PALESTINIANISRAELI CONFLICT WEBQUEST

1
PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI CONFLICT WEBQUEST

• Teachers Guide

Activity One
Activity Two
Activity Three
Final Assessment/Rubric
Created by Doug Young
2
A TEACHING GUIDE TO PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI
CONFLICT WEBQUEST
INTRODUCTION
AIM
RETURN TO HOMEPAGE
RATIONALE
LEARNERS
Activity One
PREREQUISITES
Activity Two
SUBJECT-MATTER
Activity Three
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN
Final Assessment/Rubric
MATERIALS
ASSESSMENTS AND EVALUATION
WORKS CITED
3
INTRODUCTION The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
curriculum web is designed to meet the ever
growing need to understand conflicts that our
happening in our world, to analyze the different
points-of-view behind situations that arise in
our world and to better understand the world
around us. Many Americans are unaware of news
events that happen outside their community. This
unit will allow students to study one such event
and gain a better knowledge of how to better
understand other events that will occur in their
lifetime. AIM This curriculum web aims to
promote a better understanding of the
Palestinian-Israeli Conflict among middle school
students by allowing them to research various
secondary resources. This unit stresses
researching background information, analyzing
multiple perspectives and formulating an opinion
based off this research. RATIONALE We face
conflicts every day. Conflicts are apart of
life. No truer can this be said than in history.
History is built around conflicts. One of the
most tragic conflicts this world has ever seen is
still being fought as we speak. I am referring
to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. This
historical event has been going on for close
to sixty years. Despite several attempts at
peaceful solutions between the two sides
involved, nothing has been solved as of
yet. There are always two sides to a story.
Nothing can be truer than in the
Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. One of the most
important skills that we can develop as human
beings is the ability to analyze multiple
perspectives. We can easily make judgments and
opinions in a matter of seconds. However, this
is not always the right thing to do. Before we
make judgments, we should analyze stories from
all viewpoints. This skill will be
used regularly in our daily lives from analyzing
opposing political agendas to making financial
decisions just to name a few. We must consider
all the facts before we formulate an opinion. In
this unit, students will study multiple
viewpoints regarding the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict. They will then be asked to formulate
an opinion on the issue based on the facts that
they gather. As we continue to formulate a more
global society here in the United States, it is
important to understand different cultures. The
United States is a melting-pot of many different
cultures. It is vital to gain knowledge of these
different cultures, religions and ideologies that
are becoming more and more prevalent each
day. This will allow our society to become more
aware of these situations that are happening in
our world and allow us to understand the basis
behind why these events occur. RETURN TO
TEACHING GUIDE
4

• LEARNERS
• The activities in this webquest are designed for
  middle-school students (Grades 6-8). It can
  serve as an introduction to this
• world event for high school students (Grades
  9-12) before they perform a more thorough
  analysis pertaining to this topic.
• PREREQUISITES
• Before using this curriculum web, students should
  be able to
• Read at a sixth grade level
• Use a browser to move between web pages
• Be able to work independently to perform research
• Analyze information critically and formulate an
  opinion
• SUBJECT MATTER
• The curriculum in this unit is based on studying
  the world conflict between the Palestinians and
  Israelis. Students will be
• required to study both sides of the issue and
  formulate an opinion based off their research.
  Topics featured in this unit
• INFORMATION PRESENTED historical background and
  events, geography of Middle East, historical
  figures (people),
• current issues, location of major historical
  sights for Islam and Judaism
• CONCEPTS AND SKILLS viewing and analyzing
  video, use the web to research information,
  analyze and create a

5

• GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
• GOALS
• The goal of this curriculum web is to foster a
  better understanding of the Palestinian-Israeli
  Conflict for middle school
• students. This web was created because of a
  growing concern that students in this age group
  need a better understanding of
• world issues. Also, this curriculum web will
  develop better research skills by introducing the
  web as a resource.
• OBJECTIVES
• Students will be able to use the world wide web
  as a resource to find information over the
  Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
• Students will analyze and develop timelines that
  identify major historical events in the
  Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
• Students will formulate a better understanding of
  the historical origins and significant locations
  for the religions of Islam and Judaism.
• Students will identify key people involved in the
  Palestinian-Israeli Conflict.
• Students will exam the impact this conflict has
  had over the Middle East
• Students will analyze multiple perspectives
  concerning this historical event.
• INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN
• Students will work independently to complete the
  three activities in order to better understand
  the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict.
• ACTIVITY ONE
• Students will watch the United Streaming video
  entitled, Israel and Palestine Roots of
  Conflict.

