California Gold Rush

A WebQuest for 4th Grade
(Social Studies)

Designed by:

 Adriana Chee and Gabriela Temores

              
Introduction | Learners | Standards | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Student Page

Introduction

This lesson is based on the fourth grade California Standards.  Throughout this activity students will develop an understanding of California history, students will be able to hypothesize about how California would be today had the Gold Rush not happened.

At the end of this lessons students will compare and contrast the effect the Gold Rush had in each character involved (Johann Sutter, James Marshall, 49ers, shop owners, and Native Americans).

Using the gathered information, students will create a PowerPoint presentation.


Learners

This activity is intended for a fourth grade classroom.  The main purpose of the lesson is to assess students' understanding of the Gold Rush unit involving Social Studies and Language Arts.
 
Prior to this activity, students should have acquired an in-depth understanding of the main events of the Gold Rush.


Curriculum Standards

This lesson will meet the following California Social Studies Standards:

  • 4.3 Students explain the economic, social, and political life in California from the establishment of the Gold Rush.
  • 2.Compare how and why people traveled to California and the routes they traveled.
  • 3.Analyze the effects of the Gold Rush on settlements, daily life, politics, and the physical environment

Students will work in groups and will use the following skills from the Bloom's Revised Taxonomy Webpage: 

  • Recognize what happened by role playing characters involved in the Gold Rush.
  • Recall by describing the main events of the Gold Rush.
  • Interpret and infer by explaining the cause and effect of the Gold Rush through the eyes of a specific character.
  • Predict what would have been different in California had the Gold Rush not ocurred.
  • Compare and contrast possible different outcomes of the event in study.
Team work expectations:
  • Students are to work cooperatively with each other.
  • Equal/shared responsibilities by all team members.

Process

  • Review main events of the Gold Rush (concept map).
  • Take a quiz on the Gold Rush events.
  • Assign five heterogeneous (based on gender and ability) groups.  At this time, each group should get a character assigned from the following list: Johann Sutter,  James Marshall, 49ers, shop owners, and Native Americans.
  • Ensure that students are on task as he/she assists them.
  • Activity to be completed in about five-one hour periods.
  • Flexibility, since students will work at their own pace.
  • Familiarity with PowerPoint presentations and internet search databases.

Variations

  • Hyper Studio and Kid Pix for presentations


Resources Needed

In order to complete this project, students will need:

This project would work best if done in center rotations (for better access to computer use).  One teacher should be able to carry out this activity, however, extra help would be very helpful.

Evaluation

The entire group will be evaluated according to the quality of information in their presentation, group collaboration, and originality of Powerpoint presentation.  See the rubrics in the student page to inform the students of the evaluation process.  Using the teamwork rubric each student will evaluate his/her group mates regarding their collaboratiin the project.


Credits & References

Webquest Page
Webquest Design Patterns
Alternative History Webquest Student Template
Alternative History Webquest Teacher Template
Fourth Grade Websites
Gold Rush Books

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Last updated on (June 30, 2003). Based on a template from The WebQuest Page