Renaissance Action Figure Project

The Ed-U-Fun Group is designing a line of Renaissance action figures to sell to history teachers and students.  They already have a William Shakespeare doll test figure designed.

You have been hired to design an action figure and the packaging that it will come in.


Select one Renaissance figure (person) from the list below.  Research the life of that person.  The Ed-U-Fun Group wants you to design and present the following items:

• An action figure.  The figure must include two items it can hold, one in each hand. These must be detachable.  
• An accessory that will come with the figure.  This must be displayed in the package.  This is one thing the Shakespeare figure does not currently have. 
• A 200 word biography of the figure that will go on the back of the packaging.  This biography should include these things:
• A brief passage about the overall life of the figure-- childhood, major events in their life, achievements.  This should be appropriate for 11 to 14-year-old students. Keep it interesting.
• An explanation of the two items and the accessory. This may not be a bullet list, but should be written in an interesting way.
• A summary of why the figure is important in history and how he or she contributed to the Renaissance.

Begin your project by selecting a figure from the list below.  Let Mr. Chester know whom you have selected.  The Ed-U-Group wants to see as many Renaissance figure designs as possible.

You will have Friday, April 22 and Tuesday April 26 to research and prepare your presentation. Presentations are scheduled for Tuesday, May 2. You will turn in a typed copy of your speech in MLA format.  Speeches must be memorized this time.  Your action figure and the accessories will be your visual aid.

Possible Renaissance figures:

List A

• Leonardo da Vinci        
• Michelangelo             
• Galileo Galilei              
• Nicolaus Copernicus           
• Isabella I of Spain             
• Elizabeth I of England       
• Christopher Columbus         
• Martin Luther               
• King Henry VIII           
• Vasco da Gama           
• Ferdinand Magellan         
• Hernan Cortes              
• Isaac Newton            

List B

• Catherine de Medici                                
• Dante Alighieri         
• Filippo Brunelleschi      
• Sandro Boticelli
• Machiavelli               
• Titian                 
• Andreas Vesalius    
• Sir Walter Raliegh     
• Miguel Cervantes    
• Desiderius Erasmus
• Pope Leo X            
• John Calvin               
• Anne Bolyn               
• Francisco Pizarro
• Henry Hudson         
• Hans Kepler
• Johannes Gutenberg      
• Marco Polo           

List C

• Francisco Petrarch    
• Donatello             
• Girolamo Cardano
• Lorenzo de Medici
• Albrecht Durer
• Galen                 
• Pope Clement V        
• Pope Gregory XI       
• John Wycliffe           
• Jan Hus
• Catherine of Siena    
• Huldrych Zwingli
• William Tyndale
• Queen Mary of England      
• Ignatius Loyola
• Prince Henry the Navigator        
• Pedro Cabral                              
• John Cabot          
• Giovanni da Verrazano        
• Francis Bacon      
• Antoine van Leeuwenhoek         
• Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit       
• Artemesia Gentellischi     
• Isabella d'Este        
• Lucretia Borgia                 
• Ben Johnson     Manuel *1

List D

• Other people you can suggest