WQDan

The Battle of Gettysburg:  =New Look at an old Battle=

Daniel Cox** Daniel.Cox@maine.edu
 * A WebQuest for High School History Students

=Introduction= For three critical days in July the Union and Confederate forces fought over the hills and valleys in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. During those three days the Union Army lost over 17,000 men to death or injury, the Confederates lost nearly 19,000. This battle would become known as the ‘high water mark of the Confederacy’ and the last opportunity General Robert E. Lee would have to defeat the Union Army and to permanently separate the North and South into two separate countries. Your mission, if you choose to accept, will be to take one of the critical commanders at Gettysburg and do a biography of his life before Gettysburg, while at Gettysburg, and after, if they survived; and then tell us why that person was the most important person at Gettysburg.

=G.R.A.S.P.S= = =

The goal of the webquest will be to persuade the members of the Gettysburg Historical Society why your person was the most important person at the Battle of Gettysburg. || x || Each individual will assume the role of their selected leader and give biographical information such as what the person did before the battle, what they accomplished after the battle and most importantly what they did during the actual battle. || x || Members of the Gettysburg Historical Society who will be selecting one leader from the many that participated in the battle as the spotlight person during the Sesquicentennial Remembrance. || x || Symposium at the Gettysburg Battlefield in preparation for the Sesquicentennial Remembrance at the Battlefield || x || Digital Story of your chosen individual and why they were the most important person at the Battle of Gettysburg. || x || iMovie/WMM: Accuracy, Role, Required Elements, Knowledge Gained, Persuasiveness, Product Quality Presentation: Preparedness, Speaks Clearly, Posture and Eye Contact, Comprehension, Content, Vocabulary || x ||
 * Goal
 * Role
 * Audience
 * Setting
 * Presentation
 * Standards:

=Task=

As a result of this learning you will be able to present a digital story to the members of the Gettysburg historical society with the information you have gathered, along with your conclusion as to why your person is the most important. Your individual conclusion needs to be persuasive enough that the members of the Historical Society agree with that your leader was the most important. Areas to be considered when performing this task are education, experiences prior to Gettysburg, experiences at Gettysburg and those after Gettysburg. If your character was one of the thousands killed at Gettysburg their contributions can still be considered the best, so choose wisely. In considering the question of why your person is the best, you will have to consider the contributions of other leaders as well.

=Conclusion= After completing this lesson you will understand who had the advantage from a military standpoint, with a deeper understanding rather than just the numbers. It is not always the size of the dog in the fight, but rather the size of the fight in the dog that matters in battle. There are many instances throughout history where the numerically smaller numbered force has defeated overwhelming odds to achieve victory. It is not out of the realm of possibility that the Confederates could have done the same.