WebQuest

The Age of Exploration

T.Germain

Truman High School

The Age of Exploration had many implications for the Americas. In fact, the interaction between the Europeans and indigenous groups in the Americas led to the decline of the latter. Due to the European discovery of wealth and opportunity in the Americas, the Europeans needed a strong labor force. Because the native populations had declined, the Europeans began to import African peoples to be sold and enslaved for profit. Some of the dilemmas with slavery were the oppression of African peoples; the banning of African cultural practices; the development of a hierarchical social structure that placed Africans at the bottom. A major policy that was enacted to address this problem was the Black Codes in Barbados or ‘Code Noir’ in the case of Haiti. The European colonists hope to maintain the hierarchical structure and prevent anarchy within the system of slavery. The policy was advantageous for the Europeans in that it did maintain some order and restricted activities of slaves. Additionally, these policies were used to maintain the oppression of African captives.

Your Role:

You have been assigned a role (blacksmith, slave, trader on African coast, shipmate, African King, King of Spain, Mullato on plantation, overseer, slave owner, captain of ship). Based on your role you are creating a final document depicting your perception of the system of slavery in the Americas.

As a member in the system of slavery, your role is to describe the way the system has affected your life and society. You will create a written journal entry, a drawing, a PowerPoint presentation, a song or poem that expresses your perception of the system of slavery using information from worksheets one to five. Your final product, a written journal entry, a drawing, a PowerPoint presentation, a song or poem will be presented to the class orally.

v You will be working in pairs

v Each pair will receive an assigned role, as stated in the introduction

v Each pair will decide as to which product they will complete based on the choices in the task.

v Each pair will define the social problem using worksheet one.

v Each pair will gather evidence using worksheet two.

v Each pair will determine the causes and factors using worksheet three.

v Each pair will evaluate the policy using worksheet four.

v Each pair will do a comparative analysis using worksheet five.

I.

Account of slave, slave system and slave life will help you understand numerous perspectives of African captives as well as information regarding the system of slavery. The site will also allow you to gather important information about laws and policies regarding the system of slavery. In order to gather information about the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the treatment of slaves, please view this hyperlink. There are also numerous images of slavery in the Americas.

II.

Search Engines (Gather YOUR own information):

Google, yahoo, and excite.

III. Textbook

IV. Notes

Performance	Excellent 5	Very Good 4	Fair 3	Poor 2
Worksheets	All worksheets are thoroughly completed with an excellent understanding of the social problem, its causes and the public policy that arose	Most worksheets (4+) are completed with a good understanding of the social problem, its causes and the policy that arose.	Some worksheets (3+) are completed with a fair understanding of the social problem, its causes, and the policy that arose.	Few worksheets (less than 3) are completed with a poor understanding of the social problem, its causes, and the policy that arose.
**Product**	The journal entry, drawing, PowerPoint presentation, song or poem reflects a thorough understanding of the social problem, public policy, and information.	The journal entry, drawing, PowerPoint presentation, song or poem reflects a good understanding of the social problem, public policy, and information.	The journal entry, drawing, PowerPoint presentation, song or poem reflects a fair understanding of the social problem, public policy, and information.	The journal entry, drawing, PowerPoint presentation, song or poem reflects a poor understanding of the social problem, public policy, and information.
Oral Presentation	Speaks very clearly, while involving all group members and maintaining audience attention.	Speaks very clearly, while involving all group members and maintaining audience attention.	Speaks somewhat clearly, while involving all group members and maintaining some audience interest.	Does not speak clearly, nor does it involve all group members. Does a poor job of maintaining interest of audience.
Organization	Information, group work and oral presentation are extremely well integrated.	Information, group work, and oral presentation are well integrated.	Information, group work, and oral presentation are somewhat integrated.	Information, group work and oral presentation are poorly integrated. Final product lacks clarity.

**PowerPoint- must include A title page, at least 10(ten) Slides, including Meaningful Text, a graph, and a map.

Journal Entry, song, and poem- must intrigue the reader, provide perspective and supporting detail. It Must also describe the setting, and give the reader a sense of the time period and events.

Drawing- must include accurate historical information, a written portion (one paragraph or more), and must provide perspective.**

STANDARDS:

This Webquest responds to the followings curriculum standards:

Social Studies: Standard 2

v 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.

Social Studies: Standard 3

v The student will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live- local, national, and global- including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the Earth’s surface.

English Language Arts: Standard 1

v Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.

English Language Arts: Standard 4

v Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction.

The system of slavery impacted the lives and societies of all its participants and in many respects non-participants. Further, the system impacted politics, economy, society, and culture. How has the system of slavery and the policies enacted affected your lives or societies? How would the world be different had slavery not existed? These are some questions to think about as you conclude your assignment.