance.   Renaissance (Grade 5) http://www.cstone.net/~bcp/5/5NHistory.htm This unit plan of Renaissance study includes its origins and prominent figures, and centers on its impact and influence within Italy. Another Lesson Plan: 2) Renaissance (Grade 8) http://www.lessonplanspage.com/SSRenaissanceUnit3Timelines8.htm   Renaissance music discovery growth art rebirth political thought invention culture Middle Ages industrial revolution astronomy medieval religion 'golden age' architecture individual human spirit Europe humanism printing press ability mathematics music transition literature Italian Renaissance social class philosophy Shakespeare Western culture Protestant Reformation exploration law classical antiquity Spanish Inquisition revolutionary revival mathematics change moveable type learning utopia civilization rediscovery 'Age of Enlightenment' humanities lifelike art 'Early Modern' period        Created by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson, 4/02.