Introduction
Any study of American colonial literature will quickly reveal the central place of
religion in many colonists' lives. This religious focus is especially prominent in the
lives and thinking of the Puritans of Massachusetts. Even a brief look at Puritan
literature, such as we will have time for in this class, indicates how much religious
belief affected the Puritans, but even that does not reveal the extent to which religious
principles dominated the Puritans' everyday lives.
The Puritans initiated many traditional aspects of American life, but they did not
institute the separation of church and state we have become accustomed to today. Thus,
the Puritans' political and governmental systems merely served as another reflection of
their piety. The Puritans' form of government, called a theocracy, depended upon church
leaders who involved themselves in the colony's decision making to a far greater extent
than one would see today. Biblical law formed the basis for their civil law, and church
leaders played a powerful role in organizing the community and enforcing the law.
This form of government may seem like an artifact of the distant past to modern
Americans, but the last few decades have witnessed the return of theocracy to many
countries as their preferred system of government. Among recent examples, the Taliban of
Afghanistan have revealed some of the potential problems with theocracy. Given recent
history, one could assume that theocracy is by its nature a deeply flawed governmental
system, but the form of government may be less of a problem than the way the leaders choose
to impose it on their populations. The question of what to do with the people who do
not conform always arises, and, to a great degree, the way societies answer this question
determines the quality of the societies they create.
This project asks students to examine the idea of theocracy as a link between our
current geopolitical situation and a group of colonists who probably exerted more
influence on American history than any of the other early colonists.
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The Task
The task is a matter of using the Web to research the term theocracy. In
previous projects for this class, the resources were selected for students, but this
assignment asks students to apply some principles in the evaluation of the sites they
will use in preparing their treatment of the topic.
The product will be a research paper, complete with documentation and works cited page,
in which students examine the idea of theocracy and relate modern theocracies to the
one formed by our Puritan forebears.
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The Process
The first part of the project involves finding Web sites with information on the
notion of theocracy. Students should be aware that this is an emotionally charged topic
for some people who believe traditional theocracy provides an answer to various current
social and political problems. Thus students may encounter all kinds of opinionated content.
They will also encounter unrelated content generated by rock bands or makers of video games
that happen to have taken the word theocracy for their names. That leads to the
second part of the project.
In this second part, students will research and apply some of the basic principles
for evaluating Web content for accuracy, authority, bias, appropriateness, and just plain
old ease of use. They will use this information to sort the sources from which they will
write their paper, and to exclude various sites from consideration. Rather than merely
dropping these rejected sites "on the cutting room floor," students will compile a list
of these rejected sites and explain why they have rejected them based upon something they
have learned from the resources provided for that purpose (below). Students can print
out and fill in this form to help compile this information.
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Resources
Unusual and Useful Search Sites to Try
--
Xrefer
(Search for theocracy)
--
Query Server
(Search for theocracy under both "Web" and "News.")
--
Ixquick
(Again, search under "Web" and "News.")
Sites to Help in Evaluating Web Content
--
Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources
--
Evaluating Internet Research Sources
--
Critically Analyzing Information Sources
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Evaluation
As always, the job can be done, barely done, or extremely well done. Aim high! This
is a college-level course, so do your very best.
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Conclusion
This project may reveal something about the historical world, but I hope it shows
just as much about the world we live in today. If nothing else, it may serve as an object
lesson on the old French saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same.
NOTE: This project was initiated as part of an online course taken
from Learn NC. It was accepted for publication
on that site and also appears
here.
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Designed by Michael Byers
Orange High School
Hillsborough, NC
Last updated June, 2008.
Based on a template from
The WebQuestPage