HUMANISM & THE SPREAD OF IDEAS DURING THE RENAISSANCE
GREAT THINKERS BIOGRAPHY
TASK: You will research and learn about one of the most famous people from the Renaissance. You
will then use your research to create a biography POSTER or FRONT PAGE of a newspaper to present
your research.
THES ARE YOUR OPTIONS:
Desiderus Erasmus
Leonardo da Vinci
Michelangelo
Fillipo Brunelleschi
William Shakespeare
Isabella D’Este
Christine de Pisan
Martin Luther
Nicolaus Copernicus
Galileo Galilei
Niccolo Machiavelli
King Francis I of France
Andreas Vesalius
Johannes Kepler
Here is what is required: CHECK OFF EACH ITEM AS YOU COMPLETE IT.
 CREATE A GREAT TITLE: Write an attention grabbing title
o (A catchy title like: The Amazing Houdini!)
 IDENTIFY AND EXPLAIN WHO THIS PERSON WAS His/her basic biographic information
o An image of your person. (Coloured if possible)
o Full Name
o Birth and Death (The year they were born and year they died)
o The country they were born in or where they lived most of their life.
o Educational Background
o Interesting Facts or Stories
 SHOW HOW THEIR WORK AFFECTED THEIR TIME (the Renaissance and Humanism)
o Explain what they did.
o Identify and describe their major works or accomplishments.
o What did they do that made them so famous?
o How did the Church or the Governments of the time react to their work or ideas?
o Did things change because of your person’s activities?
 EXPLAIN HOW THEIR WORK AFFECTS OUR TIME (Today)
o Use the Worldview icon and the 7 elements to identify and explain how our modern
western worldview was affected or influenced by this person and their work.
o What do we do, or think or believe because of this person and their actions.
 MAKE YOUR WORK EYE-CATCHING AND INTERESTING!
o Make sure the title is BIG and BOLD and BRIGHT!
o Add interesting “extras” like crosswords, word searches, comics, quotes etc. and make
sure your finished piece is finished and PROFESSIONAL!!
Options for the format:
 Front-page of a Newspaper
 An informational poster.
RESOURCES FOR THIS PROJECT:
 The Textbook should be the 1st place you look.
 The Internet has lots of good information and twice as much bad so you need to EVALUATE
and THINK! about the source of the information.
 I can provide you with large paper to put your work on or you can provide your own.
 Use pencil crayons or colour to make your work bright and eye-catching.
GIVING CREDIT
 For any images, information or ideas that are not yours – you need to let the viewer know
where these ideas are from.
o Book: Name of the book and the Page Number that you found the information.
o Internet: Name of the Website & the URL Address (copied and Pasted) and the date
that you copied it.
TEXTBOOK EXAMPLE:
If I found this idea in the textbook: Petrarch was one of the most important poets in the early Renaissance.
According to our textbook, “Petrarch was the leading Italian poet of his time”. and put it on my poster, then at
the bottom of my poster I would include this:
1
Worldviews: Contact and Change (p. 75)
You can show me which quote or idea came from where by putting a little number beside each piece of
information and each source.
INTERNET EXAMPLE:
Petrarch had originally studied to be a lawyer, but because he loved literature so much he devoted his life to
writing poems and he took his inspiration from the ideas of Classic Latin. 2
2
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/454103/Petrarch
HERE ARE SOME SKETCHES THAT SHOW YOU HOW YOUR PROJECT MAY LOOK.
RESEARCH GUIDE:
Collect your information here BEFORE creating your poster or newspaper.
(If there is not enough space here then make your own chart in your notes)
TOPIC
(Example)
NAME:
Name:
Birth date:
Date of Death:
Place of Birth:
Where did he/she live most of
their life?
Education
Anything else interesting you
found out?
What was his/her job?
What was their most famous
invention(s), idea(s) or
activity(ies)?
What did they do that made
them so famous?
How did the Church or the
Governments of the time react
to their work or ideas?
Did things change because of
your person’s activities?
(Did they change what people
did or thought or both?)
INFORMATION
SOURCE
Francesca Petrarcha
Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P
etrarch) Nov. 20, 2014
Does his/her ideas or
inventions affect us today?
(Does it affect what we do or
believe or know?)
Look at the Worldview Icon:
Are any of the 7 elements in
our worldview affected of
influenced because of this
person?
EVALUATION: Your work will be evaluated according to the rubric below:
Aspect
Who was the
person?
8.2.4.b - How did
the Renaissance
spark the growth
and exchange of
ideas and
knowledge across
Europe
8.2.4.e - In what
ways did thinkers
and philosophers
influence society
in the
development of a
humanist
worldview during
the Renaissance?
8.S.7 - Apply the
research process
What was
significant
about what this
person did?
How did their
work affect
their time?
Beginning
Acceptable
Proficient
Mastery
Details are limited,
may be inaccurate
and/or unrelated
and demonstrate a
limited
understanding of
person.
- Details are general
and on-topic and
demonstrate a
basic understanding
of person.
- Details are specific
and relevant and
demonstrate a
competent
understanding of
person.
- Details are
specific, relevant,
and accurate and
demonstrate a
sophisticated
understanding of
the person.
Student eludes to
relationship
between their
person and the
changes of the
Renaissance
Student identifies
relationship
between their
person and the
changes of the
Renaissance
Student
comprehends the
relationship
between their
person and the
changes of the
Renaissance
Student analyses
the relationship
between their
person and the
changes of the
Renaissance
- Student
demonstrates an
incomplete
understanding of
the implications for
their topic in the
future
- Student
demonstrates an
adequate
understanding of
the implications for
their topic in the
future
- Student
demonstrates an
effective
understanding of
the implications for
their topic in the
future
- Student
demonstrates an
insightful
understanding of
the implications for
their topic in the
future
Student has
demonstrated
limited or
incomplete
research.
Student has
demonstrated basic
research by
including
information from
some sources.
Student has
demonstrated
strong research by
including
information from a
variety of sources.
Student has
demonstrated in
depth, exemplary
research by
including
information from a
wide variety of
sources.
(The Renaissance
and Humanism)
How did the
work of this
person affect
our worldview
today?
You need to
show me that
you looked at
your textbook,
and the several
internet sites
for your
information.