EDUCATION IN THE NEW REPUBLIC

GUIDING QUESTION: How did ethno-centrisim, racism, sexism, class and religious values, democracy, and a developing capitalistic economy affect the evolution of public schools in America?

Your task is to research the educational needs of this country following the Revolutionary War. You should pay particular attention to Ben Franklin's, Noah Webster's, and Thomas Jefferson's visions of what education should accomplish and why, as well as what the Lancasterian system was and its influence on American schools.

Each of vou will collect information from at least 3 sources, BEGINNING with The American School, Chapter 4. Take thorough notes about the issues that affected the development and content of schools during this period.
After gaining an overview of the time period and the issues from Spring, meet as a group and decide on particular issues to focus on as you pursue your next two sources (see linked websites for possible source material). For example, some of you might want to learn more about the differences between Jefferson's and Webster's approaches to education, some might be interested in Franklin's position about the use of German in the schools, some might want to examine the Lancasterian system in more depth. Keep careful notes about whatever topic you pursue.
Each of you will hand in an individual annotated bibliography of your sources.
Next, your group needs to meet and decide how to create a time-Iine of the time period from 1776 to approximately 1830. Include events pertaining to education, politics, the economy, and society that you discovered in your individual research.
Next, as a group, design and create a poster that provides a visual representation of .key features and ideology found in Chapter 4, and, .the particular topics each of you investigated. For example, if you compare and contrast Webster's and Jefferson's visions of education, you could use an H-map or a Venn diagram.
Then, decide together how you will present your findings to the program. You will have 40 minutes to teach your peers about this era in American school history .Review the models of teaching, select an approach, and write your lesson plan. Be sure to connect the information you researched to the functions of schooling that education in this time period served and to the guiding question.
Finally, write three assessment questions (and their answers) that could be used to assess your peers' understanding of the information you will be presenting. Before writing your questions, revisit Arends' section on Bloom's taxonomy. Only one question can be at the knowledge or comprehension level.
On Tuesday, Jan. 27, you will teach your section and hand in

· An annotated bibliography from each group member

· The group's timeline

· The group's poster

· The group's lesson plan

· Three assessment questions, with answers, developed by the group

· .Assessments by each person for each member of the group