A One Room Schoolhouse

Teacher page

A WebQuest for Grades 5-8

TEACHER NOTES

This activity is designed to introduce students in grades 5-12 to the concept of the one-room schoolhouse and the evolution of education in the United States during the last century. Through their research, students will acquire a sense of how a region's geography, economy, culture, technology are reflected in its educational system. In creating their projects, students also will have an opportunity to review and/or improve their technology skills.

CURRICULUM STANDARDS

The tasks in this Web-based activity address the national standards in U.S. History for grades 5-8 and national Technology standards for grades K-12.

Tips

• Arrange students into groups of four. If your students are not proficient in the use of technology tools, you might want to arrange for a student from another class or grade to mentor each group.
• All technology activities in this WebQuest can be adapted to activities that do not use technology.
• The entire WebQuest will take several weeks to complete. You'll want to assign interim dates for each part of the project -- research and note-taking, technology activities, and final presentation. Meet briefly with each group at each stage of the project to review the work that is completed and help with any problems they've encountered.
• You might want to provide students with rubrics to help them determine the specific skills that will be assessed during each phase of this WebQuest. You can find a variety of Assessment Rubrics and Rubrics for Web Lessons online or you can use an easy template to Create Your Own Rubric.
• If possible, invite students to present their work, or make their work available, during parent open house.

The following links will provide additional information to help you guide and evaluate student work during this WebQuest:

• History of American Education Web Project
• Schoolhouse of Quality
• The New England Primer
• The Horn Book and New England Primer
• Schoolhouse History
• Iron Hill School: An African-American One-Romm School

Click here for the main Save Our Schoolhouse! page.

Article by Linda Starr
Education World®
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