WHO WAS CONFUCIUS?
Westfield State College
Computers In Education
Fall 2008
Megan M Banks
Introduction
You may have heard the name ‘Confucius’
before. If you have, you may even have heard
some of his philosophies. But chances are
pretty good that if you have heard of him,
you’ve only heard it in the context of a joke.
But the truth is that Confucius is an important
figure in philosophy and in Chinese history.
Through this WebQuest, you now you have a
chance to learn about this man and his ideas.
Tasks
1. Use the internet to answer the following questions:
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Who was Confucius?
Where and when was he born?
What were his philosophies on
- good government?
- proper conduct?
- relationships between parent and child?
- relationships between friends?
- the relationship between husband and wife?
- the relationship between ruler and subject?
Do you think that Confucius’ ideas are relevant today? Why or why
not?
Tasks
2. Use your research to write a paper on Confucius and
his philosophies.
Process
To complete this task, you will be working
with partners. You will need a mouse
operator and a pencil operator. The mouse
operator will lead your team through the
internet in search of information. The pencil
operator will write down all the information
you find that you think is important. Each day
that your team uses the computer, you will
trade jobs.
Process (cont.)
1. Use the links provided to find the
information you need to answer these
questions.
2. Use index cards to record and organize your
information. Once you have all of the
information you need, agree on a system for
organizing your cards (example: by question
or by paper format).
3.
As a team, write a paper on Confucius.
Remember your writing process.
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Prewrite – Write down your ideas. What do you want to include in this
paper? What can you leave out? How should your paper be structured?
Rough Draft – Use lined paper and skip every other line. This will give you
room to go back and make adjustments and corrections.
Peer Review – After your second rough draft, find another team that will
trade with you. Be constructive in your comments of your classmates’ work
and be willing to take suggestions. Be sure to check spelling, punctuation
and capitalization.
Revise / Edit – Make sure that you have agreed, as a team, on the content
and format of your paper.
Final Copy – The final copy should be typed in Times New Roman size 12
font, double-spaced. All team members’ names should be in the upper right
hand corner along with the date.
Tips
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Remember that you must use your own words! When you are
taking notes, be sure that you have the correct information, but
that it is written in an original way. You may use up to two
quotes. Be sure to follow to rules of inserting a quotation!
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Your paper needs to have an introduction, body and
conclusion!
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While writing your paper, be sure to keep in mind that you are
not answering questions on a test. For example, if this
WebQuest was about you and I wrote in my paper, “June 27,
2001,” it wouldn’t make any sense. However, if I wrote,
“John Smith was born on June 27, 2001,” you know just what
I’m talking about.
Conclusion
You have now learned about the great
philosopher, Confucius! You have also
practiced the paper-writing skills you have
learned in your Language Arts classes. Even
better, you have done all of this working as a
team. Hopefully you worked together in a way
that would make your teacher and Confucius
proud. You are one step closer to being
prepared to move on to fifth grade (and discuss
philosophy!).
Evaluation
You will be evaluated based on the following criteria
CATEGORY
4
3
2
1
Writing
Organization
Each section in the
paper and a clear
beginning, middle
and end
4 out of 5 of the
sections have a
clear beginning,
middle and end
3 out of 5 of the
sections have a
clear beginning,
middle and end
2 out of 5 of the
sections have a
clear beginning,
middle and end
Spelling and
Proofreading
1-2 spelling
errors after
using spell check
No more than 4
spelling errors.
No more than 6
spelling errors.
More than 6
errors.
Content and
Accuracy
All the facts in
the paper are
accurate.
Most of the facts
in the paper are
accurate.
Some of the
facts in the
paper are
accurate.
Many of the
facts are
innacurate.
Attractiveness
and
Organizatioin
The paper has
outstanding
formatting and
well-organized
information
The paper has
attractive
formatting and
well-organized
information.
The paper has
well organizedinformation.
The paper’s
formatting and
organization of
the material are
confusing to the
reader.
Internet Resources
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Below you will find a list of resources on the Web
that you can use to find the information you need to
complete this task.
History for Kids!
Encyclopedia.com
KidsPast.com
MrDonn - Ancient China for Kids
URI Kids - World Religions - Confucianism
Globaled.org
Department of Education Frameworks
History and Social Science Curriculum Framework
Grade 4: North American Geography with Optional Standards for One
Early Civilization Strand
Topic : Grade 4 Learning Standards
Building on knowledge from previous years, students should be able to:
Grade 4:
4.1. Optional Standards for Ancient China, c. 3000-200 BC/BCE
4.5. Identify who Confucius was and describe his writings on good government, codes
of proper conduct, and relationships between parent and child, friend and friend,
husband and wife, and subject and ruler. (H, C)
English Language Arts Curriculum Framework
Composition Strand
Topic : Writing
Grades 3-4:
19.11. For informational/expository writing:
Write brief summaries of information gathered through research.
Credits
This WebQuest/PowerPoint was developed by Megan
M. Banks in the fall of 2008, as part of a class on
Recent Development in Computer Education offered
by Westfield State College.
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Department of Education Frameworks can be found
at http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html
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Graphics
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page