Mr. Reiter’s Web Quest Project

Imperialism:

Europeans Dominate the World

Between 1750 and 1850, Western Europe was transformed from an agricultural economy with a few small towns to an industrialized economy made up of many larger cities. Improvements in agriculture allowed farmers to grow more food using fewer people, thus making more money. Those unemployed farmers moved from the small farming towns to the growing cities, looking for work. With new inventions and the development of machines that could produce goods cheaper than by hand, the production of goods shifted from being made by hand, at home, to goods being made by machine, in large factories.

Following the laws of Adam Smith and other classical economists, the government believed that “laissez-faire” and the natural laws of supply and demand would regulate production, employment, and wages. However, as the industrial revolution grew, industries also grew - getting larger and more demanding. The industrialized countries of Western Europe were faced with the need for more workers at cheap wages, more raw materials to produce the goods, an overproduction of goods with a need to sell to more people, and a depletion of natural resources.

How could the European industries address these needs?

· Where could they get more workers beyond their own population?

· Where could they get more raw materials beyond what they had available in their own countries?

· How could they sell more of their manufactured goods when their own population could only buy what they needed?

· And, more important – how could they get the natural resources they needed to run the machines in their factories once they depleted their own supply of resources? Once the coal is dug out of the ground, nature does not “grow” more coal!

The Solution:

The Europeans looked beyond their national borders to other less developed areas around the world, to get or take what they needed. The policy embarked on by the Europeans was called Imperialism.

The year is 1840.

You and your group have been asked by your nation’s government to help them with their needs to expand their industries. If your nation does not expand their businesses, other countries whose businesses are also expanding, will be able to produce more than you and sell more than you, at cheaper prices, and put you out of business. This will mean that your nation’s workers will lose their jobs. There will be unemployment and poverty. Your nation will lose its image and prestige as a powerful, modern, industrialized nation. Your national pride is at stake. Your economic stability is also at stake. You don’t want your country to become a second-rate, inferior country.

You know that there are regions in the world that possess many of the things that you need in order to allow your businesses to grow. Most of the regions, while far away, are inhabited by people who are less advanced than yours and have very primitive technology. They could easily be taken over and controlled by your nation. You will need tobuild ships to be able to carry goods far distances. You will also need to update your army and navy to provide protection for your colonies and cargo ships.

By examining how other nations in the past have addressed this problem, you will create a plan of how to expand your business.

Your task will be to create a PowerPoint presentation that will describe how you plan to expand your business needs.

• Your PowerPoint presentation should include at least 6 slides. Each member of your group must submit at least 2 slides. There should be a minimum of 6 slides, but there can be more.
• Include pictures, sound, and animation in addition to the text.
• Your presentation should describe the types of resources and materials you will be looking for and how you plan to “get” them.
• Include in your presentation how you plan to “protect” your interests – you must protect your workers from the local population as well as a foreign power who might be interested in the same resources as you.
• Include in your presentation how your plan will affect the conditions of the people living in the region you might take over?

Step 1:

You will be assigned to work in a group of 3 people. You will use the worksheets described in the Public Policy Analyst worksheets to record your research. These worksheets can be found using the links below and are to be used to complete your project.

Use the following guidelines to prepare your presentation.

· Research the websites

· Gather your information from the websites, your textbook, class notes, and handouts given to you in class

· Use the 5-step public policy approach

1. Identify the problem.

2. Gather your evidence for the problem.

3. Determine the cause for the problem.

4. Evaluate the policy.

5. Do a comparative analysis.

Step2:

In preparing your presentation, each member of your group will contribute information on the following worksheets:

1. Identify problem

2. Gather evidence

3. Determine causes

4. Evaluate the policy

5. Comparative analysis

· Identify the problems facing the European industrialized nations in the mid-19^th century dealing with the need to expand their industries.

· What were the causes of these problems?

· What policies were put in place to address the problem?

· What were the results of these policies?

· Did these policies solve the problem?

Step 3:

Your presentation (PowerPoint project package) should look like this:

· Begin with a “front page” slide containing a heading of your topic, the names of your group members, and a picture related to the topic.

· Include pictures – photos, cartoons, maps, sounds, etc.

· Include a final slide containing a bibliography of the sources you used.

· Submit your completed worksheets as part of your final project package.

Websites related to Imperialism:

Global Imperialism

Contains several Imperialism sites – Africa, Asia, the Pacific.

Imperialism Sourcebook

Contains many Imperialism sites and references.

Short information about European imperialism.

Contains a short explanation of European imperialism plus poem “White Man’s Burden”.

Contains articles, maps, photos, etc.

Contains many Imperialism sites and references.

Sites and resources - Africa, Asia, and India

Contains sites about Africa, Asia, and India.

History of Imperialism

Contains many Imperialism sites and references.

Maps and flags.

Contains maps and flags.

Imperialism - India

Contains information about the British imperialism in India.

Imperialism - Africa.

Contains information about imperialism in Africa.

Imperialism and Colonialism

Contains articles and pictures about imperialism and colonialism around the world.

Category	Not Acceptable	Needs Improvement	Satisfactory	Good	Excellent
Completion of the worksheets (understood the social problem, its causes, and public policy that arose from it)	1	2	3	4	5
Facts Used (facts based on documents, website links, other sources)	1	2	3	4	5
Completion of the PowerPoint project. (had correct format, stated and analyzed the social problem, created and considered possible solutions, and evaluated the historical solution)	1	2	3	4	5
PowerPoint Presentation. (communicated the information clearly and enhanced with pictures and illustrations)	1	2	3	4	5

Your grade will be determined as follows:

Grade of A, you need a total of 17-20 points.

Grade of B, you need a total of 13-16 points.

Grade of C, you need a total of 9-12 points.

Grade of D, you need a total of 5-8 points.

Grade of F, is less than 5 points.

Curriculum Standards:

This Web Quest responds to the followings curriculum standards:

Social Studies:

2:1, 2:2

The student will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments and turning points in world history, and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

4:1

· Explain how societies and nations attempt to satisfy their basic needs and wants by utilizing scarce capital, natural, and human resources.

· Understand how scarcity requires people and nations to make choices that relate to costs and future considerations.

· Understand how people and nations need to respect human rights.

English Language Arts:

1:1

· Interpret and analyze information from websites in the Internet and other sources.

· Compare and synthesize information from different sources in the Internet and other textbooks.

· Speaking and Writing.

· Relate new information to prior knowledge and experience.

By working on this project, you will have learned:

1. the causes of Imperialism.

2. the impact of Imperialism on the lives of the people living under colonial rule.

3. the impact of Imperialism on the industrialization of Europe

4. the long term effect of Imperialism on Europe - nationalism and economic rivalry leading to World War.

5. how to put together a PowerPoint project and present it to the class.