West Virginia; Let's Explore

West Virginia; Let's Explore
An Internet WebQuest on West Virginia for 5th grade

Created by Lily Bright

Introduction | The Task | The Process & Resources | Conclusion | HyperText Dictionary

Introduction

Could this happen to you? You and your family are spending a typical weekend together. You live in a small West Virginian town. Although it's a rainy day, it's still good to spend alone with your parents. Your parents are a little concerned about the rain because of the Dam owned by the Pittston Coal mining Company mining company is located nearby. This is where tons of sludge (materials collected from the mines) is dumped in an attempt to hold back water from the dam. Your father has spent most or his life working in the mines owned by this company. On this particular day of the week the sludge could no longer hold the water back. Millions of gallons of black water were released upon this community where you, your family and friends lived. How would you feel if you lived in a community where everyone there depended on coal mining for a living? And the lives of everyone who lived nearby. This may be difficult for you to understand due different cultural backgrounds; the many different trades available to almost everyone today. How would you feel about the company that used sludge to hold back the water from the dam? I would expect each one of you to have different opinions about this great tragedy.

When we are faced with situations in life that are sometimes hard to understand, we may react differently at first; we may change our opinions later on about a situation; or we might look to others for problem solving. Since this was a real and actual account of a "Disaster,” write and give me your http://www.appalshop.org/film/buffalo/guide.htm

This is particularly true when we use the Internet for our research because many people post their personal opinions or only know a sliver of the whole story. In the following WebQuest, you will use the power of teamwork and the abundant resources on the Internet to learn all about the state of West Virginia. Each person on your team will learn one piece of the puzzle and then you will come together to get a better understanding of the topic.

The Quest

If you were the President of the Pittston Coal mining Company, l what would you have done differently to prevent the “'Buffalo Creek Flood Disaster” in February 1972?

The Process and Resources

In this WebQuest you will be working together with a group of students in class. Each group will answer the Task or Quest(ion). As a member of the group you will explore Webpages from people all over the world who care about West Virginia. Because these are real Webpages we're tapping into, not things made just for schools, the reading level might challenge you. Feel free to use the online Webster dictionary or one in your classroom.

You'll begin with everyone in your group getting some background before dividing into roles where people on your team become experts on one part of the topic.

Phase 1 - Background: Something for Everyone

Use the Internet information linked below to answer the basic questions of who? what? where? when? why? and how? Be creative in exploring the information so that you answer these questions as fully and insightfully as you can.

Phase 2 - Looking Deeper from Different Perspectives

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Individuals or pairs from your larger WebQuest team will explore one of the roles below.

2. Read through the files linked to your group. If you print out the files, underline the passages that you feel are the most important. If you look at the files on the computer, copy sections you feel are important by dragging the mouse across the passage and copying / pasting it into a word processor or other writing software.

3. Note: Remember to write down or copy/paste the URL of the file you take the passage from so you can quickly go back to it if you need to prove your point.

4. Be prepared to focus what you've learned into one main opinion that answers the Big Quest (ion) or Task based on what you have learned from the links for your role.

West Virginia Coal Miners

Use the Internet information linked below to answer these questions specifically related to West Virginia Coal Miners:

1.Why was it was necessary for coal miners in West Virginia to organize a union? Write in summary form, and give details.

2. What significant incident happened at Blair Mountain?

A. Write summary about incident and give details.

3. Who was Mother Jones?

     A. What was mother Jones’s involvement in West Virginia‘s coal mining union?



4.      Write a full page autobiography about her life and her other accomplishments.

5.      West Virginia's Coal Miners - Describe the conditions in which coal miners had to endure in the late eighteen and early nineteen hundreds. What were some of the Illnesses that were common to miners then?

A.     How did Doctors treat these illnesses; were miners ever cured of them? Write a one page summary describing the kinds of care which the coal miners received.



              WV Prehistoric Times and Public Schools

Use the Internet information linked below to answer these questions specifically related to WV Prehistoric Times and Public Schools:

1 Describe in your own words the life in which you believe elementary children lived in West Virginia during prehistoric times.
A. what kinds of clothes do you think they wore?
B. do you think they were able to attend schools everyday, or do you think they had to work on their family farms when they were needed?
C. do you think that their school books were similar to the ones used today? If not, how do they differ?

D. on a poster board either collect pictures of school children who lived in the early nineteen hundreds and paste them; or draw pictures of them instead if you are unable to find any.

2. Explain what the word Terrain means, and explain how a town’s growth might be hindered because of it.

3. Who was John Denver?

       A. In what state did he live? Write in essay forms some of his great contributions to the    state which he lived.

       B. Draw sceneries of West Virginia using the lyrics in John Denver’s song.

        West Virginia: Prehistoric Times

Find and locate West Virginia on a United States map.

