PBL Civil War Project

This is a lesson geared towards the Civil War,  this project will enhance the students understanding on why the Civil War had to happen and the effects the War has had on the United States to this day. 

Unit: The Civil War

In this unit, our third grade class is learning about the Civil War. To better understand the need for the war and the effects it has made, the students will be asked to respond to a central question that will make them apply what they have learned to their own lives, which will make the information more meaningful.

Persistent Issue: How are the results of the Civil War important to our Nation’s history?

Driving Question: What do you think the world would be like today if the South had won the Civil War?

Grabber and Introduction

Introductory Grabber: Instructor begins by asking all of the students to pull out a piece of paper and write down their favorite things to do. Ask a couple of kids to read “their favorite things” aloud to the class. Then, ask the class to write down how they would feel if these things were taken away from them and have a couple of kids discuss how they would feel. Next, ask the kids to imagine if they never had the opportunity to do their favorite thing, ask them to think about how different their lives would be and have them discuss aloud.  Finally, the instructor will explain that we are about to look at a time period when some people felt that they were losing their way of life, and others who had never experienced certain things were able to for the first time. Afterwards, the instructor will show a short video clip (https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/civilwar/ ) , that describes the Civil War. It introduces the reason the war began, the different battles and events that occurred and the results of the war. It does a great job of explaining the events without being biased.  

Introduce the Central Question: Sometimes learning about the past may seem unnecessary, but without the history and the events that have happened we wouldn’t be where we are today.  All of the events in the past have shaped our country and gotten us to today. We will look at what would our world would be like today if the South had won the Civil War.

Lecture: In a brief lecture, the instructor will explain the events of the Civil War, following our text book. The students will take notes on the differences between lifestyle and  cultural and economic North and South before the Civil War, why the South separated from the US and the effects of the war.

Culminating Activity

Preparation: Using their text book, books from the school library, any of the following websites or other helpful resources the students find, each group will address the central question:  What do you think the world would be like today if the South had won the Civil War?

https://kidskonnect.com/history/civil-war/

http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/civilwar/cwar.htm

https://www.nps.gov/fosu/learn/historyculture/upload/SLAVERY-BROCHURE.pdf

Together, each student group will create a timeline of events of what they imagine would have occurred between the end of the Civil War and 2016 if the South had won. This list should include at least 10 events with a two-three sentence explanation for each one, explaining why they believe this event could have occurred as aftermath of the Civil War. Each event on the timeline must have a date, an event and an explanation. An example would be:

May 28, 1865- The Union creates their own constitution. I believe this would have happened because the South would have had to have created a formal list of laws to govern their new country so that people could sustain their way of life. . They would include a law that says that slavery is legal because slavery was an import way for the Southern plantation owners to make money.

Next, the group will choose to create either a poster board, slide show, oral presentation or skit to explain their project to the class.

Presentation Introduction: When students enter the classroom, the desks have been set up in groups, with a space in the front for each respective group to present.

Group Presentations: Each group will present their answer to the driving question by presenting their timeline of events of what they imagine would have occurred between the end of the Civil War and 2016 and an explanation of why they believed so, through any of the following mediums: poster board, slide show, oral presentation or skit . After each presentation, the other groups will discuss between their own group what they thought of the presentation.

Debriefing: After all the presentations are done, an open discussion will begin where students are allowed to ask questions, make constructive comments to the other groups and respond by defending their ideas. This will allow the students time to communicate and better understand how their ideas and the ideas of others are similar and different, which will give them a deeper understanding of the information they are processing.

Oral Presentation Rubric: The Civil War

The teacher will use this rubric to judge the amount of knowledge each group gains and learns throughout this lesson.  Through this rubric the main things you will asses the groups and students on are Content, Comprehension, Originality, Preparedness, Citations and the Timeline they create as a group. The teacher will use this as the groups are presenting and they will use their best judgement to decide the right score for each group within each category.