Title – Underground Railroad WebQuest

By – Sean Smith

Primary Subject – Social Studies

Secondary Subjects – Computers / Internet

Grade Level – 9-12

Unit Contents:

• 
  Lesson 1: “On the Backs of Slaves” PowerPoint Lecture
  
  
• 
  Lesson 2: “Underground Railroad” WebQuest (below)
  
  
• 
  Lesson 3: “Path of a Slave” PowerPoint Presentations
  
  
• 
  Lesson 4: “Inspiration to Map Slavery” Charts
  
  

Benchmarks:

Explain the ideology of the institution of slavery, its policies, and
consequences.

Learning Resources and Materials:

• Computer with internet access
• Basic geographical knowledge of the United States
• Link to WebQuest:
  
  

  http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/ath/library/webquests/underground/default.htm

Development of Lesson:

Introduction:
This lesson is designed to give students a basic outline of the Underground Railroad and teach the importance of it. We have gone over the Underground Railroad, the Civil War and Reconstruction in class. This assignment is designed to also teach the geographical distribution of African Americans in the Northeastern United States.

Methods/Procedures:

Students will be broken up into groups of three. I will randomly choose the groups. The students will go to the computer lab twice, each time for one hour. The assignment is self-explanatory and students shouldn’t encounter many problems.


This is the first task of the WebQuest:


Task 1.

• To present to your PowerPoint audience, begin with your introduction.

• Write a two to three sentence statement that describes your thoughts and feelings (your reaction) about what you have learned:
  • about slavery
  • about courage
  • about the Underground Railroad
• Then, in your next paragraph, explain what is meant by the term “Underground Railroad.”
  • Is it really a railroad with a train and tracks?
  • Who is a conductor on this railroad?
  • Explain some other words associated with railroads and how they are used as secret code words.