The Civil War - A Webquest

The Civil War was the bloodiest war every fought by the United States. Three million men fought - sometimes brother against brother - and 600,000 died. It was a fight about differences between the North and the South. They could not agree about the issues of slavery and states' rights to make their own decisions.

The southern states wanted to have their own nation and be able to decide what laws to have. The north did not want the country to be broken apart. In the election of 1860 Abraham Lincoln stated that he wanted to stop the spread of slavery. The southern states said that if Lincoln won, they would secede (leave) the union.

The Civil War was the only war fought on American soil by Americans, and for that reason we have always been fascinated with The Civil War. There are many lessons to learn from such a bitter conflict.

It is 3:30 in the middle of the night. You have just awakened from a long and strange night of sleep. You have been learning about the Civil War in school, and last night you dreamed that you were fighting in Civil War battles, talking to soldiers, and listening to President Lincoln give an speech at Gettysburg.

Suddenly, you hear a knock outside of your window. You open your window and see a boy peering in at you. You ask him who he is and want he wants. "My name is Emit Praw." he replies. "I need your help."

"I have been traveling through time. I live in the year 2050. My father is the curator of the Virginia Museum of the Civil War. When he went to the museum one morning, he found that all the exhibits and records from the Civil War had been destroyed. If they aren't replaced no one in the future will remember the Civil War.

We built a small time machine for me to use to travel back from the future to find someone to help."

"You and your friends can work together to create some new exhibits for us. Will you do that?"

"Of course!" you answer. "When I get to school tomorrow I will tell my teacher and my class can help."

"No, my time machine won't let me stay. But I'll be back to get your exhibits in a few weeks. Here are some ideas for you to start with." He hands you a folder of papers and says good bye.

Each of you will be assigned a topic from the list on the Resources pages. You will research one of these important aspects of the Civil War. Then you will create a HyperStudio stack on your topic.

1. Choose a topic from those listed on the Resources or Resources 6 pages. Check the Advice Page for guidelines about what information should be included in your project. Use the Resources to gather information. (HINT: Use an Inspiration web to take notes. )

2. Look at this rubric to see how your project will be graded.

3. Use this storyboard to plan your HyperStudio Stack. Here are guidelines for your stack.

Conclusion
When you have completed this web quest, you will have become an expert on one aspect of the Civil War. By sharing with your classmates, you will each learn more about this important event in American and Virginia History.