    A. Locate all of West Virginia’s rivers, parks, mountains and caves.

Acadmics: Describe West Virginia's Public Schools in the early Nineteen Hundreds

A .Compare and contrast schools then and how they are today.

Politics and WV today

Use the Internet information linked below to answer these questions specifically related to Politics and WV today:

1.Explain why John F. Kennedy found it necessary to spend so much time Campaigning in the State of West Virginia in the 1960's?
2. What Religion was Kennedy? What Religion were most of West Virginia citizens.
3. Describe the types of Voting Ballots which were used in the 1960's.
4. What types of Ballots do we use today?

Politics comes to West Virginia - What impact did President John F. Kennedy's election have on the Citizens of West Virginia?

Compare and Contrast how politics influenced West Virginia’s voters in the nineteen sixties, and how influences it today.





Crash of Stock Market

Use the Internet information linked below to answer these questions specifically related to Crash of Stock Market:

1.What year did the Stock Market Crash? What happened as a result of that crash? Explain in details.

2. Describe how the crashes of the Stock Market lead to the Great Depression.
3. Describe how the 'Depression' affected the lives of West Virginia citizens.

The Crash of the Stock Market - Describe how the stock market led to the depression, which caused West Virginia’s citizens to be in an even worse condition than before.

Phase 3 - Debating, Discussing, and Reaching Consensus

You have all learned about a different part of West Virginia. Now group members come back to the larger WebQuest team with expertise gained by searching from one perspective. You must all now answer the Task / Quest(ion) as a group. Each of you will bring a certain viewpoint to the answer: some of you will agree and others disagree. Use information, pictures, movies, facts, opinions, etc. from the Webpages you explored to convince your teammates that your viewpoint is important and should be part of your team's answer to the Task / Quest(ion). Your WebQuest team should write out an answer that everyone on the team can live with.

Phase 4 - Real World Feedback

You and your teammates have learned a lot by dividing up into different roles. Now's the time to put your learning into a letter you'll send out for real world feedback. Together you will write a letter that contains opinions, information, and perspectives that you've gained. Here's the process:

To Maritzburg College High School
Pietermarizburg, South Africa

Greetings to you!
I am Lily Bright. I am a student here at Shepherd University. This is my first time writing a WebQuest. It was challenging but necessary. I studied West Virginia History in the late Nineteen Nineties. I thoroughly enjoyed the class. West Virginia is a beautiful state surrounded by the states of Maryland; Pennsylvania; Ohio; Kentucky and Virginia. The mountains are some of the most beautiful sites seen anywhere in the world. Coal Mining has been in the past one of West Virginia's main financial recourses. Many workers in the mines left because of better opportunities for employment in neighboring towns and cities. Many workers in the mines lost their lives due to unsafe mining conditions. Others were stricken with diseases caused from mining pollutions. Since ground is fertile in certain areas of West Virginia, fruit crops and certain grain materials prosper rather well. Corn fields can be found around most rural locations. Peach and apple orchards are common sites around as well. During summer season, fruit and vegetable markets and stands are common place. West Virginia can boast about the highways and other roads as well. This state made national headlines during the nineteen sixties when the late President JFK was campaigning for his presidential election.

2. Give background information that shows you understand the topic.

STATE THE TASK / QUEST (ION) AND YOUR GROUP'S ANSWER.

3. Each person in your group should write a paragraph that gives two good reasons supporting the group's opinion. Make sure to be specific in both the information (like where you got it from on the Web) and the reasoning (why the information proves your group's point).

4. Have each person on the team proofread the message. Use correct letter format and make sure you have correctly addressed the email message. Use the link below to make contact. Send your message and make sure your teacher gets a copy.

Your Contact is: Lily Bright

Conclusion

You have had an opportunity to learn some important facts about West Virginia. It's Natural resources; the political role it played in helping to select a President you've learned about it's economical system particularly during the depression. In your minds could you imagine living through the Buffalo Creek mine Disaster, and writing about it. It's easy to come up with solutions that may not be completely right. It's the same for understanding a topic as broad or complex as West Virginia: when you only know part of the picture, you only know part of the picture. Now you all know a lot more. Nice work. You should be proud of yourselves! How can you use what you've learned to see beyond the black and white of a topic and into the grayer areas? What other parts of West Virginia could still be explored? Remember, learning never stops.

Content by Lily Bright, lbrigh01@mail.shepherd.edu
http://www.kn.sbc.com/wired/fil/pages/webwestvirli.html
Last revised Fri Feb 18 11:56:37 US/Pacific 2005