6

• MATERIALS
• For this lesson, you will need
• Each student will need a computer with Internet
  access and word processing program.
• Each student will need Media Player hardware to
  view the video.
• Each student will need headphones that can be
  plugged into a computer to hear audio.
• Each student will need access to a printer
• Each student will need a pen or pencil
• Each student will need a piece of computer paper
  and ruler
• ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION
• The cumulative assessment for this curriculum web
  is an essay on the following questions
• Imagine you are an Israeli Jew. Defend the
  position that the land given to you by the United
  Nations Partition Plan of 1948 is rightfully
  yours.
• Imagine you are a Palestinian. Defend the
  position that the land taken away from you by the
  United Nations Partition Plan of
• 1948 is rightfully yours and nobody else should
  have it.
• To view a copy of the rubric that goes with this
  assessment, click on the word rubric below
• RUBRIC

7
ACTIVITY ONE STUDENT DIRECTIONS Click on the
black box to watch the United Streaming video
entitled, Israel and Palestine Roots of
Conflict. This video is going to give you some
historical background concerning the
Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. Be sure to have
your headphones plugged in so you can hear the
audio that goes along with the video!
RETURN TO HOMEPAGE
8
ACTIVITY TWO

• STUDENT DIRECTIONS
• Click on the link following link to take you to
  the MSNBC website http//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4489
  919/ . Once you have opened
• the web page you should do the following
• Scroll halfway down the page until you find the
  gray Interactive box entitled, Searching for
  Peace.
• Put on your headphones.
• Click the Launch button.
• Use your mouse to read the following headlines on
  the website
• Israelis and Palestinians
• The Conflicted Middle East
• Politics and Players
• History and Religion
• Dont forget to read the subtitles for each of
  the above categories and click on the images and
  buttons for additional readings.
• Once you have thoroughly researched the site, you
  need to choose one of the following activities
• Task One Create a timeline with 20 significant
  historical dates pertaining to the
  Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. For each
• year used on the timeline,
  students should include a caption explaining why
  the year was significant.
• Task Two Students will select two people
  discussed in the website who is/was involved in
  the Palestinian Conflict.
• Students will then write a
  biography on this person, explaining who they
  are, how they were involved, and

9
ACTIVITY THREE
STUDENT DIRECTIONS Read the following JS Magazine
article entitled, Wanted A Miracle. This
article is going to give you the perspective of
both a Palestinian and Israeli teenager who are
going through this conflict. Once you
have finished reading the article, you should
answer the two Your Turn questions at the end
of the article in complete sentences on a
separate sheet of paper. To access the article,
you should click on the link below.
RETURN TO HOMEPAGE
Wanted A Miracle
10
FINAL ASSESSMENT AND RUBRIC

• STUDENT DIRECTIONS
• Once you have completed the previous three
  activities, you are now ready for the final
  assessment over this unit. For the final
• assessment, you should write an essay on both the
  following perspectives
• Imagine you are an Israeli Jew. Defend the
  position that the land given to you by the United
  Nations Partition Plan of 1948
• is rightfully yours.
• Imagine you are a Palestinian. Defend the
  position that the land taken away from you by the
  United Nations Partition
• Plan of 1948 is rightfully yours and nobody else
  should have it.
• Remember to use the rubric to guide you while you
  construct your essay. This will help you focus
  on what you need to include
• in your writing. To access the rubric, click on
  the link below
• RUBRIC

11
Palestinian-Israeli Final Assessment Rubric
GRAND TOTAL _______/50 COMMENTS
RETURN TO FINAL ASSESSMENT
12
WORKS CITED

• Israel and Palestine The Roots of Conflict.
  Discovery Channel School(2004). Retrieved
  November 12, 2006, fromunitedstreaming
  http//www.unitedstreaming.com/
• 2. http//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4489919/
• 3. Lynfield, Ben. (2002, March). Wanted A
  Miracle. Junior Scholastic, 87, pgs.
  9-11

RETURN TO TEACHING GUIDE