Founding Documents
Teacher Page

A WebQuest for Social Studies Students

Designed by

Becky Griffith and Ruth Shirley
[email protected]
[email protected]

 

Introduction | Learners | Standards | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Student Page





Introduction

This webquest was developed as part of a workshop conducted July 30, 2001 by the RCOE of Appalachian State University and Avery County High School Cooperating Teachers. 

This webquest will help teachers and students fulfill the Social Studies Standard Course of Study for ELP Goal 6.2 and USH Goals 2.3 and 2.4.


Learners

This lesson is designed for Social Studies students in Economics, Legal, and Political Systems and / or United States History who are studying the Founding Documents. 

In order to complete this lesson successfully, the students must have mastered basic social studies skills and have a working knowledge of basic computer usage.

Curriculum Standards

Students will complete the following standards:

Social Studies Standards Addressed

Economics, Legal, and Political Systems 
Goal 6.2

Identify principles found in the United States Constitution which were stated in the Declaration of Independence and explored in the Federalist Papers. 

United States History
Goals 2.3 and 2.4

Analyze the Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution of the United States as expressions of
self-government. 

Evaluate the arguments of The Federalist and The
Anti-Federalist papers as expressions of differing
theories about self-government. 
 

Students will use critical thinking skills, observation, and teamwork in order to complete a creative product that compares and contrasts the similarities and differences contained in the major founding documents.


Process

You can paste in the process description given to students on the student page and then interleave the additional details that a teacher might need.

Describe briefly how the lesson is organized. Does it involve more than one class? Is it all taught in one period per day, or is it part of several periods? How many days or weeks will it take? Is it single disciplinary, interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary or what?

If students are divided into groups, provide guidelines on how you might do that.

If there are misconceptions or stumbling blocks that you anticipate, describe them here and suggest ways to get around them.

What skills does a teacher need in order to pull this lesson off? Is it easy enough for a novice teacher? Does it require some experience with directing debates or role plays, for example? 

Variations

If you can think of ways to vary the way the lesson might be carried out in different situations (lab vs. in-class, for example), describe them here.
 
 


Resources Needed

Describe what's needed to implement this lesson. Some of the possibilities:

  • Class sets of books
  • E-mail accounts for all students
  • Specific software (how many copies?)
  • Specific hardware (what kind? How many?)
  • Specific reference material in the classroom or school library
  • Video or audio materials
If the lesson makes extensive use of specific websites, it would be appropriate to list, describe and link them here. It would also be helpful to link the names of books suggested to Amazon or other online sources.

Describe also the human resources needed. how many teachers are needed to implement the lesson. Is one enough? Is there a role for aides or parents in the room? Do you need to coordinate with a teacher at another school? With a partner in industry or a museum or other entity? Is a field trip designed in as part of the lesson?


Evaluation

How will you know that this lesson was successful? Describe what student products or performances you'll be looking at and how they'll be evaluated. This, of course, should be tightly related to the standards and objectives you cited above.

You may want to just copy and paste the evaluation section of the student page into this space and add any clarifications needed for another teacher to make use of this lesson.


Conclusion

Make some kind of summary statement here about the worthiness of this lesson and the importance of what it will teach.


Credits & References

List here the sources of any images, music or text that you're using. Provide links back to the original source. Say thanks to anyone who provided resources or help. 

List any books and other analog media that you used as information sources as well.


Last updated on August 15, 1999. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page