Student Page
American
Revolution
A WebQuest
for 8th Grade Social Studies
-Teacher's Page-
Designed by
Jules Olaso - Ben Franklin Middle School
julesdan@ix.netcom.com
Technical Assistance by
Marvin Lee - Ben Franklin Middle School
Introduction
This lesson was developed
as part of the Ben Franklin Middle School on-going technology integration
effort. The motivation to begin this project has been the need to
incorporate an aspect of the 8th grade social studies curriculum into an
Internet based research project that would culminate in a multimedia presentational
program (HyperStudio) suitable for an active presentation. As alternative
assessment is more than just an educational buzz word at Ben. These
types of projects have in the past been often utilized for these purposes.
This project is not meant to be static, and encourages feedback and
suggestions from anyone who cares to contribute to the effort. The
author/designer makes no claims to being an expert in history or social
studies and hopes that colleagues in these fields would refine what humble
efforts have been made.
Description
The students will
be involved in a variation on the theme of a WebQuest which was first conceived
and documented as a teaching and learning medium by Bernie Dodge, a professor
in the Educational Technology Dept. at U.C. San Diego. He describes a WebQuest
simply as, "... an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information
that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet, optionally supplemented
with videoconferencing."
In this WebQuest
students will be researching the following four topics in respects to the Revolutionary
War;
1) Famous People &
Soldiers
2) Famous Battles
3) Other Important Events &
Documents
4) Contributions of African Americans
to the Revolutionary War
As this is somewhat of a 'smorgasbord'
approach to teaching the topic teachers are encouraged to bring some continuity
to the subject matter either before or after the project.
Standards