TPACK Lesson: Elementary Introduction into the Revolutionary War
Authors: Keith Arthur, Jeff Spisak, and Jason Trout
Part 1: Lesson Description:
This lesson will be the introduction lesson(s) to the Revolutionary War. It is aimed
at Primary Grade students. The lessons will be centered around the years 1750-1776.
The desired outcomes to the lessons would want to see the students answer a series of
inquiry based questions:
● ‘What is worth fighting for?”
● “Why do people take risk?”
● “Why do people get involved?”
● “How do conflicts evolve?”
Students will be lead to their conclusions after the completion of the lesson(s) by
reading, looking and interpreting a series of text; their text books, a series of primary
documents, and a series of primary student based websites.
Students will be able to see how a series of events led to the inevitable war that
would have a rally cry for revolution from a tyrannical king. Students will see that the
events that led to revolution started after the French and Indian War, and would
eventually see the Colonist revolt against the English army in a small city in
Massachusetts. Students will also know the importance of the Declaration of
Independence.
‘What is worth fighting for?”, “Why do people take risk?”, “Why do people get
involved?”, “How conflicts evolve?”
● Content of the lesson: ​The content of the lesson will focus on the years
1750-1776. The lesson will look at the French and Indian War, King George’s
new taxes on the Colonist to help pay for French & Indian War, The Boston Tea
Party, and the Blockade of Boston, the Battle of lexington and Concord, and
finally the Declaration of Independence.
■ Vocabulary words: Treaty, Proclamation, Boycott, Repeal, Demand,
Militia, Loyalist, Patriot, Inflation, Profiteering, Desert, Spy,
Blockade.
■ Taxes imposed by King George students will research: Sugar Act,
Stamp Act, and Townsend & Tea.
● Pedagogy of the lesson: ​The lesson will use a inquiry model, where the
teacher will begin with the essential questions stated above. Students will start
with seeing the essential question on a Smartboard, followed by a “jigsaw
lesson.” The lesson will begin with the ending of the French and Indian War.
Students will be asked,” How do you pay a debt?” The lesson will then ask the
students how England’s King George thought the Colonists should pay for the
war? Students will then break into 4 groups, where they will have to research a
given Act. They will read the primary sources needed for their report. They will
need to report on what the Act was, and how was it taken by the Colonist?
● Technology of the lesson: ​Students will watch a few quick videos (provided by
the curriculum of McGraw-Hill), we will read the 3 primary sources on their
Chromebooks (Stamp Act, Sugar Act, and Townsend/ Tea Act) and students will
get on the websites; 1.) ​http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/road.html
2.) ​http://revolution.mrdonn.org/games.html​,
3.) ​http://www.history.org/kids/games/fireworks.cfm
Students will need to look for answers to our essential questions, and finally
students will
construct a pamphlet on Google Draw that will either be a Patriot or Loyalist
persuasive
pamphlet. This will be an assessment tool as well.
Part 2: TPACK Questions
1.) What is the PCK of the lesson?
Definition: ​Inquiry-based learning is an effective pedagogy in teaching Revolutionary
War.
Description: ​Taking an inquiry model (Inquiry model teaching, starts by posing
questions, problems or scenarios—rather than simply presenting established facts or
portraying a smooth path to knowledge. The process is often assisted by a facilitator)
and doing jigsaw teaching is both beneficial to students and important based on the
content (America 1750-1176). It causes students to critically think in order to answer
some of the questions posed like “what is worth fighting for?” or “How conflicts evolve?”.
It’s both a lesson on past events leading to Revolutionary war and something that will
help students understand the perspective of nations around the world who are
experiencing civil unrest because of the ideals that they are forced to live in.
Support: ​According to Edutopia, inquiry is listed as one of several pathways that
promote critical thinking in students (Finley, 2014). The article quotes, Huda Umar
Alwehaibi and states "A reflective and reasonable thought process embodying depth,
accuracy, and astute judgment to determine the merit of a decision, an object, or a
theory” (Finley, 2014). Something like that is important to understand the events leading
up to the Revolutionary War and why it wasn’t just as simple as “This is my land and I
want it because I said so”. Which again can translate to modern times in other countries
experiencing civil unrest.
2.) What is the TCK​ ​of the lesson?
Definition: ​Students will utilize the district curriculum to gain access to videos that will
give them background knowledge and schema to use later. Students will also use
Google Draw and Google Classroom to construct and turn in pamphlets about their
opinion on the Revolutionary War.
Description: ​The lesson will have several different uses of technology. The lesson
includes videos, games and Google Draw. Every student will have the opportunity to
have a learning moment through a technology they are most capable in comprehending
and using. Their chosen technology will allow them to access their assigned act for
analysis and supplementary websites, such as
http://www.history.org/kids/games/fireworks.cfm​.
Support: ​ Everyone has different learning style and capabilities and instead of focusing
on one technology, there is a variety in which student can excel. A Teachbytes article
mentions, “As educators, by providing students opportunities to exercise these
strengths, we can better individualize their learning and promote their success. These
opportunities can be made more plentiful through the use of technology” (Rao, 2017).
