WWI Webquest
Created by Danny Smith, Halifax West High School
Focus of Lesson: World War One. (Goals/Objectives)
What was Canada’s role in the First World War?
Outcomes:
General Curriculum Outcome (s):
¯ Students will be expected to demonstrate and understanding of the past and how it affects the present and the future.
Specific Curriculum Outcome(s):
¯ Identify and describe events in the 20th century that lead Canada toward independence.
¯ Explain Canada’s participation in World War One.
¯ Demonstrate an understanding of the impact of World War One on Canada and her people.
IT Outcomes: Students will operate a variety of media, computer and other educationally appropriate equipment for learning.
Develop multimedia presentations, based on sound principles of design, with increasing confidence, efficiency and independence, use language in electronic forms to explore and express perceptions and feelings, ideas and attitudes; refine thinking; and interact, negotiate and collaborate with others in order to build understanding.
Activity One:
Internet Scavenger Hunt on World War 1
Have students visit the following site to answer the questions below.
Encyclopedia of the First World War
Questions:
1. Which Allied countries took part in World War One?
2. Canada sent two groups of armed forces into combat in World War One. One was the Canadian Corps. What was the other group called?
3. What is the date of the Battle of Heligoland?
4. How long was the Battle of Verdun? When did it begin and end?
5. What are the first three lines of Rupert Brooke’s poem “The Soldier”.
6. What is John McCrae best known for?
7. Who started the Worker’s Dreadnought?
8. How many Military Crosses were awarded to British officers during World War One?
9. What did Ethel M., a member of the Order of the White Feather write in a personal column in July 1915 in The Times?
10. How did Big Bertha get its name?
Questions:
1. Why did men self-inflict wounds? What was the most common way to achieve a self-inflicted wound?
2. What was bully beef?
3. What is the chemical name of Mustard Gas?
4. How long did it normally take a victim of mustard gas to die?
5. Why was Frank Bastable forced to undergo Field Punishment Number One?
6. List the nine offences that were punishable by execution in the British Army.
7. What could happen if trench foot went untreated?
Activity 2: Frontload Activity:
Have students create a web diagram of the word “WAR”. Request that students to brainstorm at least twenty words that help them to understand war. After a discussion on the web, examine the most common words used in describing war and those words/terms not so common.
Next, students are then requested to log on to the following site to create a word search from their brain storming activity word list.
Go to Create Puzzles Online. Go to drop down box and select word search.
Frontload Activity continued:
Students are then asked to create an acrostic poem with the words WORLD WAR ONE by logging on to the following web site: Read*Write*Think.
Activity Three:
¯ Have students create a timeline on WW1 using the following site:
(Note: remind students that time lines must be printed, as the web page is not setup for saving information.)
To assist with historical events students are asked to check out the following links:
The Great War: And the Shaping of the 20th Century
The Great War: And the Shaping of the 20th Century (Timeline)
Activity Four:
Flanders Field Vignette
This lesson is based on viewing the Historica Minute, "Flanders," which shows Canadian Army surgeon John McCrae writing the famous poem, "In Flanders Fields."
In groups of three/four have students view the Historica Minute, "Flanders," from the following site:
After watching Flanders, asked students to complete the following graphic organizer chart below:
Graphic Organizer: Video Analysis
Name:_______________________ Class:______________ Date:____________
What was the key concept? Write a brief summary?
Write in two or three sentences. Do not give facts.
Draw a representation (picture)
List at least three questions you have?
List at least five key points from this video.
Relevance: this video is important or not important because…
Activity Five:
Having viewed the video clip and completed lesson four, distribute copies of "In Flanders Fields" to the class. Discuss with students how the author used words to create a visual picture of war. Ask students to list those words that help them to create a visual image of war. After a discussion, in groups of three/ four have students jot down their thoughts and views to the following questions:
In
Flanders Fields
In
Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between
the crosses, row on row,
That
mark our place; and in the sky
The
larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce
heard amid the guns below.
We
are the Dead. Short days ago
We
lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved
and were loved, and now we lie,
In
Flanders fields.
Take
up our quarrel with the foe:
To
you from failing hands we throw
The
torch; be yours to hold it high.
If
ye break faith with us who die
We
shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In
Flanders fields.
Questions:
What is the setting?
Describe what you see in the first stanza?
Who are the speakers of the poem?
What does the "passing of the torch" in the last stanza mean?
What does the speaker mean by the last three lines?
Activity Six:
In groups of three/four ask students to develop a response to the following questions:
Why is this poem still important to us today?
What is its lasting significance?
What is there to be learned from it?
Why is it still one of the most famous Canadian poems?
To close this activity, ask students to brainstorm words they think convey a picture of peace and build a class list. Then ask each student to write a poem about a peaceful world.