Year 1 - History
How Polynesian explorers travelled and navigated
William Adams and Brunel
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Study Guides
This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit on explorers and seafaring gives students a clear sense of change over time, highlighting technological, economic, and cultural shifts. It covers the sea's role in trade and exploration and explores material culture, craftsmanship, and the influence of seafaring on language and art.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to describe how the early Polynesians sailed across the ocean.
Key Notes
- Some of the earliest seaborne explorers were a group of people known as Polynesians.
- A long time ago Polynesians spread across the Pacific Ocean using canoes that they built.
- These canoes had to have a strong hull and sail to travel across the ocean.
- The Polynesians navigated to new islands by watching the waves and the paths of sea creatures.
Vocabulary To Learn
- seafarer: a seafarer is a person who often travels by sea
- navigate: when people navigate, they control where their boat is going
- hull: a boat's hull is its stiff outer shell
- sail: a sail is a large piece of cloth attached to a boat that uses the wind to help the boat move
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Pupils may think that Polynesia is a country.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Summarise this historical learning in two key ideas.
Some of the earliest seaborne explorers were a group of people known as Polynesians. A long time ago Polynesians spread across the Pacific Ocean using canoes that they built.
2. Define this history term and explain why it matters in this topic. 'seafarer'
a seafarer is a person who often travels by sea.
3. Correct this common history misconception using evidence language.
Mistake: Pupils may think that Polynesia is a country. Correction: Polynesia is not one single country. It is a large area of the Pacific Ocean containing lots of different islands.
More Lessons In This Unit
- Brunel's race to cross the Atlantic Study Guide
- Chinese innovation in seafaring Study Guide
- Early explorers and their boats Study Guide
- From sail to steam power Study Guide
- Life aboard the SS Great Britain Study Guide
- Seafaring 450 years ago Study Guide
- Seafaring in the early Mediterranean world Study Guide
- The incredible voyages of Zheng He Study Guide
- The Vikings and their longboats Study Guide
- Viking navigation and expansion Study Guide
- William Adams' journey to Japan Study Guide
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