There are several ways students can learn about individual explorers and their importance. Groups of students could be assigned the names of individual explorers. The students would then conduct research about the explorers and make presentations to the class in the form of reports, songs or other media. Students could also stage a mock television interview, with one student portraying the explorer and another portraying a talk show host.
An important aspect of European exploration of the Americas is the interaction between the Europeans and the Native Americans. This is another opportunity for student role-play. After researching the topic, the students might write and present a play about cooperation and conflict between the two different cultures, or they might stage a mock news report about a specific incident. During the report, the students might even present commercials for products that may have become available because of the explorations.
Learning the chronology of the explorations helps the students put the knowledge into a framework where they can make sense of the issues involved and the impacts of the explorations. Constructing timelines is one way to internalize the knowledge of the chronology and share that knowledge with others. The timelines might relate only to specific explorers, or explorers from individual countries, or explorations into particular regions. The timelines might also be broadly based, focusing on all major explorers.
Perhaps the most important concepts relating to exploration deal with why the explorers set out and what impacts they had. Concept mapping is one way to get the students to engage in critical thinking about these issues. The students get together in teams to examine a particular topic. They collectively think up concepts that relate to the topic and draw a visual representation of how the different concepts are intertwined. The students can explain and discuss the concept maps with the rest of the classroom.