Major Project Update #3 - Historical Thinking

I am still the process of developing my WebQuest for my major digital project. I have collected a multitude of online resources for my WebQuest and have now started brainstorming various activities that I can have my students complete to direct their own learning. I am planning the WebQuest to last a week, and I have a lot of ideas for potential assignments, so it has occurred to me that I will need to pair down my ideas into a more concise task that students can realistically work through in a weeks time. According to WebQuest.org, "a real WebQuest....

• is wrapped around a doable and interesting task that is ideally a scaled down version of things that adults do as citizens or workers.

• requires higher level thinking, not simply summarizing. This includes synthesis, analysis, problem-solving, creativity and judgment. 

• makes good use of the web. A WebQuest that isn't based on real resources from the web is probably just a traditional lesson in disguise. (Of course, books and other media can be used within a WebQuest, but if the web isn't at the heart of the lesson, it's not a WebQuest.) 

• isn't a research report or a step-by-step science or math procedure. Having learners simply distilling web sites and making a presentation about them isn't enough. 

• isn't just a series of web-based experiences. Having learners go look at this page, then go play this game, then go here and turn your name into hieroglyphs doesn't require higher level thinking skills and so, by definition, isn't a WebQuest."

I think that it is important that I take these qualifications into consideration when crafting my own WebQuest. I liked the emphasis that WebQuest.org places on developing "realistic tasks" or scaled down versions of adult tasks for students to complete. So I asked myself, what kind of tasks should I be preparing for my students in order for them to emulate the thinking of a historian? This got me researching the idea of developing students to be historical thinkers. Hitsory.org states that, "Historical thinking is complex and multi-faceted; we focus on five key aspects particularly relevant to the K-12 classroom." These are, understanding multiple accounts &perspectives, analyzing primary sources, sourcing, understanding historical context, and connecting claim and evidence. Using these foundations of historical thinking as a springboard, I have brainstormed various assignments that could be a good fit for my WebQuest. 

1. Choose a historical figure and complete a character study
2. Raft writing activity - Students put themselves in the shoes of a historical figure and write from their perspective
3. Analyze historical cause and effect relationships
4. Compare and contrast the perspective of the British with the perspective of the American Colonists
5. Assess the validity of various resources
6. Analyze primary source documents such as posters, newspaper clippings and letters.