1. Hollie Keesee
CI 350
Harold Blanco
Webquest
10-22-2013
WebQuest Assignment
Title: Which Cult Interests You?
Description: Students will, as a group, find the cult that is most interesting to them. They will then create a
digital storytelling video of the cult to show to the other classmates. (Students may not use the same Cult)
Grade level: 9-12
Curriculum: Psychology
Introduction: Learning about Cult’s is important because it can help prevent us from falling victim to their
charms and provides you with a better understanding of just how powerful persuasion can be. They are also just
interesting in general to learn about! Each cult has a unique leader and quality surrounding their group. They
each have different persuasion techniques and different methods of keeping their followers around. This
assignment will enable you to learn about how the cult of your choice indoctrinated and kept their members
around. It will also help strengthen your understanding of the methods of persuasion. Warning: Some cults are
pretty disturbing.
Task: For this task your group will decide what cult you want to present on. You will then make a digital
storytelling video. Find information about your cult, what were they all about? What persuasion techniques did
the leader use to indoctrinate their members? What was the leader like in general? How did the followers react
to the leader? And so on.
Process:
Step 1: Research different cults from the list provided, once you decide as a group what Cult you want to do, let
me know so I can mark the Cult off the list so other groups will not do them. It’s first come, first serve. If your
group wishes to report on a Cult that does not occur on the list provided, please consult me.
Step 2: Find all the information you can about your cult. You may do this by utilizing YouTube, Google,
Books, Newspaper Articles, or whatever resource you find useful. Just make sure it is reliable. Be sure to
include the background and origins of the cult, information about their leader and members, how the leader
indoctrinated their members, and where the cult is today, if it still exists, and if not what happened?
Step 3: Create your story. As a group recreate the story of your cult and tell their story using Windows Movie
Maker or something of that nature. Make sure your video is engaging and accurate! Have fun and be creative!
Step 4: Save your video and upload it to the class YouTube channel

2. Evaluation:
4 points
3 Points
2 Points
1 Point
Cooperative
Learning
Student actively
participated in their
group as well as
worked well with
others.
Student
participated to
the minimum
extent and did
not work well
with others
Student did
not
participate.
Information
on Cult
The information
presented was
accurate and well
organized in the
video.
Student
slightly
participated in
group and
somewhat
worked well
with others.
The
information
presented
contained
minor errors
and was well
organized in
the video.
The
information
presented
contained
serious
defaults and
was not
organized in
an appropriate
manner.
The Video
was not
pleasing to
look at it. Text
was difficult
to read. Music
was
inappropriate.
Information
was jumbled
and not
organized.
Did not meet
time
requirement.
The majority
of the
information
was
inaccurate
and/or was
unorganized.
Aesthetics of The video was
Video
pleasing to look at.
Writing was clearly
visible, music was
appropriate, imaged
were
visible/appropriate.
The video was well
organized and
contained viable
information. Met
time requirements.
The Video
was overall
pleasing to
look at but
contained
minor errors
such as text
that was not
visible or
misaligned
imaged or
music.
Information
was well
organized and
contained
accurate and
viable
information.
Met time
requirements.
Total
Score
The video
lacked quality
in all areas.
Or the video
was not
completed.
Conclusion: Hopefully you all enjoyed this assignment! Examining cults is not only beneficial towards learning
about persuasion, but also pretty neat to learn about. It can also help prevent us from getting into some major
trouble down the road.

3. Link to Cults to choose from: http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-cults.php
How to Form a Cult: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBK5aKOr2Fw
Some links to help you get you started on your research!
Scientology:
http://www.scientology.org/
Hare Krishana:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B7va6PqEns
The Unification Church:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOY3Sxe4TeE
Children of God:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud4Z9xkre6g
The KKK
http://www.history.com/topics/ku-klux-klan
The Manson Family
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/manson/murder_1.html
Heaven’s Gate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqSZhwu1Rwo
The Solar Temple
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1418448/Order-of-the-Solar-Temple
Branch Davidians
http://www.npr.org/2013/04/20/178063471/two-decades-later-some-branch-davidians-still-believe
The People’s Temple
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/jonestown-guyana/
Link to my other Webquest: http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=215891