This WebQuest was designed to enhance the 6th grade Social Studies unit on Ancient India. Since this topic is so unfamiliar to most Westerners, we realized that support was needed for teachers to effectively present this unit. It is our hope that this WebQuest will provide that support and be an engaging educational activity for your students.

This lesson will use Internet resources to extend the information provided in your textbook. Students will be assigned a role to assume from one of the four caste levels of ancient Indian society. Each student will eventually compose three journal entries from provided prompts about their identity and role. To prepare them for this task, the students will use the provided Internet links to complete a worksheet answering basic questions about typical attributes of each caste, check the glossary to reinforce terminology, and play a "Rags to Riches" game (similar to "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"). The students will then be prepared to assume the identity of a caste member and compose individual journal entries from provided prompts and scenarios.