Introduction

Picture this: You have just been informed by your most heinous history teacher that you will fail your senior European history class if you don't astound him on your final project. This is most bogus because you have already spent 14 years in this district and it is really cutting in to your sleeping. Your goal, according to your teacher, is to tell about society in each period of history that you have covered. This would be no problem if you would have showed up for class or at least paid attention. You don't even know where your textbook is!!

Luckily this crazy dude showed up outside of Bud's Mini Market and says he can help you pass this assignment. He gives you the opportunity to grab three famous dudes or dudettes from history to present to your class. The only thing you must do is make them comfortable or they will refuse to be cooperative. You have already been given a list of three people that you are bringing back. Now all you have to do is find out what to feed them, what music they like and what clothes they could wear.

Can your group figure out what items will make these famous people happy and allow you to pass your class and graduate?

The Quest

How will you make your famous people feel at home in 2002 Myerstown long enough to pass your class?

The Process and Resources

In this WebQuest you will be working together with a group of students in class. Each group will answer the Task or Quest(ion). As a member of the group you will explore Webpages from people all over the world who care about if you pass your class or not (maybe). Because these are real Webpages we're tapping into, not things made just for schools, the reading level might challenge you. Feel free to use the online Webster dictionary or one in your classroom.

Each person in your group will be responsible for researching one of the famous persons and writing a one page paper on the individual to share with your group. This paper should tell all the important aspects of his life as well as items that occured in his area while he was alive.

Phase 1 - Background: Something for Everyone

Use the Internet information linked below to answer the basic questions of who? what? where? when? why? and how? Be creative in exploring the information so that you answer these questions as fully and insightfully as you can.

• Cervantes
• Descartes
• Nietzsche
• St. Francis
• Plato
• Machiavelli
• Dante
• Peter the Great
• Charles XII
• Martin Luther
• William Shakespeare
• Moliere
• Voltaire
• Bach
• Erasmus
• Robespierre
• Montaigne
• Rabeleis
• Karl Marx
• Otto Von Bismarck
• Joan of Arc
• Beethoven
• Mozart
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Napoleon Bonaparte
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Hans Christian Anderson
• Queen Elizabeth
• Julius Caesar
• Catherine d'Medici
• Tomas Torquemada

Phase 2 - Looking Deeper from Different Perspectives

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Individuals or pairs from your larger WebQuest team will explore one of the roles below.

2. Read through the files linked to your group. If you print out the files, underline the passages that you feel are the most important. If you look at the files on the computer, copy sections you feel are important by dragging the mouse across the passage and copying / pasting it into a word processor or other writing software.

3. Note: Remember to write down or copy/paste the URL of the file you take the passage from so you can quickly go back to it if you need to to prove your point.

4. Be prepared to focus what you've learned into one main opinion that answers the Big Quest(ion) or Task based on what you have learned from the links for your role.

Chef Boy R Dee

Use the Internet information linked below to answer these questions specifically related to role, job or perspective #1: Chef Boy R Dee

1. What foods were popular in this person's country while he/she was alive?
2. What modern day substitutes are available in case the original does not exist.
3. What drinks would make this person happy?
4. What desserts would make this person's mouth water?

• Historical Recipes from Ancient Cultures - Cook Roman or Medieval foods from this site
• Ancient Roman Dishes - Feed Julius Caesar or Marc Antony from recipes at this site
• 17th Century English Recipes - Henry VIII had many of his wives cook from this site before he had them beheaded.
• Cooking the Renaissance and Middle Ages way - Cook food the way they did in A Knights Tale or Monty Python's Holy Grail

Maestro

Use the Internet information linked below to answer these questions specifically related to role, job or perspective #2:

1. What musicians of the period would this person enjoy?
2. Are there any dances to allow these people to work off their meal?
3. What are some works that could be played during the meal?

• Music History and Literature - Choose from many different periods to find the music to soothe the savage philosopher
• Renaissance Dance Music - Forget the Backstreet Boys dude!!! Start rocking on with this site and do the Dante Dance!
• Early Medieval Dance Music - Drop your steed and put the pin back in the Holy Handgrenade and get down with those crazy Knights of the Round Table at the big Medieval ho-down
• Music and Dance of the Renaissance - Renaissance dances and musics for you.

Fashion Designer

Use the Internet information linked below to answer these questions specifically related to role, job or perspective #3:

1. What type of clothing does this person wear?
2. Are there specific items that would go with this clothing? (wig, glasses, cane)
3. What modern day clothing could be substituted?

• The History of Costume - Site that shows the fashions from the past through 1880
• Elizabethen Costume Page - Great place to find out about clothing from the age of Queen Elizabeth and the Renaissance period
• French Clothing Through the Ages - See what the famous French wore through the history of man
• Baroque Clothing - site to see clothing from the 17th century
• Greek Costume Through the Ages - This site shows you how to get with the Greek program which is more than just togas
• 16th and 17th century clothing - Worldwide site of clothing from the 16th and 17th century. You can dress to impress the Chinese emperor or the king of England.

Phase 3 - Debating, Discussing, and Reaching Consensus

Don't get too comfortable yet. You have hopefully found the material you will need on your individual searches. Now you have to put it all together and get ready to present your project to your teacher and prove to him that you are more than the slacker that he always thought you were (and called you quite a few times). You must take the information you have learned and start to turn it into the sum of its parts. each of you will have an assignment in which you will use your information.

Chef Boy R Dee will prepare a menu in which each person's taste is represented. Each course should be planned for down to the last detail of the table arrangement. It is also your job to decide if you would be able to find the actual types of food or if you will need to find a substitute that will not offend your guests.

Maestro will need to find the music for the evening. Each work should be carefully picked so that no one guest feels left out. After dinner you will also have to find a dance or two so that your guests can relax and work off that meal.

The Fashion Designer must figure out what clothes will be acceptable for each of these people to wear to dinner and is responsible for finding a cheap way of clothing these people so that they are well dressed.

Phase 4 - Real World Feedback

Now it is showtime. They day of your big project is here. You need to set up the dinner and carry it off without a hitch to pass. You as a group must prepare the meal, play the music and clothe your guests. It also would be HIGHLY suggested that you make up brochures to get the general public to witness this monumental event. (the historical figures, not the chance of you passing) You must make enough food to feed the three people and at the end teach them your dance. You will need to be familiar with it yourself since they have forgot many social skills in being dragged from the past.

Grading will be based on the accuracy of your items and the creativeness of your dinner arrangements. Each student will be graded also on the amount of work that each has done.

Your Contact is: the designated contact

Conclusion

Dude!! It is amazing but the teacher loved your project! You have passed with the most non-bogus score of a 60 with a 100 on your project. You even got to see one of your famous historical people tell your teacher that he has been teaching his material wrong for the last ten years. Congratulations on a most triumphant project on the social habits of famous dead dudes.