Logbook Scavenger Hunt
Analyzing Documents
About this Activity
- Created by:Curry School of Education and Human Development
- Historical Era:Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
- Thinking Skill:Historical Analysis & Interpretation
- Bloom's Taxonomy:Analyzing
- Grade Level:High School
This activity is appropriate for grades 6-12 and should take around 20 minutes. This activity is a great way to introduce students to naval logbooks and familiarize them with the primary source data found in them. In this activity, students will carefully analyze a logbook recorded on the USS Jamestown during the Civil War. Logbooks are primary sources in which weather data were collected during ships' voyages. Students can use these documents to gain greater insight into the past.
This activity can be used independently or to support a lesson or unit on the American Civil War, specifically when the topic of the Union blockade is taught. In 1861, the USS Jamestown was recommissioned for the blockade and can be considered a historical exemplar for how geography mattered during the war.
https://www.docsteach.org/activities/student/logbook-scavenger-huntThis activity can be used independently or to support a lesson or unit on the American Civil War, specifically when the topic of the Union blockade is taught. In 1861, the USS Jamestown was recommissioned for the blockade and can be considered a historical exemplar for how geography mattered during the war.
Students will be able to:
- identify key sections of a naval logbook;
- examine the weather data in a naval logbook;
- analyze a naval logbook from the 1860s; and
- create research questions based on the evidence found with the naval logbook.