Title – Causes of the American Revolution

By – Jeff Hopper

Primary Subject – Social Studies

Secondary Subjects – Computers / Internet

Grade Level – 4th

Time/Class Period: 1 – 1 ½ hours (2 class periods)

State Learning Standards:

Overall Goal: In this internet workshop, students will gain an overview of several events that contributed directly to the beginning of the American Revolution. They will use critical thinking skills to consider the reasons why the colonists reacted to certain British acts in the ways that they did.

Objectives:

• Students will be able to use given internet resources to read for information.
  
• Students will be able to identify three events that helped cause the American Revolution
  
• Students will be able to explain why these events angered the colonists
  
• Students will be able to use internet information to support their own opinions and to agree or disagree with others’ opinions

Materials and Resources:

• Website
  

  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/web01/segment3.html

  
  

• Questions on overhead projector
  • In your opinion, why did colonists object to taxation without representation?
  • Do you agree or disagree with the colonists’ decision to stage the Boston Tea Party?
  • What acts were intolerable to the colonists? Do you think they were intolerable?
  • Who were the Sons of Liberty?
• Chart paper and markers

Procedure/Activity for Class Period 1:

1. Review with students the French-Indian War and its outcome.

2. Tell students that following this war, the British wanted the colonists to help them pay for the cost of the war.

3. Inform students that they are going to visit a website that gives them information on the events that followed the French-Indian War, and eventually led to the American Revolution.

4. Instruct students to go to


http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/web01/segment3.html



5. Introduce students to the various icons on the page that link to historical documents, images, and sound clips. Show them how to click on highlighted words for a definition.

6. Let students know that they will work in small groups (2-3) for approximately 30 minutes to investigate the website. Their task is to create a 3-columned chart on which to take notes on the actions taken by the British that upset the colonists, the reactions of the colonists, and the possible reasons for the colonists’ reactions.

7. At the end of the work session, students will come together to discuss their findings in a large group, and to share/hear each others’ ideas.

Class Period 2:

1. Allow students to revisit yesterday’s website for 10 minutes.

2. Draw students’ attention to the questions on the overhead projector. Tell them that they are to work together with their groups to answer the questions, based on their reading, their own opinions, and the opinions of their classmates that were shared at the end of the lesson yesterday.

3. When students are finished with the task, allow the whole class to participate in creating a chart listing the causes of the Revolutionary War, as well as possible reasons why the groups involved were so upset. This chart will become a valuable classroom resource as they continue with this social studies unit.

Closure: This lesson on the causes of the American Revolution will be followed by a study of the timeline of the actual war, as well as its outcomes. As a culmination of the unit, small groups will create Power Point slideshows that include causes, events, and outcomes of the revolution.

Assessment/Evaluation: See rubric.

E-Mail

Jeff Hopper

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