Native American Webquest

Native American WebQuest

Introduction || The Task || Resources || The Process ||

Learning Advice || Vermont Grade Expectations || Assessment || Conclusion

Introduction

Our country was once the land that belonged to the Native Americans. The Native American culture is a large part of our country's history. Although Native Americans lived in areas throughout our country, the ways in which they lived varied from region to region. Do you know the type of shelter you would have lived in if you had lived in the Northwest Pacific region of the United States? Or do you know what type of food you would have eaten if you'd lived in the Plains region?

We need to learn more about the people who settled first on this land we now call ours. From this point on you will be working as a team with other classmates to become more familiar and knowledgeable about Native Americans.

The goals of this WebQuest are for you to expand your knowledge of Native Americans, to become an expert on a particular region and a nation/tribe within that region and to develop an understanding that will allow you to appreciate the Native American culture.

The Task

Your task is to become experts on a particular nation (please see Learning Advice before exploring this link). You will work in a cooperative group to create a project of your choice that will display your knowledge of the required topics and to present this information to the class. There are certain areas that you will need to research in order to gain a thorough understanding of the region which you have chosen. The 5 regions we will be focusing on are the: Northeast Woodlands, Southeast Woodlands, Great Plains, Northwest Pacific and Southwest. Within the region you choose, you must find evidence of your nation's:

Food
Shelter
Clothing
Traditions/Family Life (roles for women, men and children, transportation)
Crafts

The Process

Are you ready? Let's go!

You have been placed in cooperative groups. Within your group you need to decide how you will share the work.
Choose a region which you would like to explore. Submit your top choice and two others to your teacher.
After you know which region you will focus on, decide on a nation located in that region that you would like to study. Submit at least 3 choices to your teacher.
Choose a project that you all will enjoy working on. A list of projects and their descriptions will be given to you.
Complete the work pad to determine your group's ideas and the materials that you will need.
Check out the rubrics and keep a copy of them handy so that you know how you will be assessed.
Begin your on-line tribal/nation research.
Use your research pad to record any important information. You may want to assign each member of your team to a specific area that you need to research.
Remember, if it's blue or purple; it's hot and could be a resource link. Check it out.
Apply the knowledge you have gained to complete the project that you chose.
Present the project and information to the class.
*Remember* Your ability to choose and complete a research project cooperatively will be considered throughout this unit.

Resources

Most of the information that you are looking for can be found through this WebQuest. Since this WebQuest is posted on the Internet, it will be available to you wherever you have Internet access. I encourage you to share this WebQuest with your parents. However, there are many additional resources available in the classroom and Library/Media Center. These include: books, videos, and encyclopedias (text and electronic).

Learning Advice

My advice to you as you complete this WebQuest is to have fun! Your research, project and teamwork expectations have been clearly defined to you in the assessment section of this quest and class discussions. Use the rubrics as a reference to help guide you through your required tasks.

Remember that you should be able to find most of the information that you are looking for by accessing links from this sight. Check out not only the sites that are specific to your nation but to your region as well. As you use the Internet resources, here are some helpful hints to make your search easier.

The particular nation link will take you to a site with many different nations listed alphabetically. Once there find your nation and click on it. You may have as many as 16 different sights to visit. Please search those that have the information you are looking for.

Please use the resources provided in the room and Library/Media Center as necessary.

I want you to enjoy your first experience with this WebQuest as much as I have. Let me know if there is anything that I can help you with or that I could improve to help make this quest go smoothly for you.

Vermont Grade Level Expectations

The following Vermont Grade Level Expectations will be assessed during this WebQuest:

History and Social Studies 3-4:12 Students show understanding of human interaction with the environment over time by describing how patterns of human activities (for example, housing, transportation, food, and clothing) relate to natural resource distribution.

History and Social Studies 3-4:14 Students act as citizens by demonstrating positive interaction with group members.

History and Social Studies 3-4:4 Students conduct research by locating relevant materials such as print, electronic, and human resources and cite these sources.

History and Social Studies 3-4:7 Students communicate their findings by giving oral, written, or visual presentations that summarizes their findings.

Assessment

TEAM RESEARCH RUBRIC

Criteria Getting Started Almost There Got It! WOW!

Positive Interactions
H&SS 3-4:14
Our group was not able to set or achieve any goals. Our group was able to set goals but was not always successful in achieving them. Our group set reasonable goals and was able to achieve them by working together. Our group set goals by assigning roles and cooperated in an effort to achieve them.

Research
H&SS3-4:4

Our group had difficulty finding resources and we did not cite any resources. We only used one type of resource or we did not cite our sources. We worked together and found resources from the internet and print to support our research. We cited all of our sources. Our group used resources other than the WebQuest and non-fiction text to find more information than we needed.
Ex. a legend from our nation, or an interview

Human Interactions with Natural Resources
H&SS 3-4:12
We found evidence of human interactions with natural resources in 2 or less of the required areas. We found evidence of human interactions with natural resources in 3 or 4 of the required areas. We found evidence of human interactions with natural resources in all of these areas:

Shelter

Clothing

Crafts

Traditions

Food

We found evidence of human interaction with natural resources in all of the required areas and compared and contrasted life in this region in the past to the present.
Ex. a Venn Diagram

PRESENTATION RUBRIC

Criteria Getting Started Almost There Got It! WOW!

Communicate Findings
H&SS 3-4:7
I did not share information well. The information I gave was not clear. My audience did not have an understanding of what I was presenting. I shared limited information. The information I gave was somewhat clear. My audience had some understanding of what I presented. I presented in a clear and organized way that my audience was able to understand. My presentation showed evidence of time and hard work. The audience clearly understood what I was presenting.

Conclusion

You did it!

You have successfully completed your first WebQuest. I hope you have enjoyed this venture. You should now be well informed on a specific Native American nation and region. By listening to the other presentations and sharing with your classmates you should also have gained an understanding of other nations and regions. I hope you have developed an appreciation for the Native American culture. Please continue to explore this way of life and consider this WebQuest only an introduction to the many things we can learn from the Native American culture.

Criteria	Getting Started	Almost There	Got It!	WOW!
Positive Interactions H&SS 3-4:14	Our group was not able to set or achieve any goals.	Our group was able to set goals but was not always successful in achieving them.	Our group set reasonable goals and was able to achieve them by working together.	Our group set goals by assigning roles and cooperated in an effort to achieve them.
Research H&SS3-4:4	Our group had difficulty finding resources and we did not cite any resources.	We only used one type of resource or we did not cite our sources.	We worked together and found resources from the internet and print to support our research. We cited all of our sources.	Our group used resources other than the WebQuest and non-fiction text to find more information than we needed. Ex. a legend from our nation, or an interview
Human Interactions with Natural Resources H&SS 3-4:12	We found evidence of human interactions with natural resources in 2 or less of the required areas.	We found evidence of human interactions with natural resources in 3 or 4 of the required areas.	We found evidence of human interactions with natural resources in all of these areas: Shelter Clothing Crafts Traditions Food	We found evidence of human interaction with natural resources in all of the required areas and compared and contrasted life in this region in the past to the present. Ex. a Venn Diagram