Learners
This webquest, one lesson within a unit on Frank Sinatra and the American home front during World War II, was designed for 11th or 12 graders. The unit is entitled Cultural Reflections of America at War, and is part of a year-long course on U.S. History for high school students.
While this unit has not yet been taught in a high school, it was designed at Lake Forest College based on motivational data collected at Stevenson High School, a relatively homogeneous population of upper-middle class and middle class Caucasian students, with a significant Asian minority. I have created this unit based on the assumption that many of these students are familiar with the arts, or live in households who value art and music. It is likely that some students have heard of Frank Sinatra outside of the classroom. Additionally, I have designed this web quest for a unit about Frank Sinatra and Cultural Reflections of America at War. The unit focuses on Sinatra as an historical problem, illuminating issues of the American home front during World War II such as the draft, race relations, Italian-American radicalism, and teen culture as they relate to music, celebrity, and society.