Alyssa Koehler

Cooperative Group Lesson

Events Leading to Civil War

EDL 621, Summer 2002

Lesson: Events leading up to the Revolutionary War, 1754-1776

Goal: The goal of this lesson plan is to create interdependence among students that will promote their attainment of the causes leading to America’s break from England.

Abstract: Each student will research one or two of the events that lead to American Revolution. After becoming an expert on their event, they will then teach that event to their group members. Each student at the end will have created a chart and a timeline of all the events leading to the American Revolution and will take part in creating an evaluative means for the items they have researched.

Level: Grades 7 or 8 (can also be used at the high school level)

Time: One class period to conduct research

One or two class periods to teach events and create group timeline

Materials: Copies of Events Leading to Revolution Chart (enough for each student)

Research tools (Internet, encyclopedias, etc.)

Blank paper/construction paper

Markers

Procedures:

1. Provide background information on why colonists were frustrated with England after victory in the French and Indian War. Explain that there was a tightening on England’s part to maintain dominance over the colonies, while the colonies were experiencing their own desires to expand into the newly won western territories. Introduce the idea that England had introduced series of laws, or acts, that were designed to curtail the freedoms of the colonists.

2. Divide the class into groups of 3 or 4 (count off or use some other means to create these random groups. Separate groups into their own units. These initial groups will be referred to as “home groups”.

3. Distribute the Events Leading to Revolution Chart to each student. Instruct students that they are to decide who will be researching which event (the choices are on the chart – Stamp Act/Declaratory Act, Sugar Act, Quartering Act, Townsend Act, Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, and the Intolerable Acts). Students are responsible for at least one if not two of the event on the chart.

4. Once home groups have decided who is responsible for each event, redistribute the groups. Have all students who are researching the Stamp Act meet, have all Sugar Act researchers meet, have all Quartering Act researchers meet, etc. These redistributed groups will be referred to as the “expert group”.

5. Allow time for expert groups to conduct their research of the event(s). They should use the Internet, encyclopedias, textbooks, etc. to obtain a definition of the event, when it occurred, who was involved, and how both British subjects and Americans colonists reacted to the event. They should also discover why the event was significant. If needed, all expert groups to reshuffle half way through the class period if students are researching more than one event.

6. After the research is complete, expert groups are responsible for creating 2-4 evaluation questions on the event they have researched. Evaluation questions can be multiple choice, fill in the blank, true/false, short answer, etc.

7. Once the evaluation means have been completed, instruct students to return to their home groups. Each student is then responsible for teaching their event to the home group while the group members fill in the Events Leading to Revolution Chart based on what is being taught to them about the event.

8. Once all group members have taught their event, the group will create a timeline of all the events, including chronological placement, the event’s definition, and the event’s significance. Students can use the blank paper or construction paper and the markers to create, decorate, and enhance their timelines.

9. After the timeline is complete, students will take turns quizzing each other on the events they taught to each other.

10. A teacher can create an option on whether to collect evaluation questions to create a teacher-administered test on the lesson.

Discussion Questions:

1. Which event caused the most conflict? Why would each event irritate the colonists?

2. What was the purpose of these taxes and events (i.e. why did the British pursue this line of thinking?)?

3. Were the colonists justified in getting angry about these events or were they blowing them out of proportion? Justify your answer

4. What surprised you about each event?

5. How did working with an expert group facilitate your research or hinder it?

6. What was it like teaching this information to classmates and knowing you were responsible for their knowledge of your event?

Cooperative Lesson Key Components:

Positive Interdependence:

This lesson has a common goal to learn about ALL the events leading to the American Revolution and to complete a chart that summarizes key aspects of each event. They also have a goal to create a common timeline of the events.

Individual Accountability:

Each student is responsible for researching and teaching at least one of events leading to the American Revolution. Each student is responsible for completing a chart summarizing all of the events. Each student is responsible for passing a quiz created by the expert groups or the teacher on the events being researched.

Social Skills:

Each student must work with an expert group to gather the information needed about the individual event. This requires students to listen to each other, to contribute to the group, to clarify issues that may be confusing, to offer in-depth analysis and thinking skills about the event, etc. Probing questions are needed especially when expert groups are developing their assessment techniques.

Face-to-Face Interaction:

There are two opportunities to work with other students: the home group and the expert group. Groups work together in their assigned areas and collaborate with each other as they alternately gather and then teach the information to each other. Face-to-face interaction also occurs when home groups quiz each other to review for their test on all of the events.

Heterogeneous Grouping:

The home groups are randomly selected which allows all genders, ethnicities, cultures, and ability levels to mix together without prior arrangement. Because students do not know how other groups are dividing their events, the expert groups are also randomly selected.

Evaluation:

Students are evaluated by multiple possible methods. The Events Leading to Revolution Chart could be collected and graded. The group timelines could be assigned a homework group grade. The tests that students create could also be used an a measure of how well students have mastered the material.

Processing:

While students are teaching the information, there is time for reflection. Teacher facilitated questioning at the conclusion of the lesson is also integrated into the lesson to allow students to reflect on the activity.

Expected Outcomes:

The concepts promoted by the Schmucks, friendship and cohesiveness, leadership, communication, and expectations, are of vital importance to this lesson. This lesson is based on the positive circular interpersonal process, as the lesson revolves around students working together to learn new information and then teach it to a group of peers. This positive communication must be careful monitored and maintained or the lesson could create conflict and then erode the expectations of the teacher.

Teacher and students must have positive self-fulfilling prophecies in order to accomplish the goals of this lesson. Each student must have high expectations of their group members because they are dependent upon then in order to learn about the other events leading to Revolution. Similarly, each student should have high expectations of themselves and intrinsic motivation or the group will suffer from the information that is not taught to them.

Communication is a key component to the success of this lesson as much of the lesson is based around students teaching each other about the events leading to Revolution. If the communication is not clear or is not positive, then a student could feel rejected or ridiculed and the outcomes of the lesson would be negatively affected.

**Lesson adapted from Creative Teaching Strategies in American History. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1991.

Events Leading To Revolution 1754-1776

Event or Act	Significant Year(s)	Definition (what it is)	Colonial Reactions	British Reactions
Stamp Act/ Declaratory Act
Sugar Act
Townsend Acts
Event or Act	Significant Year(s)	Definition (what it is)	Colonial Reactions	British Reactions
Quartering Act
Boston Massacre
Boston Tea Party (Tea Act)
Intolerable Acts