American colonies founded webquest for middle school

Why were the American Colonies founded? a web-quest for junior high

Way back when I was teaching public school web-quests were wildly popular, and we were all encouraged to design lessons conducted entirely on the computer and teaching kids how to surf the internet.  Now that I’m a homeschool Mom, and my kids are finally competent at typing I’m creating my first homeschool history lesson web-quest.  This one covers “Why were the American colonies founded?”

Why were the American colonies founded webquest

{This post is sponsored by the ARDA, the Association of Religious Data Archives, it’s a fascinating website}

 

Why Were the American colonies founded?

I chose this particular website for this web-quest because large numbers of the American colonies were founded for religious reasons.  Also because I found the interactive timeline fun to play with.  Mainly it’s the interactive timeline, I’ll be honest.

 

Okay, so how do you do this web-quest?

web quest Why Were the American colonies founded

First you’ll need the American colonies printable found in the Subscriber library (you’re on my email list right?).

 

why were the american colonies founded webquest visual instructions

First head to the ARDA website.  You’ll see something like this when you get there.  DON’T get distracted by the fun buttons and the cool YouTube channel over on the side.

I may have already done that and lost an hour watching fun videos I plan to use in the coming weeks as we reach each of these lessons.

Okay, continuing on, I almost got sucked in to look at the lesson plans on there.  But I was strong y’all.  That takes real willpower to stay focused.  Hashtag “the problem is real.”  (see look at me with that cool hipster language, and I may have drunk an entire pot of tea in the last hour, so I’ve got quite the caffeine buzz going)

Now, on the left-hand side click on “Interactive timeline” (don’t worry this is all in the printable).

You’ll see something like this.  You can click on each of the “see more” buttons on the picture to learn more information (I may have gone down another rabbit hole as I played with this timeline and clicked on the links, seriously websites like this should come with a warning for any ADD person).

why american colonies founded example

And now your kids can fill out the chart about why each of the colonies were founded.  Sometimes they might have to search a little bit, but I like that I know all of the links on here have been vetted to be appropriate and won’t accidentally go to a spam site or a porn site (sometime I’ll tell the story of the very inappropriate Peter Pan link I found).

 

More about the ARDA and their free teaching resources

The ARDA is a non-profit dedicated to gathering resources about religion in the United States, so you can find links to:

  • QuickStats on people’s political beliefs and religion (this could be great for a high school research paper)
  • religious terms dictionary- so what is the “Five Pillars of Islam” or “Zoroastrianism”, a quick definition of religious terms or events (like the second Vatican Council)
  • lesson plans (I’m curious to see these, because in a year or so I plan on a comparative religion lesson with my kids)

 

Looking for some more American history ideas?  Check out my US history pinterest board.

More American History fun

 


Comments

4 responses to “Why were the American Colonies founded? a web-quest for junior high”

  1. Oh, what a neat idea about WebQuest! Now you got me thinking…

    1. I know, the possibilities are endless. Once I see how this one goes, you may be seeing more of these.

  2. Hi where can i find the American colonies printable?

    1. The printable is on the subscriber page of my website.

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