Webquest Ideas

My overall interest in this webquest is to have students study and understand the complexities of the Holocaust.

1. A Holocaust Day (I would like to do this one :-))
a.) Topic: Have students explore the holocaust as a whole and what life was like for Jewish individuals.
b.) Grade Level: 7th
c.) It is 1939 and you are living in a city in Germany. A man named Adolph Hitler has taken over the country and is trying to take over the world. If you are Jewish, you may be hiding or you may be imprisoned in a concentration camp. If you are non-Jewish you may be risking your life to oppose Hitler and hide Jews or you may have fallen into the Nazi Solider standing. What are you writing in your journal? Do you know how to write? How else can you depict your life at this point in time? Poems?
d.) Roles:
Jewish man in concentration camp: research what life may have been like for you.
Jewish girl hiding: research what life may have been like for you.
Nazi solider: research what life may have been like for you.
Non-Jewish woman hiding a Jew in her home: research what life was like for you.
Jewish child at concentration camp: research what life may have been like for you.

2. Picture Portrayal
a.) Topic: Have students create a visual piece that portrays the Holocaust without using text or audio text.
(only pictures/illustrations)
b.) Grade Level: 6th
c.) Task: Many people are visual learners. You are assigned the task of creating a visual piece (PowerPoint, collage, etc.) reflecting/portraying the Holocaust as a whole. You must use pictures that metaphorically represent feelings, emotions, events, and hardships of the Holocaust and not actual pictures of the time period.
d.) Role: (All members of the group will research information about the Holocaust)
Organizational Orange: Organizes/sorts information into common/relating groups
Emotion Potion: Decides/reflects on what emotions shall be portrayed in the slideshow
Picture Persons (2): Searches for pictures that reflect the emotions/feelings
Technological Technician: Puts pictures into collage/PowerPoint/etc.
Final Toucher: Puts the finishing touches on the project (color, extras, corrections, etc.)

3. News Flash!
a.) Topic: Students will research the Holocaust and educate others about this important event with the goal of helping to break the cycle of violence.
b.) Grade Level: 7th
c.) Task: You are American newspaper reporters living during the Holocaust era. You have been sent to Germany in order to report back to the United States about the events taking place there. You are assigned the task of researching, writing, and editing a single edition of your newspaper.
d.) Roles:
Adolf Area: responsible for an article depicting his life and his contributions to the Holocaust.
Childhood Chancelor: responsible for an editorial of what children of the Holocaust were going through.
Concentration Concentrator: responsible for creating a letter to the editor from a Jewish person in a concentration camp depicting his/her life there.
Nuremberg Laws Noter: Responsible for getting the "w's" (who, what, where, when, and why) on the Nuremberg Laws.
"Final Solution" Informer: Responsible for getting the "w's" of the Final Solution.
Death Decoder: Responsible for getting the "w's" of the Death Marches.

4. Poetic Purpose
a.) Topic: Have students create a poem from the perspective of child living in the concentration camps during the Holocaust.
b.) Grade Level: 7th
c.) Task: What is life like? How do you feel? Do you have hope? Who is left? You are a child living in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. Write a poem for future individuals to read to inform them of what your life is like at this time.
d.) Roles:
Food Fascination: Research nutrition provided at the camps. Starvation? Malnutrition? Overall health?
Sleep/Home Dweller: Research where Jewish captives slept and where their "home base" was.
Work Wonderer: What kind work did children undertake at the concentration camps?
Family Favorer: Were families kept together at the camps? What were the family relationships like?
Poetic Picker: Research types of poems and formats. How will your group layout and form the poem?