Introduction

Imagine for a moment that you could choose in which era of time you would live your life. Would you live in the Elizabethan Period? the Renaissance? the Stone Age? Or would you choose to live in the future? Well, young Pip has been given the opportunity to choose a different time period in which to live his life and he has contacted you to get some information about 1999. He is concerned about several social issues that affected his life in the Victorian period, and he wants to find out if these issues would still be a concern for him in 1999. Your job is to inform Pip by comparing the social issues present in Great Expectations to those present in our society today. You will make this comparison based on your knowledge as a 'professional expert' in one specific area.

The Question

The main question you will be asked to find an answer for is:

The question facing you is whether the social conditions today would change Pip's life story or could he find himself in similar situations. Have the social issues that Pip encountered changed over the years, or do the same problems and difficulties still exist today?
Your task is to provide Pip with the information he needs. You will explore the social issues that Pip faced in the Victorian period and discover if those same issues exist today and if they could still have an affect on Pip's life. You will then prepare an informative brochure that you can send to Pip. This brochure will also be shared with other classes so that they could also answer Pip's questions in case he contacted them too.

Background Information

Before you become an expert on one of the social issues concerning Pip, we'd better make sure that everyone on your WebQuest team knows the basics. Use the links below to answer the following questions:
1) What social issues were important to Charles Dickens (Pip's close friend)?
2)What social issues were central in the Victorian period?
Now, take a closer look at these four issues.
1) DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE SOCIAL CLASSES
2) ABUSIVE PERSONAL AND FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
3) CHILD LABOR LAWS AND CONDITIONS
4) ESCAPED CONVICTS AND THE PRISON SYSTEM

How was Pip affected by each of these in Great Expectations?

Charles Dickens: Bio & Social Issues

background

Social Issues - Victorian

Victorian Web Site

background

Great Expectations Reader's Guide

Individual Roles

Now that you have some overall background knowledge, it's time to return to the main question for this WebQuest. Questions this big and important are better answered when a few people are working on it at one time. Things work even better when a group of you decide to look at the question from different perspectives. This way team members can become experts on different aspects of the question and then come together to poll their learning. This is where team work pays off. So are you ready to divide and conquer this question?

anthropologist-social classes

Use the links below to learn more about your role. Specifically, look for answers to the following questions:

1)What sort of society did Charles Dickens write about?
2)In what ways does social class affect the characters in the story?
3)Do we have social classes in our society today? Do they affect how we live and what we are able to do?

Social class-Victoria

a definition

How Rude!

Social classes and politeness

Social classes Hotlist

Help Page: Strategy for Analyzing the People's Opinions on the Topic

Social worker- relationship and abuse guidance

Use the links below to learn more about your role. Specifically, look for answers to the following questions:

1) What sorts of relationship pressures are shown in Great Expectations?
2) Do the abusive relationships have negative or positive effects on the characters?
3) What types of abusive personal and family relationships exist today?

Adolescent -Emotional distress

identifiers

Characteristics of Abusive Relationships

index

Child Abuse Prevention Network

index has many links

union representative - Child labor

Use the links below to learn more about your role. Specifically, look for answers to the following questions:

1)What was child labor like in Victorian England?
2) How was Pip affected by child labor laws?
3) Is child labor still an issue today? Who is affected by currect child labor situations?

Child Labor - British History

background

Child Labor Issues

Child Labor Protection

Amish

Child Labor in America

Prison Warden - prisoners and penal laws

Use the links below to learn more about your role. Specifically, look for answers to the following questions:

1)What rules and laws are present in Great Expectations? Who set up the laws in Victorian England?
2)How did the penal laws affect Pip?
3)What is the present day penal system like? Could a charcter like Magwitch exist today?

National Institute of Corrections

information

The Other Side of the wall

U.S. Prison Information

Three Strikes, You're Out

Keeping Prisoners in jail

CHCC Prison Info Site

Group Synthesis

Congratulations! Your team is now full of expertise. Each person on your team has become an expert on one of the social issues that exist in Great Expectations. You've all learned a lot of information. But guess what, gathering useful information isn't the same as truly understanding a topic. What experts in the field of learning suggest is that you now use that information in a new and challenging way. Then you'll really know about this topic.

So with you team members all gathered together, carefully read and try answering the main question for this WebQuest. See where you all agree and where differences arise.

Use information, pictures, movies, facts, opinions, etc you explored to convince your teammates that your information is important and should be part of your team's answer to the Task / Quest(ion). Your WebQuest team should write out an answer that everyone on the team can live with and that answers the question from each different perspective. Now you are ready to create a brochure in order to present your information to Pip.

Real World Feedback:

Conclusion

Your brochure should have four sections; each section should contain a brief description of the social issue then and now, a comparison of the two, and an explanation of how Pip might be affect if he chose to live in 1999. Please include any charts, diagrams or pictures that would add to your explanation or make your brochure more interesting.
Once you have completed this, you will have answered the Task Question and completed your assignment. Congratulations! You deserve praise for the work you have done and even if you felt confused at some points, you were able to assimilate a lot of information and work together with a team in order to make new connections. It is a great way to learn!

created by Jacqueline Cowley-Donaldson email: donaldson2@yahoo.com, jcowley@srsd.org http://www.web-and-flow.com/members/jcowleyd/dickens/webquest.htm