Agrupamento Vertical de Escolas de Lagos

Historical Recreation as a Pedagogical Project

October 2007/July 2009

Discoveries Festival – May 2008Fifteen hundreds

Project work methodology

GOALS -Mobilize cultural, scientific and technological knowledge, to understand the reality and address problems of everyday life in the sixteenth century.

-Contribute to the enhancement of cultural heritage articulating historical, cultural and scientific knowledge.

-Adopt personal working and learning methodologies adequate to the project.

-Search, select and organize information to be transformed into knowledge.adopt appropriate strategies to problem-solving and decision-making situations. to undertake activities on an autonomous, responsible and creative basis. -Make evidence of the knowledge of each other, the other, and life on board during the 16 th century, through dramatic processes.

-Purchase and develop capabilities in the areas of expression and communication.

- Be able to evaluate their work and that of others.

School´s projects

Death in the fifteen hundred

Classes: 8ºD; 5ºJ; 9ºBTeachers: Conceição Rio;

Joaquim Azevedo; Conceição Vasques; Margarida Lopes;

Isabel Crispim.

Life on Board of a caravel

Class: 7ºDTeachers: Graça Cabrita; Pedro

Ribeiro.

Recreation of a fifteen hundred Pharmacy

Class: 5ºDTeacher: Carolina

Gonçalves

The Physicist and the Chemist-Healings and blessings

Class: 5ºETeacher: Maria do Espírito

Santo

School´s projects

Theatre Street Scenes in a fifteen hundred markets

Class: 6ºGTeacher: Fátima Lopes

Street entertainement with juggling

Class: 7ºETeacher: Paula Gomes

Abstracts of the projects Name of project: theatrical performances which took pace within the

area of the Fair; small episodes typical from a Fair; altercations; fights; arguments; theft; mysteries and reporting of fanciful stories. Characters: Beggars; thieves; whores...

The students did research on the topic, typical characters, clothing,

food, vocabulary, and leisure activities. Selected characters, produced short texts and tested small sketches. The students were in school workshops of Music and Dramatic Expression. During the festival each student represented a typical character. The thieves took advantage of every opportunity to steal whatever appeared, the whores circulated launching smiles, sighing and even fainting from the male population, the liars circulated lies and launching another truth in the midst of a bunch of lies, and beggars begged in a disgraceful and abandoned way and causing pain and mercy to the community in general, and finally the water saleswoman walked around the Fair selling water to the community...

  Name of the project - "The Physic and the Alchemist…"   For motivation and awareness of the historical time, they watched films, did

research on society, diseases, language. They built a Power Point presentation and shared it with colleagues who meanwhile prepared another on the cures and healings. They drew the costumes, did the books in Arts, chose the language and created the dialogues. Students had workshops on characterization, dancing, music, singing and drama. Besides History and Arts were involved the areas of Citizenship and Project. Parents cooperated in doing the costumes. Aimed to recreate in the context of the mentality of the four hundreds, the approach of illness / curing in various perspectives from the alchemist the healer, in this decisive historic moment in which the west and east meet. The characters are created:the alchemist, the physic, the surgeon and the barber, with the scenario a surgeon-barber “shop”and artifacts of a reference table / alchemist laboratory, and equipment for the various procedures to dramatize: bleeding, anaesthesia, removing teeth… This space was supported by the botanist tent, with which this project is articulated. We highlighted the different perspectives in the face of disease, exploiting the hierarchy and their languages, rituals, behaviour and dress. The "sick" played various social groups or types, from marginal, popular until high bourgeoisie.

Name of Project: Botanist and the healer in a 16th hundred fair - cures and blessings

   In the history lessons it was made a motivation for students with the viewing of a

film. Students worked within the syllabus: "Social groups and daily life in monasteries, the land and counties in Portugal in the 13th and 14th centuries", addressing mainly handicrafts, the fairs, health, hygiene. In addition to the study of these issues they did research on the Internet about hygiene, disease, cures, and plants used in healings, as was a ‘Botica’ and what you could sell there. There was an interdisciplinary work, involving the disciplines of HGP, Portuguese Language, (where they trained words of the medieval Portuguese and the use of the 2nd person plural), EVT, which did work, lettering, produced labels with the names of the plants to the bags of teas and for lavender and rosemary soaps, the cover of an ancien book. Students went to the class of Physical Chemistry, to make lavender and rosemary soap. Pupils had a workshop of characterization and drama. In April the tests were conducted with small dialogues created by the History teacher and chose the clothing, adapted to each character. In May, the entire work culminated in recreating, in the Fair in Lagos, a medieval ‘Botica’.

Name of Project: The disease and death in the 16th hundred: The action of the Inquisition. Mentalities and patterns of behaviour in the face of illness and death

There was the awareness and motivation of students to participate in the

project through various activities, including viewing of films, images, bibliographic and "webgraphic" searches. In a second phase we prepared the script of the historic recreation and carried to the making of the scenarios, props and costume design, manufacture of handicraft products. Students participated in workshops on drama, characterization, music and language and later, at school, the rehearsals were made .. The final presentation of the work - selling of products, spread the rumour, accused of witchcraft, the arrest, trial, sentence, the insults of popular, the procession of those sentenced with religious songs, the burning, the presentation and the temptations of the virtues and finally the plague and subsequent quarantine took place in the Fair held on 2, 3 and May 4, in Lagos, under the V Festival of Discoveries.

Name of Project: Historical recreation of a fair in the 16th

hundred: Juggling– Parades and main stage   For the development of this project we studied the historical context - the

juggling through history, traditions, street theatre. During the period of construction and implementation of the project was also developed a multidisciplinary work with the subjects of Physics and Chemistry, Mathematics, Arts, Project, Citizenship and Physical Education. we also studied: the juggler (characterization, clothing, props, music, rhythm, the "instruments of jugglers" - balls. Tapes, stilt, devil and arches). The work of choreography and testing of techniques for juggling were the responsibility of the teacher who used the subject of project work and many hours extra time. These students, at intermediate stage of the project, participated in festivities at school which promoted the curiosity and interest from other classes. With juggling as a project, there was an increase of individual accountability on the part of students and the development of personal relations.

Name of the Project: Recreation of life on board of a caravel

The project recreation of life on board of a Caravel, refers to the fifteenth

hundred, and wanted to recreate small pictures of life on board. We tried to have as much historical accuracy as possible, although the sources were scarce, the students very young and had to leave most work to the students. As teachers we do not want to show our knowledge on the subject, but to guide the students in their research work and production of short texts. All the work from research to the distribution of tasks / characters was made by students under the guidance of teachers. With the representation of life on the board of a Caravel students could learn the social hierarchy ,activities, food, clothing of the different groups, entertainment, disease, etc. .. There was also an interaction between all the elements (class) present. . The main goal of this project is not only historical accuracy, the possible, but the addition to promoting the methodology of project work, work in groups, the team spirit, and an awareness to the drama. It seemed to all concerned that the use of some lighter pictures would be a good bet to enhance the final product.

Final Product

The historical recreation of everyday life in the 1500’s, in Lagos, at the time of the arrival of Vasco da Gama to India, with particular focus on the following sub-themes: - Minor episodes and characters typical of a 1500’s Fair - The Physic and the Alchemist… " - The botanist and the healer in a fair -- The disease and death at the time: The action of the Inquisition - Mentalities and patterns of behaviour in the face of illness and death

- Historical recreation of a fair: Juggling - The arrival of Vasco da Gama to India - Encounter

Between Cultures - The life aboard a caravel.