Lewis and Clark Webquest
Journey to a New Frontier
INTRODUCTION
In the years following the Revolution,
Americans were looking to expand. The United States consisted of only 17 states
by the early 1800’s and with populations increasing and natural resources
decreasing, many people were looking to the west, which was largely uninhabited
and still pristine in its nature. In 1803 the territory between the Mississippi
River and the Rocky Mountains was ceded in ownership from Spain to France.
When United States President Thomas Jefferson, who was interested in obtaining
control of New Orleans and it’s port learned of this trade, he sent
James Monroe to France to aid American Minister Robert Livingston in negotiating
the purchase of New Orleans with France’s leader Napoleon Bonaparte.
Napoleon, who needed money to wage war
between France and Great Britain, agreed to sell not only the land around
the city New Orleans, but also all of the Louisiana Territory for $15 million.
After little deliberating Monroe and Livingston accepted this offer and the
purchase of the land known as Louisiana was made. With this amazing acquisition,
The United States doubled in size, adding 830,000 square miles and an untold
abundance of fertile farmland and natural resources.
The addition of this new land brought great opportunity for Americans. Thomas Jefferson and congress needed the land mapped out and resources reported on. In the spring of 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark headed the exploration, traveling up the Missouri River and west to the Pacific Ocean. Along the way the explorers made note of native tribes, animal specimens, and useful plants they encountered. They also made a map of the rivers, mountains and passes they navigated their way through.
TASK
Your task is to form a group with five
of your fellow classmates. Each of you will take on one of the following five
roles:
1.) Map Maker
2.) Native Tribes Specialist
3.) Plant Specialist
4.) Animal Specialist
5.) Supply Person
Once you have determined what role you
would like to take on, individually you will need to gather information and
report back to your group on what you have found. In order to gather information
you can access several of the websites listed below. After all of the information
has been gathered by each group member, together as a group you will need
to develop a report that will be printed in a local newspaper concerning the
upcoming Journey Out West.
PROCESS
Once each member of your group has chosen
a role from the list, you must look up the following information, keeping
in mind your profession, and make a report on what you have found. This will
be an individual report, handed in to your teacher at the end of the project.
A. Anthropologist: Study the
Native Americans you will encounter on your journey.
a. Where do they live?
b. What do they eat?
c. Who or what do they worship?
d. Are they friendly? Why or why not?
e. Did they receive U.S. relations well?
B. Geographer: Map out the regions
you travel and the route you take through the country. In your report, you
need to discuss the significance of the route, difficulties along the way,
and other information you encounter.
a. Draw the route taken both ways on a map of
the U.S.
b. Label the three winter camps
c. Draw the North and South forks of the Missouri River
d. Label the Continental Divide.
e. The total mileage of the trip.
C. Botanist: Study the plant
life you encounter on the journey and document any new discoveries.
a. Find two plants unknown to U.S. scientists
before 1803. Find pictures and tell about each one’s environment. Label
its scientific name, family and species.
b. Give a general description of what kinds of plants were different than
those in the east and why you think that it.
D. Zoologist: Study the animals
you encounter on the journey and document any new discoveries.
a. Find two animals unknown to U.S. scientists
in 1803. Find pictures and describe each one’s environment.Label
it with its scientific name, family and species.
b. Give a description of what kinds of animals were different than those found
in the east and why you think that is.
E. Supply master: Determine what
supplies will be needed for the journey and why.
a. Give a list of supplies you purchased before
leaving and why you needed them.
b. What kinds of food could not be taken with, and how did you provide for
them later?
c. Explain your method of food preservation.
d. Tell two medical problems that arose and how they were treated.
e. List some supplies that were not needed or got in the way.
Now that your individual reports are done, get together with the other members of your group. You will be writing a newspaper article about what you have found that will be published not only in each of your hometowns, but all over the country! Be sure to include the purpose for the mission, and also whether or not it was successful.
RESOURCES
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/index.html
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisclark/index.html (Take a moment to play the game, HAVE FUN!)
http://www.time.com/time/2002/lewis_clark/#
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/JOURNALS/toc.html
http://www.inform.umd.edu/PBIO/L&C/L&Cpublic2.html (Look at the PRETTY plants)
http://www.edgate.com/lewisandclark/expedition.html
http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/amerikanistik/projekte/west/LandC.htm
EVALUATION
You will be evaluated on your performance as a specialist and as a contributor to the group project-newspaper article. Your work as a specialist and as a groip will be scored according to the following rules:
SPECIALIST
|
Objectives |
Exemplary (3) |
Accomplished (2) | Basic (1) | Score |
| ORGANIZATION | Information is organized with headings and listed notes. | Information is grouped together and in order with some headings. | Information is not in order. | |
| QUALITY OF INFORMATION | Information answers the main idea of the questions and contains supporting data and/or examples. | Information relates to questions but is simple and offers little supporting information. | Information does not relate to the questions presented in the process section. | |
| COMPLETION | All questions are answered. | Most of the questions are answered. | Only one or two of the questions are answered. |
GROUP
| Objectives | Exemplary (3) | Accomplished (2) | Basic (1) | Score |
| COOPERATION | Specialists work well together each one contributing to the article. | Contribution by most of the specialists to the article. | Only one or two specialists contributed to the article. | |
| CREATIVITY | Article has a catchy title and peaks the interest of the reader. | Article has a good title and is interesting to read. | Title does not get the reader's attention and is written with grammatical problems. | |
| INFORMATIVE | Newspaper article is accurate and is supported with data. | Article has only minor problems with accuracy with some detail. | Facts in the article are not accurates. |
Scoring Scale:
A= 16-18
B= 13-15
C= 10-12
D= 8-10
F= BELOW 7
CONCLUSION
Congratulations!!! You have successfully traveled through a new frontier and gone through many trials and tribulations. You have encountered Indian tribes, lands, plants, and animals that have never been encountered. You have also dealt with surviving on the supplies that you have taken along and discovered out in the wild. You have completed a great newspaper article about your travels. Great Job!!!!
We hoped you have enjoyed viewing our wonderful Webquest! We had a lot of fun creating it, and hope that we can produce even better Webquests in our own classrooms! This Webquest was created by Sara Hendrickson, Rebecca Hutchinson, Sarah Pulliam, Paul Saevre, Amy Venuti!
November 18, 2002