Kevin Honeycutt has developed an excellent website for integrating technology to teach the Civil War. This collaborative learning project is focused around the H.L. Hunley, the famous Confederate submarine. This website is provides an in depth look into the history of the H.L. Hunley along with providing a great collection of links, photographs and videos. Let’s take a look at some of the different pages and sections of the site.
According to the page, the challenge for students is to “Partner up with another classroom and create a ten minute documentary telling the story of the H.L. Hunley.” The photos section of the website provides a nice collection of photographs related to the Hunley along with some additional links to Hunley related lesson plans. The Starter Videos Section provides links to a few videos related to the Hunley along with a great article about how Archeology Meets Technology. Finally, the Hunley Blog page contains a place where students place their artifacts, discuss their projects, share photos along with sharing their research and findings.
There is a great quote by Kevin on the website that says, “By allowing kids to collaborate with others online we allow learners to build and flex new muscles. These muscles will serve them well for the rest of their lives!” I could not agree more.
Here are some additional websites related to the Hunley for your viewing pleasure:
- Interactive Blueprints of the Hunley
- Son of the South website
- National Geographic site on the Hunley
- Historical Navy Ships website
UPDATED: Check out Kevin’s Tell the Story of the Hunley PBL site
Until next time…
It’s great to hear that students are learning about the Hunley. I wrote a book about Bushnell’s Turtle and always hoped to follow up with a Hunley book. Unfortunately, both the Turtle and Hunley have be relegated to “footnotes” in history. They are important contributions to U.S. history and I’m glad to hear that students are studying them through meaningful use of technology.
My father attended the raising of the Hunley. He bought commemorative medals as well as a 24K solid gold undented replica (1 of 8) of the coin George Dixon had on him when the Hunley was destroyed. I will enjoy perusing the resources you mention in your article. Thank you for sharing 🙂