The visual/artistic learner may have more enjoyment and knowledge retention by
creating a Google Draw Patriot/Loyalist pamphlet. The visual/analyzer may find using
Smart Board and taking notes effective.
3.) What is the TPK of the lesson?
Definition: ​Technological pedagogical knowledge is the understanding of how teaching and
learning changes when particular technologies are used (Handbook of TPACK, 2008). In this
lesson we will use Google Classrooms and Google Docs in order for students to collaborate
their ideas, and share their ideas in an effective and quick style. Students can share notes, and
synthesize their information in a manner that is more effective than notebooks, and post-its.
Google slides,and Docs allow students to peer edit and collaborate in real time, thus allowing for
more immediate feedback and learning.
Description​: This lesson focuses on inquiry, jigsaw, and essential questions. First, the
inquiry model aspect of this lesson allows students to use computers to access specific
content they will analyze to answer a series of inquiry based questions. What is more,
the jigsaw aspect of this lesson is also aided by computers. Students can easily share
their portion of the assignments. Lastly, an interactive whiteboard will be used to project
essential questions, videos, websites, and student pamphlet.
Support​: Using inquiry based learning shows students that history is more than just
facts. It is a collection of arguments that change over time. Student run into information
that may contradict other information and they have to determine which is more reliable
or useful to them (​Teaching History.org). Similarly, the jigsaw aspects of the lesson
add value as well. The jigsaw model makes ​every students’ portion important and
crucial to understanding the essential questions. Ensuring every students’ part of the
assignment is important conveys the message that every student is important
(OVERVIEW, 2017). Lastly, the interactive whiteboard ensures all students have
access to content. Additionally, it allows student to easily share their final products.
4.) What is the TPACK of the lesson?
Definition: ​Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) is a framework to
understand and describe the kinds of knowledge needed by a teacher for effective
pedagogical practice in a technology enhanced learning environment (Handbook of
TPACK, 2008).
Description​: This lesson allow students to find out why the Revolutionary War began.
It combines content, pedagogy, and technology in a useful way to support learning.
Students will be able to chose what technology they are most comfortable with to
access content and create artifacts. The content they will be analyzing consists of
primary and secondary sources. Primary sources include the Sugar Act, Tax Act,
Townshend Act and the Tea Act. Secondary sources include websites like,
http://www.history.org/kids/games/fireworks.cfm​,
http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/road.html​, and ​http://revolution.mrdonn.org/games.html​.
Access to these primary sources will provide students an opportunity to inquire about
answers to the essential questions and jigsaw their findings. Using all they have
discovered will culminate in a final assessment where students Google Draw to create a
pamphlet convincing their reader to be a patriot or loyalist.
Support: ​Using inquiry based learning shows students that history is more than just
facts. It is a collection of arguments that change over time. This works perfectly with
the lesson focusing on whether or not the Revolutionary war was just. Students will use
primary and secondary sources to compare and contrast the reasons patriots justified
the war and will have to decide if they agree. Inquire lessons are effective because they
make students rethink their initial beliefs and create new ones that are supported by
facts (​Teaching History.org). Additionally, the jigsaw aspects of the lesson is useful.
The jigsaw model makes ​every students’ portion important and crucial to understanding
the essential questions. This allows students to pick specific acts to analyze thoroughly
and share their findings with their peers. Ensuring every students’ part of the
assignment is important conveys the message that every student is important
(OVERVIEW, 2017). Lastly, the interactive whiteboard ensures all students have
access content. This includes acts that are analyzed, videos like ​Liberty Kids
(​https://www.youtube.com/user/LibertysKidsTV​), vocabulary words, and essential
questions. Essential questions are good pedagogy because they “occur throughout
one’s life” (​What Is an Essential Question).​ Additionally, it allows student to easily
share their final products which can be a very rewarding experience for students.
Part 3: Lesson References:
● Sites for investigation:
● http://www.history.org/kids/games/fireworks.cfm
● http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/road.html
● http://revolution.mrdonn.org/games.html
● https://www.youtube.com/user/LibertysKidsTV
● Primary Sources for Investigation:
○ Sugar Act
○ Tax Act
○ Townsend and Tea Act
○ Eye Witness to Boston Tea Party
Part 4: Instructional Analysis References:
Banks, James A. (2014). ​United States History. ​United States: McGraw- Hill Education.
Finley, T. (2014). Critical Thinking Pathways. Edutopia. Retrieved 10 March 2017, from
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/critical-thinking-pathways-todd-finley
Handbook of technological pedagogical content knowledge for teaching and teacher
education​. (2008). New York, NY: Published by Routledge/Taylor & Francis
Group for the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
OVERVIEW. (2017). Retrieved March 14, 2017, from https://www.jigsaw.org/
Rao, A. (2017). Catering to Multiple Intelligences with Technology. TeachBytes.
Retrieved 10 March 2017, from
https://teachbytes.com/2012/11/02/catering-to-multiple-intelligences-with-technol
ogy/
Teaching History.org, home of the National History Education Clearinghouse. (n.d.).
Retrieved March 14, 2017, from
http://teachinghistory.org/teaching-materials/teaching-guides/24123
What Is an Essential Question? (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2017, from
http://www.authenticeducation.org/ae_bigideas/article.lasso?artid=53