FAMOUS SHIPWRECKS
A web quest for
6th grade
Designed by
Rachael Gonsior
Introduction
People have being
using boats as a means of transportation for thousands of years. But sometimes ships get lost or sink during
their trip due to stormy weather, icebergs, hidden rocks or even battles
between other ships! Experts believe
there are close to 3 million shipwrecks at the bottom or our oceans! Can you
imagine that? It’s important to learn
about shipwrecks because these vessels are like tiny museums, that hold clues
to what life was like during that time period. I’m sure you’ve all heard the
famous story of the sinking of the Titanic.
Well, today we are going to look at 3 other famous ships, and try to
learn a little bit about their history, what happened, and the way of life
during that time period.
Task
Chose one of the 3 ships
below to research:
1) Mary Rose
2)
3)The
You will work together with a partner to learn all that
you can about your ship. At the end of
the web quest you will be expected to turn in a short book which should include
the following:
1) A Map showing the location of your shipwreck ( this can be drawn
by hand or printed off and plotted)
2) A Journal entry from the Captain, member of the crew, or
passenger on the night of the shipwreck accounting the events occurring
3) Some brief history of your ship
4) Fun facts you learned along the way
5) A least one picture of your ship (hand drawn or printed off)
Extra Credit: Make a timeline of events that occurred
between the time your ship sank and when it was discovered and rescued from the
water by divers, or a timeline of events during the life of the ship. Be
creative and have fun!
Resources
·
The
Learning City This interactive website provides a quick introduction
and background history that is simple and easy to understand. It looks at some of the crew members onboard
and gives a good visual representation.
·
Explore
the Mary Rose- Explore the inside of the ship! Talk to crewmembers,
see where they stayed on the ship, and tour a 3-D model!
·
Dive
in and Discover The Mary Rose Click on the link that
appears and experience a pictorial timeline of events! Click on the Explore the
ship link, and find out about the food, pastimes, and clothing of passengers on
board! Find out where items were stored and the names for different sections of
the ship!
·
Map of location where Mary
Rose sank
·
More in-depth information about the Mary Rose,
may be hard to understand but there could be a few good details you find!
2)
·
Great place to look for background information. Click on the links
on the left side of the page to learn more about the disaster, captain, a
timeline of events, the torpedo, and even the passengers on board!
·
This is a cool chart that makes some
comparisons to other sunken ships
·
Diary accounts
from an eyewitness to the shipwreck!
·
This website provides another
timeline of
events
·
Map of the
location where the
3)
The
·
Find out about the Stormy Weather
conditions
·
Great arrangement of Shipwreck Data
at bottom of page
·
Background about the storm
and ship, as well as information about the search for
·
Watch a video
clip of the
·
Location and map of shipwreck
area. Scroll down to find information for Portland. At the top in the right hand corner, click on
the map to enlarge
the picture.
·
Experience a pictorial
timeline of events! Click on the pictures above the text to move along.
Process
You will be
working on your web quest with at least one other partner. Print out the
attached sheet of guided questions. You do NOT need to answer all of these, but
they will get you thinking in the right direction. Feel free to make up your own questions if
you stumble across something interesting!
1)
Pick ONE shipwreck to research from the 3 choices above.
2)
Visit the links provided under the RESOURCES section. Try to find several facts from each site you
visit. You do not need to visit all the
sights, but it is recommended.
3)
Fill out the background information sheet. These will be your notes for your story book
you will create
4)
Print out or draw a sketch of the location of where your ship
sank
5)
Pick a character (ship captain, crew member, passenger, or
eyewitness) to write a page long journal entry describing the night of the
shipwreck. Be as creative as you can!
6)
Include a brief history of the ship, background information, and
fun facts you discovered along the way
7)
Include a timeline of events for extra credit!
8)
After your books are finished, we will share them with the class
to see what fun information we all discovered!
The
most important thing I’m looking for in your books is to BE CREATIVE! You need
to have the five things I listed above under the task section to receive full
credit, these include a map, journal entry, history, fun facts, and at least
one picture of the ship. Extra credit
will be given to students who also create a timeline of events. There is no page requirement but I’ll expect
that you have at least four pages, if you dedicate one page to each
requirement. I will be grading on
neatness, use of color, and overall how well you were able use the sites
provided to find interesting information about your ship.
We can learn a lot about a specific time period by
looking at the items left behind on sunken ships. Some shipwrecks can occur accidentally or on
purpose for a variety of different reasons. Certain shipwrecks are a mystery
even to experts, but its fun learn what we can discover about the ships which
have been lost to our great Oceans J