Civil War Webquest

The concept of a WebQuest was developed by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University in 1995 and they are inquiry based lessons that where learners obtain information from the Internet. These are very popular with teachers as a method for promoting inquiry while integrating technology into their curriculum.

While surfing the net for resources, I came across this Civil War Webquest from a school in Hawaii that I thought I would share with everyone. This webquest has all of the standard features and the Task is to create two distinct products: a Civil War portfolio and a song about the topic. The Process section provides very good guidance on how to complete the webquest while ensuring that resources are cited, that the Internet is not the only source of information and that everyone as role to play. There is an extensive list of resources ranging from songs and battles to weapons and medical related links. Finally, the detailed rubrics are provided so students know how their work will be Evaluated.

The coolest part of this particular webquest is the Student Work section that highlights the work of the students for the past three years.

So, take a moment to check out this webquest and let me know what you think. If you have your own or another favorite webquest, share it with me.

Happy webquesting...

Yet Even MORE Statistics

Thanks to the Wig-Wags Blog for posting this interesting article on The Civil War's Last Veterans, Wives and Stats to bring us even MORE statistics to ponder. Yippee!!

According to the post, the following table comes from Fact Sheet: America's Wars by the US Department of Veteran's Affairs:

Civil War (1861-1865)
Total U.S. Servicemembers (Union)..............2,213,363
Battle Deaths (Union)....................................140,414
Other Deaths (In Theater) (Union)....................224,097
Non-mortal Woundings (Union).......................281,881
Total Servicemembers (Conf.) ...........1,050,000
Battle Deaths (Confederate) ..................74,524
Other Deaths (In Theater) (Confed.) (note 3, 4)......59,297
Non-mortal Woundings (Confed.) .................Unknown

Discussion questions for your class:

1. What percentage of Total U.S. Servicemembers were killed in battle?
2. What percentage of Total Confederate Servicemembers were killed in battle?
3. According to the website, the Confederate figures are incomplete. Why do you think they are incomplete?

Now let's add in some additional figures from the same website:

America's Wars Total
U.S. Military Service During War................41,891,368
Battle Deaths.................................................651,022
Other Deaths (In Theater)...............................308,797
Other Deaths in Service (Non-Theater).............230,279
Non-mortal Woundings................................1,431,290
Living War Veterans..................................17,484,000
Living Veterans (War & Peacetime)............23,532,000

Based on this table ask your students:

1. What percentage of soldiers fought during the Civil War when compared to all America's Wars?
2. What percentage of Union Battle Deaths make up the total for all America's Wars?
3. How would having more accurate Confederate data impact these figures?

Don't you just love math. :)

Until next time....

Civil War era Presidential Elections

In this season of elections and how the current presidential primary and the upcoming presidential election I thought it would be interesting to share a website on Civil War era elections.

Harper's Weekly has created a website for researching historical elections from 1860 to 1912. According to the website, the Presidential Elections page features political cartoons from several different digital resource centers such as Harper's Weekly, the Library of Congress and Vanity Fair. The website also "provides explanations of the historical context and images of each cartoon, campaign overviews, biographical sketches, a review of the era's major issues, and other valuable information."

Let's take a moment to explore the 1860 election between Lincoln, Douglas, Breckinridge and Bell. First, each election contains four sections: Overview, Cartoons, Biographies and Events. From here you can learn about the events leading up to to the 1860 election, how the Democratic party split, the Union Constitution Convention, the Republican Convention and the Campaign.

One of the greatest part of this site for teachers are the political cartoons. Let's look at one and see how you can use it in your classroom.


The above image shows Abe Lincoln as a rail-splitter and is intended to appeal to the average voter. Before giving your students the full description of the cartoon, ask them to tell you what they see, what do they think is going on in the cartoon, what does the little child represent and why are the words "Democratic Party" listed on the rail?

You can then follow up by reading them the complete description: "In order to appeal to average voters, Republicans emphasized the poor, hardworking origin of their candidate through the myth of Abraham Lincoln as a rail-splitter. This cartoon in the Wide-Awake Pictorial plays on that image by joking that the last rail he split is th Democratic Party in 1860, which divided into the Northern and Southern Factions."

Then, have your students think about presidential campaign ads or commercials they have seen recently. Do any of those ads try to appeal to the average voter by making the candidate look like every hardworking American? I think so and can name a few but let me know what your students come up with as you review these cartoons.

Until next time....