Thomas Jefferson:
21st Century Man
A WebQuest for fifth grade
Kathy Heidler © 2006
Last updated June 19, 2006
Many American colonies were established by settlers who were fleeing religious persecution in Europe. It was believed that there was only one true religion and that to perserve uniformity, the government should impose controls. Those citizens who refused to compromise their religious beliefs and moved to America were committed to the "separation of church and state". By this, these early American citizens did not mean that church and state should not be interwoven as many government officials today would have us believe. Their separation of church and state was freedom from government control on choice of religion and religious beliefs.
If Thomas Jefferson were alive today, what would be think of our interpretation of "separation of church and state"? Should religous standands influence government decisions in regards to moral issues in our current society?
Today there is controversy on the issue of “under God” being kept in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Surely this would have our founding fathers turning over in their graves.
Your campaign staff will use original documents from the Library of Congress and information from the Internet to present a platform that combines individual tasks in order to persuade citizens to vote for Thomas Jefferson as the next President of the United States.
Your staff will be using audio visual equipment and a variety of artistic mediums to develop your platform.
Our American government was established upon religious beliefs. Today, the government has separated church and state. Your task is to imagine that Thomas Jefferson is alive today and running for President of the United States . Your team will develop a campaign platform that will convince the American public to vote for him. Your team consists of 6 members with individual or group roles. Each member will research his or her aspect of a political campaign then work together to present a platform for your candidate. You will have a full nine week period to work on this project as it is an extracurricular, multidisciplinary activity. Your regular classwork must be completed before working on this project. You will be given time each week to meet with the teacher and teammates. Choose your role. ROLE GOAL 1. Candidate: Convince citizens to vote for you 2. Historian: Research data on past and current laws 3.Public Relations Team: Develop all campaign propaganda 4. Campaign Fund Manager: Determine funds needed to run campaign 5. Speech Writer: Prepare final speech for candidate
Now that you have chosen your role, click on your envelope to discover the specific instructions to perform your task.
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You will be evaluated with the following individual and group rubrics.
Rubrics
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Through this WebQuest you have researched primary source documents, the beliefs that Thomas Jefferson held in relation to church and state, and how a political platform is created. You have explored American government and what makes it a democracy.
Using what you have learned, how would you answer these questions?
- What right would you refuse to compomise in your life?
- Should the federal government have more control on the American citizen's daily living?
As the platform staff you will organize the whole class in a project that consist of creating a ballot listing 6 rights chosen from the Bills of Rights, developing a leaflet that describes in brief each right you have chosen to pass out to the voters, hold an election of the middle school students (using voting booths they create) on the right they would chose as most sacred, and display tallied votes on a graph of your choosing to be displayed in the middle school hall. Staff members will need to divide the class into four groups to perform the four tasks listed. Two staff members will work with developing the leaflets, two with the voting booths, and one each on the choosing of rights and graph of results.
Designed by Kathy Heidler, © 2006, a fifth grade teacher at Central Christian Academy in partnership with An Adventure of the American Mind at Waynesburg College. Special thanks to Katie Krocsko. Last updated June 19,2006.
Template created April 2006 by Amy Martin, An Adventure of the American Mind at Waynesburg based on a template designed by Lisa Bradshaw, An Adventure of the American Mind - Colorado.
Many ideas for webquest content and worksheets were adapted by permission from An Adventure of the American Mind - Northern Virginia Partnership, Dr. Rhonda Clevenson, Director.