The ultimate goal for this webquest is for students to gain a more in depth understanding about a portion of China's long history. This is a webquest that will be completed in one class period with a partner for a homework assignment. The most important takeaways from this lesson is regarding the Chinese culture taking shape in the Zhou and Shang dynasties, and the belief system set up in early China.
Standards:
- Standard - 8.4.12.A Evaluate the role groups and individuals played in the social, political, cultural, and economic development throughout world history.
- Standard - 8.1.12.B Evaluate the interpretation of historical events and sources, considering the use of fact versus opinion, multiple perspectives, and cause and effect relationships.
3. People, Places and Environments
5. Individuals, Groups, and Institution
Objectives:
- Understand how geography influenced early Chinese civilization
- Analyze how Chinese culture took shape under the Shang and Zhou dynasties
- Describe the religions and belief systems that developed in early China
- List achievements made in early China
Essential question?
- How did the early belief systems in China make an impact on their society as a whole?
Habits of the mind this lesson supports:
- Managing impulsivity: Students are completely in charge of their learning process with this assignment since they are essentially teaching themselves through independent research.
- Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision: Students are required to work with another student to complete this project and must learn how to do so efficiently.
Differentiated Instruction:
- Students are able to choose who they work with
- Students are able to work at their own pace to complete the assignenment
Webquest Justification:
Webquest's are extremely valuable in a variety of ways, two of the most important are student motivation and critical thinking development. When referring to the article below, student motivation increases since they are not just sitting behind a desk and copying notes. Students are able to be active participants in their learning experience by using different sources to complete the task at hand. They are able to delve deep into professional and scholarly articles, or videos to supplement the material and content at hand. Furthermore, all of the research that it required to successfully complete the webquest, critical thinking skills will be enhanced much more than a regular class would.
Averkieva, L., Chayka, Y., & Glushkov, S. (2015). Web Quest as a Tool for Increasing Students’ Motivation and Critical Thinking