by Lynne Rowell, Rock Hill High School
This webquest will study the Roaring Twenties with a "Gatsby Cruise" on a luxury ocean liner, the USS F. Scott Fitzgerald, which is embarking on its maiden voyage. Planning the cruise theme will be specialists responsible for creating an atmosphere similar to the Roaring 20s. The ship will be furnished and decorated with the art, furniture, and color schemes of the 1920's; food and fashion will be like that which Gatbsy and Daisy might have enjoyed; important people of the 1920's will be on board the cruise liner, and daily news events will be a part of the shipboard banter and Captain's Table dinner conversation. The roles of the participants will be as follows: fashion coordinator, Master chef, Interior designer, entertainment agent, and omnium gatherum person.
Teacher Introduction
I designed this Webquest as a project to immerse my students in the culture of the 1920s as we read F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. It is by no means a comprehensive study of the culture of that decade. The students are part of a design team to plan the cruise for the maiden voyage of the USS F. Scott Fitzgerald. They will plan the interior design of the ship using research about the art, interior decor, and architecture of the 20s, develop elegant menus, table settings, and parties for the shipboard guests, coordinate fashions for both men and women for the cruise, plan celebrity entertainment using the famous Jazz Age musicians from some of the most popular night clubs, and present the cultural influences of politics, literature, the economy, and technology.
After the web research and collaborative work with other group members, each role pair will produce a project board that depicts what they have planned for their part of the cruise design. In essence, the project boards will depict the history, art, cuisine, entertainers, and literary figures of the 1920s, but in the context of a product--a ship cruise plan. The group members will present their findings in separate oral presentations, each pair with a separate display of findings and cruise plan concepts for the specific role. An assessment product will include an essay about The American Dream. Each student will also design a brochure advertising the new ship , the USS F. Scott Fitzgerald.