Your Group:

Your research team consists of four members:

The Graduate Student: This person is working on their professional degree in the area, and is comfortable making hard decisions, and helping with all aspects of the presentation. (Concentrate on Area-Specific Resources: sorting out the most relevant information from all the detail)

The High School Volunteer: This person is really flexible, when other members of the team need help and when there's difficult work to be done.

The Media Specialist: This person is a whiz at evaluating quality resources and keeping track of materials and data. (Work with more General Resources to find appropriate Information)

The Techie: This person is really comfortable with technology and will be happy to share expertise with the other members of the team when they are hung up with a program.

Preliminaries:

Before you begin research on a specific incident, you will want to know exactly what genocide means. To do this, meet with your group at one computer. Visit the Eight Stages of Genocide, a site hosted by Genocide Watch. Read about each stage, and then with your group, develop a one or two sentence summary of that stage in your own words. This will give you a common ground to begin from.

Presentation:

The PowerPoint Presentation:

• Describes the event in detail, including the basic Who, What, Where, When, Why and How?
• Describes how the event has affected the modern world.
• Explains why the Museum should include this event in the traveling exhibit: How will visitors benefit from this information?
• Professional and easy to understand, appropriate to present to a Board of Directors.
• Should consist of at least 10 slides.
• Will use both graphics and various styles of text to illustrate important points.
• Will be accompanied by all members of the group, talking through the material.

Resources:

A page of links for almost every region being researched.

University of Minnesota Human Rights Library

Provides international law and legal information regarding human rights which you may find helpful.

Evaluation

Grading Rubric (30 points possible)

Event Description x 2

• 1 Event description is incomplete: who what where when why or how is missing
• 2 Event description includes basic who what where when why and how
• 3 Event description includes basic facts, also includes supplementary detail from various sources

Event Impact x 2

• 1 Impact of event is mentioned, ideas are undeveloped
• 2 Impact of event is clearly stated, though no evidence is given
• 3 Impact of event is clearly stated and evidence is presented for reinforcement

Importance to People x 2

• 1 Importance is mentioned, ideas are undeveloped
• 2 Importance is clearly stated, no rationale is presented
• 3 Importance is clearly stated, rationale is clear and understandable

Organization and Accuracy x 2

• 1 The presentation is disorganized or unclear, or the event is explained with gaps and misinformation
• 2 The presentation is organized and the event is explained without major gaps or misinformation
• 3 The presentation is organized and the event is explained without gaps and with factual evidence

Format x 1

• 1 Contains fewer than 10 slides, uses one style of text and fewer than 3 images
• 2 Contains at least 10 slides, uses more than one text style and 3-5 images
• 3 Contains 10-15 slides, uses 2-5 text styles and more than 5 images

Presentation x 1

• 1 Not all group members participate in presentation
• 2 All group members participate, some are unfamiliar with material
• 3 All group members participate and give relevant commentary on material.

Conclusion

Genocide is a particularly troubling subject. We struggle with its components of hate, dehumanization and denial on a small scale every day. Are there examples of genocide or near-genocide in American History? Do you think the Holocaust Museum is on the right track, bringing an exhibit around the nation so people can learn about atrocities other than the Holocaust? Would you recommend a different alternative? What can you do, as a student, to prevent genocide?

Note to Teacher

Webquests are great tools for student exploration of internet resources, and they are particularly useful in the social studies, especially in the higher grades. As students develop critical thinking skills, it is easier to let them loose into a world of often questionable material. In fact, Professor Dodge's website provides a grid of webquest examples -- the most examples may be found in the 9-12 Social Studies cell.

It may actually be most difficult for teachers to isolate those sources they consider useful - without overwhelming their students! There are so many exceptional resources developing every day, it often hard to choose the best. For this webquest, the resources provided were critically examined. As a part of the project, you may wish to have your students also evaluate the sites they used. This will reinforce those higher level skills and also provide students with an opportunity to sound off about problems they encountered -- an important part of debriefing.

The next Webquest I plan to write will utilize first-hand accounts of war from all over the world. One of the benefits of the internet for some students is that they are able to reach out to people without risk. If they do not have a family member who lived during World War II, it is possible to find interviews and first-hand accounts on the internet, a great alternative. (Though these must also be checked for credibility.)

Teachers are not the only people who can write webquests! After debriefing this project, students may have further questions. For the next project, have the students write webquests which answer their questions! They can be shared with other members of the class in a more casual, fun way, while still learning.

And don't forget to go international! The uses of websites are not limited to concerns of the United States like the Civil War and Immigration. They can also be useful in World Politics, and like this webquest, Modern Problems. Students can explore webquests as basic introductions to anthropology or sociology, less familiar Social Studies. I really like this technological resource. I think it's one of the more useful methods of incorporating technolgy into the classroom.

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