The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Year 11 English - Play Studies - 'The Crucible' written by Arther Miller.

This WebQuest will introduce you to the socio-cultural and religious background of the play ‘The Crucible’ written by Arthur Miller. It will also introduce you to the history of witch trials and why they played such a big role in human history.

This WebQuest will provide you with the foundational knowledge you need to comprehend the events and themes of Arthur Miller’s 'The Crucible'.

By answering the questions provided to you, you will form an understanding of:

• The religious beliefs of the time.
• What Theocracy is.
• True events of the Salem witch trials.
• The definition of witchcraft and how/when/where the hunts originated.
• How accused witches were trialled, punished and executed; also how they confessed to avoid death.
• How many people were executed because they were believed to be witches.

The final product will be a reference point for you to return to during our study of the play. It will guide and inform your decisions regarding your assessment task.

It is vital that you understand the socio-cultural and religious beliefs and expectations of the time in order to fully grasp and appreciate the play.

You will be provided with a digital worksheet that contains the following questions:

1. What was the dominating religious movement of the time and from what religious faction did they come from?
2. What were the main beliefs of this movement?
3. What is Theocracy?
4. What acts were considered to be ‘Witchcraft’?
5. When and where did the witch trials originate?
6. How and why did the belief in the existence of witches spread?
7. List some of the historically true events of the Salem witch trials.
8. Describe how the accused witches were trialled, punished and executed.
9. How did the accused witches avoid death?
10. How many people were estimated to have been executed because they were believed to be witches?

On this worksheet you will write your answers in the spaces provided. The information that will form the basis of your answers can be found on the websites below.

Once completed you should print out and glue the worksheet into your notebooks.

We will then have a class discussion about the information you found. This requires you to prepare some discussion points regarding what you found interesting, noteworthy, shocking and/or important.

Websites:

http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-theocratic-government…

http://www.history.com/topics/salem-witch-trials

http://www.localhistories.org/witchtrials.html

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witc…

http://newhistories.group.shef.ac.uk/wordpress/wordpress/guilty-until-p…

We will be having a class discussion after the completion of this activity. This will demonstrate to me your knowledge and comprehension of the information.

Now that you have completed this task you should have a firm understanding of socio-cultural and religious beliefs of the era in which, Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’ is set. This knowledge will be invaluable as we progress through our analysis of the play. Comprehension of Puritan life will enhance your ability to empathise with the characters and analyse their motives, thoughts and feelings.

Amer, A. (2006). Reflections of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. Journal of Research on Educational Psychology, 4 (8),  213-230.

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2016). Information and Communication Technology Capability Learning Continuum. Retrieved from ACARA at http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/generalcapabilities/information-…

Blumburg, J. (2007). A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials. Retrieved from Smithsonian.com at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witc…

Bramham, S. (2012). Guilty until Proven Innocent: The Salem Witchcraft Trials, 1692. Retrieved from New Histories at http://newhistories.group.shef.ac.uk/wordpress/wordpress/guilty-until-p…

History.com. (2016). Salem Witch Trials. Retrieved from History.com at http://www.history.com/topics/salem-witch-trials

King-Sears, M. (2009). Universal Design for Learning: Technology and Pedagogy. Learning Disability Quarterly, 32 (4), 199-201.

Lambert, T. (2015). A History of the Witch Trials in Europe. Retrieved from Local Histories at http://www.localhistories.org/witchtrials.html

Teachnology Inc. (n.d.). What is a Web Quest? How do Teachers Use Them? Retrieved from Teachnology Inc. at http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/web_quests/

Wiebe, G. (2016). Integrating Technology. Yes. It’s Different Than Simply Using Technology. Retrieved from History Tech at https://historytech.wordpress.com/2016/02/02/integrating-technology-yes…

Worldatlas. (2016). Countries with a Theocratic Government Today. Retrieved from Worldatlas at http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-theocratic-government…

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is fast becoming synonymous with education. More and more our contemporary classrooms are reliant upon ICT access. Therefore, it is important that teachers adapt their classroom pedagogy accordingly.

Incorporating ICT lends itself to the concept of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The premise of UDL is to minimise the current method of differentiation and evolve towards lessons that provide access to all students no matter the capability (King-Sears, 2009). ICT provides a unique platform for students to engage in the same lesson through a myriad of different ways. Students with a disability use ICT as a tool to access their learning at the same level of their peers thereby, allowing them to remain in the classroom instead of being separated. Using ICT in UDL provides students with variety and choice in their learning and subsequently, improves student engagement (King-Sears, 2009). 

Web Quests are one of many teaching strategies that incorporate ICT in a way that supports UDL. They are an efficient way to introduce a new topic in a classroom and they promote collaborative learning when completed in groups  (Teachnology Inc. n.d.). Consequently, this is why I chose to create a Web Quest for the beginning of ‘The Crucible’ unit I am currently teaching.

When incorporating ICT into classroom pedagogy it is important that it be done in a thoughtful and purposeful manner. Simply using ICT to complete a task does not provide our students with meaningful learning opportunities (Wiebe, 2016). Teachers should ensure that the integration of ICT into a lesson promotes higher order thinking and supports the learning goal. This Web Quest about the Salem witch trials and Arthur Miller’s play ‘The Crucible’ is an enquiry-based activity that integrates ICT in the lesson. The inclusion of websites that require students to employ analytical and inferential skills to decipher the answer promotes Bloom’s Higher Order Thinking (Amer, 2006). This Web Quest also provides the opportunity for the students to practice their synthesising and reading comprehension skills.

Lastly, the integration of this Web Quest into a lesson meets the level 6 curriculum descriptor “Collaborate, share and exchange, select and use a range of ICT tools efficiently and safely to share and exchange information, and to collaboratively and purposefully construct knowledge,” from the Information and Communication Technology Capability Learning Continuum (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2016).

Web Quests are a valuable classroom tool for integrating ICT in a meaningful and purposeful way. They support higher order thinking and require students to employ their analytical and inferential skills. The aim of this Web Quest was to provide the students with in-depth background knowledge about the era in which Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’ was set. This knowledge would help them to understand the events and themes of the play as we analyse it. By encouraging the students to evaluate and analyse the information on the websites it has ensured that they have constructed their own knowledge in a way that they understand.