Inventions

Since we have entered the new millenium, everyone is looking back at the past 1,000 years and evaluating it. They are giving awards to the best dressed, most successful, most beautiful, most charitiable,etc.. You have been selected by the President of the United States to grant a special award to the best inventor of the millenium. There have been many successful inventors throughout the years so the choices have been narrowed down for you to make the decision easier. The finalists are Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Graham Bell. Who will have the honor of winning? That's for you to decide!

Your task is to choose the greatest inventor of the past millenium whose inventions have made the greatest economic impact on the American economy. You will present your decision to your class at the end of the week in a 10-minute oral presentation. You should be able to justify your decision and tell what data you used to arrive at your decision.

After completing this webquest, you will be able to explain the economic impact each inventor had on the economy, You will have a greater understanding about how one person can have a great impact on our countires economy. Remember you too can be famous just by standing by one of your ideas and seeing it through. You should never give up on something you believe in. What would our lives be like if these inventors gave up?

Components	Mastery	Accomplished	Uacceptable	Score
Validity of Decision 20 points	Well thought out decision Created a form or set of criteria to guide in evaluation	Little thought put into decision Minimal critieria for evaluation	No thought put into decision No form or set of criteria to guide in evaluation
Justification of Decision 25 points	Ideas well connected Clear explaination Able to convince class members to agree with decision	Some ideas connected Brief explaination Some of class members agree with decision	Ideas not connected No explaination of decision Lacks logic in showing how decision was made
Presentation 15 points	Grabs the attention of the whole class Effectively presents ideas Uses clear voice All class members can hear presentation Maintains eye contact. Seldom returns to notes	Grabs attention of half the class Ideas not clear Voice is low Class members have difficulty hearing presentation Occasionally makes eye contact.Reads most of presentation	Poorly presented Student mumbles while speaking Class member in the back of the room cannot hear presentation No eye contact is made. All of presentation is read.
Scores	65-57 points	56-47 points	46-0 points

This fullfills a portion of a 1997 Illinois Learning Standard 16.C.2b (US) for Upper Elementary in Social Studies.