GRADE: High School
TECHNOLOGY: Internet
BY: Audrey Rackley, Julie
Glover, Brian Batchelor
Target grade/Subject
We
will be teaching AP US history to a group of eleventh grade students. More specifically we will teach the 1980s,
using the web to have students answer a document based question (DBQ). Since these are AP students who
will be faced with document based questions on the AP exam, this lesson is
designed to give them practice both in answering such a question, and good
historiography skills needed in college by assessing which web documents are
appropriate in historical research. This will be done by having students critically
analyze how materialism increased in the lives of average Americans during the
1980s. This activity will provide
a way for the teacher to increase participation by actively engaging students
in historical research. Because
these students are high school juniors, they are capable of formal operational
thought, and this lesson will encourage students to analyze the historical
events and provide their own creative analysis of this decade. The use of the world wide web will give
students the freedom to use written texts, pictures, music, etc. in answering
the document based question.
Objectives:
Students
will demonstrate their knowledge of the 1980s, and use web based documents to
answer the question, how did American attitudes towards materialism change
during this decade.
SOL 11.17 The student will develop skills for historical analysis,
including the ability to
* analyze documents, records,
and data (such as artifacts,
diaries, letters,
photographs, journals, newspapers,
historical
accounts, etc.);
* evaluate the authenticity,
authority, and credibility of
sources;
* formulate historical
questions and defend findings based on
inquiry and
interpretation;
* communicate findings orally,
in brief analytical essays, and
in a comprehensive
paper.
After
reading the chapters in their texts, students will answer a document based
question using materials found on the web. Students will evaluate documents for their historical
accuracy and biases, using those sources they deem most accurate and useful. Mastery of the material will be
evaluated in a short paper written by each student in which they analyze
materialism in the 1980s.
Materials:
assuming 25 students, 25 computers with Internet access (in
school computer lab)
text book
assumed students have own
notebooks/pencils/pens for taking notes
list of web sites to get students
started
-
http://www.leweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ammemhome.html
-
askeric.com (historical document database)
-
smithsoniainstitute.org
-
google.com (search engine)
-
washingtonpost.com
-
newsweek.com
Lesson Description
The teacher will:
1.
review definition of materialism
-
emphasis on material possessions over moral/political/social values
2.
review attributes of a good thesis statement
-
the arguing point of your paper
-
should be somewhere in first paragraph
- should be a clear & concise
statement of the process you intend to use on arguing your theory
3.
review elements of DBQs
-
intro sentence
-
thesis
-
3 major points to argument
-
cite documents to back up argument
-
conclusion in which argument is summarized
4. be available to answer questions
on how to find sources, or discuss what makes sources appropriate
5.
explain what types of sources make good documents
-
be aware of biases
- sources created by other
historians/political analysts (created by a knowledgeable source)
-
students should use a variety of sources
Evaluation:
To
measure students' mastery of this lesson, the teacher will read the essays
created by students answering the DBQ.
These essays will be coherently written using standard guidelines of AP
DBQ format (See review of good DBQ attributes in lesson description) Good
answers will take into account the economic, political, and social
ramifications of materialism in the 1980s, using a variety of sources. This DBQ will account for 25% of the
DBQ portion of the final semester grade - which is 25% of the total grade average.
See scoring rubric for how to grade
the DBQ.
Scoring Rubric
total points possible: 100
Excellent Good Poor
Intro sentence 2 1 0
Thesis 10 5 1
Documents are reputable &
appropriate 20 10 5
Variety of documents 10 5 1
(articles,
journals, gov docs, pictures, music, etc)
Coherent argument supported by
document
20 10 5
Integration of information from text 20 10 5
Competent use of web technology in
research
10 5 1
No obvious grammatical/editing
errors 5 3 1
Clarity/creativity of writing 3 2 1
Total Points: