Register now for the Civil War Summer Institute (Deadline March 15)
For some students, social studies can seem long ago and far away...even irrelevant. But when students get to approach history firsthand-through their sensory experience of specific places and things (e.g. primary sources)-it is much easier for them to make connections. By seeking, finding, and touching they get to make physical connections that increase their motivation for and investment in the learning process. They attach meaning to experiences, and nest the experiences into a narrative or “story” that lives in their memories.
Utilizing field work and technology to make maps, record images, learn from and digitize primary sources, students move from "studying about" something long ago to "participating in" something of relevance today. History becomes theirs, as they become stewards of information, materials and places. Place-based approaches to teaching social studies are wonderful-and valuable. Service-Learning projects are valuable, too, especially when students take the time to share what students have learned with their peers, families and the broader community.
Civil War Quests offer students, teachers and community members the opportunity to engage with and learn from the places they live. Students study cemeteries, adopt specific individuals buried there and then use primary and secondary sources to understand the larger social contexts that influenced these individuals' lives.
Creating Civil War Quests:
- Enables students to increase their understanding of history as they become historians;
- Offers a culminating product that serve as an interpretive and recreational tool;
- Extends students learning to teach hundreds of other children & families over the coming years.
Using this web site to create your own Civil War Quest:
- See an overview of the entire sequence of lessons.
- Take a virtual quest to see kids in action out in the cemetery.
- Use the annotated quest to see how movement, teaching, and puzzle clues were researched and created by kids. There are worksheets linked to the clues in the quest.
- Go to the sample quests for examples of grade-specific quests.
- Use the lesson plans for a detailed unit outline for creating your own civil war quest.