Directions: Today you will begin a webquest.

You will need to take your time, think deeply, work

hard, communicate effectively, cooperate and compromise.
Like all quests, it will have challenges, but it will also have moments of
inspiration, insight and pleasure as you work together to slay the
dragon.
(Well, not a dragon really, but if you do this well, you will understand more
about this
than most adults in our fair country and you will be on your way to
becoming
leaders of the free world.)
You will work in groups of four.

Each of you will individually view the videos and resources listed in each part of the Webquest (Note- you
must login to BrainPop).

The login for BrainPop is:

Username: palmbeach

Password: palmbeach

o Work your way down the parts. In other words, do Part I first, Part II second and so on.

A. For Part I, you will each pick two different questions to answer, so that every question is answered.
B. For Part II, you will each pick one different question out of the first 4 questions, so that every question is
answered.
o Everyone must do the 5th question.
C. For Part III, Everyone must answer the question independently.
1. Please answer the questions thoroughly in your research notebook.
a. Include date, headings, and question #s.
2. Share and evaluate your answers. Fill in any gaps you see in each others work.

Part I- The Constitution

This video from the History Channel tells about the Founding Fathers and the creation of the US
Constitution. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXJ-q9Z_n-E) you might have to paste this link into
your Firefox browser.
This BrainPop video outlines the Articles of Confederation.
This BrainPop video tells about the Constitutional Convention.
This BrainPop video outlines the basic principles that form the basis of The Constitution.
In this video from Liberty Kids, We The People (watch both 1 and 2), two fictional reporters let the
viewer inside the events of the Constitutional Convention and inside the heads of the Founding Fathers.

1. Compare and contrast the Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution.

2. Evaluate the reasoning of the Founders for creating a United States Constitution rather than revising the
Articles of Confederation.
3. What was different about the creation of our government compared others at that time? What was similar?
4. Identify the key compromises that the founders agreed upon. Which was the most important and why?
5. What principles or ideas in the United States Constitution have made it work so well into the present?
Explain your thinking.
6. Pick one of the principles that form the basis of the United States Constitution. Write about an event in
history or a current event that illustrates this principle in action.
7. In your opinion, who or what was the most important person, place or idea at the Constitutional
Convention and why?
8. Benjamin Franklin spoke about the sun carving on the back of George Washingtons chair. How is the sun
a symbol (beyond Franklin's words - provide details to show your thinking) for what was happening in
America from colonial days up through the close of the convention?
Part II The Bill of Rights
Watch this video from Annenberg Classroom. This page also has short videos on each of the 10 rights.
This is the BrainPop video on The Bill of Rights.
1. Analyze the arguments for including these rights in our constitution and the reasons for leaving them out
by ranking them from most important/powerful to least important/powerful.
2. Imagine if the delegates refused to include the Bill of Rights. What might have happened?
3. Even though we have a Bill of Rights, people sometimes have their rights violated.
a) Choose some historical or current events that illustrate these violations and discuss how and/or
why they happened, and what should have happened.

4. The Constitution grants us rights, but does it also imply that we have responsibilities? Can a person have
rights without responsibilities?
a) Why or why not?
5. *Compare/contrast the rights in the Declaration of Human Rights to those in the Bill of Rights. Of
course, the Declaration was not written in 1787, but we know the ideas go back to the start of civilization.
Identify rights that are similar and rights that are different.
a) Discuss how and why those rights were written into, or left out of our constitution.
Part III - Founders
You have learned about many of the Founding Fathers from the previous videos. What about Founding
Mothers?
Learn about our Founding Mothers on this video on Kahn Academy.
There are some biographies of important people who shaped our government Famous Historical Figures
BrainPop
There were many more delegates at the convention than those highlighted. You can read about them here.
There are several longer biography videos on Bio.
1. Who is the most interesting founder in your opinion? Explain.
Additional Resources:
eBooks on Library Webpage- Go to http://aynorhighlibrary.weebly.com/ , click Student Learning Commons,
click HCS Smart Search, and then search for the following books:
The Mayflower Compact
The Declaration of Independence
The Creation of the U.S.
The Articles of Confederation
The Bill of Rights
Games:

Time Zone

Checks and Balances

Branches of Government

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