Teacher's Guide

1. Intended Audience: This WebQuest is designed for fifth grade students. Students at this age are able to successfully read the different web sites. They have the ability to gather information, and use that new information to create a project that demonstrates their knowledge.

2. Learning Goals:

• Students will develop a deeper understanding of the Oregon Trail and what people experienced while traveling on it.
  
• Students will understand what an economic burden traveling the Oregon Trail was.
  
• The student will understand why the Oregon Trail was a significant event in American history.
• Students will learn how to interpret information they have gathered, creating their own new ideas, in order to complete a task.
• Students will communicate through writing what they have learned and understood about the Oregon Trail.

3. Skills Students Need: Before beginning the Quest, students need to know how to navigate on the Internet. They also need to know what an emigrant is because this word appears many times on the web sites. Students also need to know how to type well enough to write their letter using the computer.

4. Computer Time Needed: Students will be in the computer lab one hour, twice a week, for three weeks. So, they will have six hours total to complete the assignment. There will be six computer lab sessions, each being one hour.

• Session One: Students will read the introduction and start working on Web Site #1. They should get up to step #4.
• Session Two: Students should get through step #8.
• Session Three: Students should finish Web Site #1 and should get through step #3 on Web Site #2.
• Session Four: Students should keep working on Web Site #2
• Session Five: Students should finish Web Site #2
• Session Six: Students should read the project task and begin brainstorming ideas for their letter. They will have time at home to write the letter.

5. Grading Guidelines: To grade the letters, check to see if students followed the guidelines presented in the "Your Task" portion of this WebQuest. Also, check to see if the learning goals listed above have been met.

Great Work: The student has completed a two (or more) page letter with correct spelling. Through this letter, the student has creatively demonstrated what he/she has learned from completing this WebQuest assignment. The student has developed his/her own new ideas from studying the Oregon Trail.

Work That Is OK: The student has completed a two (or more) page letter with few spelling mistakes. The student demonstrates what he/she has learned by including exactly what they found on the web sites, using little creativity.

Not So Great Work: The student has completed a less than two page letter with many spelling mistakes. The student shows that he/she has not completed the WebQuest assignment by including information in their letter that was not on the web sites. Little to no creativity was used. The student has demonstrated that he/she did not understand how to gather and interpret information about the Oregon Trail.