The Title of your WebQuest goes here

Destination Investigation

A WebQuest for 4th Grade Social Studies and Science

Emily Emerson, Lori Duke, Kevin Morris, Matt Yanchar, Pam King
Chimboodle04@aol.com, LDuke@kent.edu, KEMorri1@kent.edu, MYanchar@kent.edu, Pking@kent.edu

The purpose of this WebQuest is to serve as a culminating activity to a two week unit on landforms. This will increase student knowledge about landform characteristics and help them compare and contrast while making a decision. Students will take on the role of an alien investigation team looking to find a suitable location for their colony on earth. They will be required to find and record facts on five different landforms, then decide and justify which one would be most appropriate for their colony.

Task

This WebQuest has been designed so that students will work in groups of four and take on independent roles while working together to investigate different landforms and their characteristics. Each role will record their findings on a Fact Sheet. The roles include:

Environmental Detective- Their job will be to research the climate and any possible hazards that may be encountered living on or around the landform. Fact Sheet
Population Expert- Their job is to investigate if there is enough room for future population growth. Fact Sheet
Natural Resource Investigator- Their job is to find out what resources are available (ex. trees, minerals, and animals). Fact Sheet
Navigator- Their job is to operate the computer so that all of the teammates will be able to obtain the required information that will allow for the completion of this mission. The navigator will also record the latitude and longitude of these various landforms on a map. Fact Sheet

Their Mission- After gathering information and deciding which landform they believe would be the best choice for the colony, they will create a presentation and poster demonstrating their viewpoint. Students will present this view to the class (Borrilian High Council) where they will defend their decision and answer questions.

Process

This WebQuest is meant to be completed over five days. The first two days the students will be in the computer lab researching the landforms and completing fact sheets. The third and fourth days they will create their presentations, posters and anthems. The fifth day the groups will present their proposals to the class.

Students will work as a group to complete the following six steps and complete the corresponding Fact Sheets:

Step One- As a group, they will decide who will take on the roles of the Navigator, Natural Resource Investigator, Population Expert, and Environmental Detective.

Step Two- Print out the four Fact Sheets and distribute them to the appropriate person.

Step Three- The Navigator will scroll to the Resource section of this page, and visit each of the links provided for the various landforms.

Step Four- While visiting those sites, each team member will read, participate, and record relevant information on their Fact Sheet.

Step Five- As a team, they will discuss their choices in relation to their findings, and decide which landform they believe to be the best choice.

Step Six- As a team, students will create their poster and prepare a summary explaining their choice. The navigator will present the poster and location of the landform, and direct each other member to present their specific findings. The group will also create and perform a national anthem. See the rubric below for details about what is expected.

Resources

Students will be provided with the following list of resources to use when investigating the landforms:

Volcano (Mt. Saint Helens)-

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/description_msh.html

Look under Mt. Saint Helens Volcano

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Hazards/What/hazards.html

Click on Lahars, Landslides, Pyroclastic flows, and Tephra

http://www.nearctica.com/ecology/ecoreg/m242.htm

Canyon (Grand Canyon)-

http://grand.canyon.national-park.com/weather.htm

Look at charts.

http://grand.canyon.national-park.com/info.htm#size

Look at SIZE

http://kaibab.org/gc_new.htm

Look under “Tracking the Inhabitants”, and “Beyond the Limits of Land”

Mountains (Rocky Mountain National Park)-

http://www.jorn.com/ssc/romo/tundra.htm

Follow the instructions on this page.

http://www.nps.gov/romo/

After reviewing information on this page, click on the link labeled facts on the right hand

column

http://Mtns.MartianBachelor.com/Climate.html

http://www.50states.com/facts/colorado.htm

Island (Kelley’s Island)-

http://www.kelleysisland.com/history.htm

http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/USclimate/state.pl?lane=fast&state=OH

Click on Toledo

Plateau (Appalachian/Allegheny Plateau)-

http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/A/alleghp1lat.asp

http://www.scott.k12.va.us/martha2/allegheny.htm

http://www.wm.edu/geology/virginia/app_plateau_kids.html

http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/USclimate/state.pl?lane=fast&state=OH

Click on Zanesville

Longitude and Latitude of Landforms-

http://www.bcca.org/misc/qiblih/latlong_us.html

Click on the state where your landform is located.

Evaluation

Evaluation Rubric

Interdisciplinary and Disciplinary Criteria	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Effective Use of Class Time	Fact sheets are accurately completed for two or one landforms, or three inaccurately completed fact sheets	Fact sheets are accurately completed for three landforms, or four inaccurately completed fact sheets	Fact sheets are accurately completed for four landforms, or five inaccurately completed fact sheets	Fact sheets are accurately completed for all five landforms
Design Presentation Poster	Contains at least 1 picture and 2 facts or supporting details	Contains at least 2 pictures and 3 facts or supporting details	Using one of the provided formats, contains at least 2 pictures and 5 facts or supporting details on landform	Using one of the provided formats, contains at least 3 pictures and 7 facts or supporting details on landform
Write Group Summary	Summary contains at least 1 fact from all roles, or is missing roles	Summary is written using given format, contains at least 1 fact from all roles	Summary is written using given format, contains at least 2 facts from 2 roles and 1 fact from the other roles	Summary is written using the given format, contains at least 2 facts from each role’s research
Create Song or Anthem	Anthem embeds at least 2 facts about chosen landform	Anthem embeds at least 3 facts about chosen landform	Anthem embeds at least 4 facts about chosen landform	Anthem embeds at least 5 facts about chosen landform
Presentation Participation	1 group member speaks or presents work	2 group members speak or present part of the work	3 group members speak or present part of the work	All 4 group members speak or present part of the work
					Total Score

Conclusion

Upon completion of this WebQuest students will be able to demonstrate a deeper understanding about factual information regarding landforms.

Listed below are several questions and ideas for extending learning beyond this WebQuest:

§ Would it have changed your approach to this project if the aliens had specific requirements they needed to have met, such as climate, abundant water source, altitude, or food types?

§ Would it have changed your approach if local human population was a factor?

§ What if the aliens could live underwater? What would you have suggested then?

§ What new or additional questions did you encounter as you went through your investigation?

Credits and References

The following fourth grade Ohio standards are met by this WebQuest:

Use cardinal and intermediate directions to describe the relative location of places.
Use maps to identify the location of major physical and human features of Ohio including: The Appalachian Plateau and Lake Erie.
Describe and compare the landforms, climates, population, vegetation, and economic characteristics of places and regions in Ohio.
Identify main ideas and supporting details from factual information.
Read and interpret pictographs, bar graphs, line graphs, and tables.
Communicate relevant information in a written report including the acknowledgement of sources.
Use a problem-solving/decision-making process which includes:

a. Identifying a problem;

b. Gathering information;

c. Listing and considering options;

d. Considering advantages and disadvantages of options;

e. Choosing and implementing a solution;

f. Developing criteria for judging its effectiveness.

Record the results and data from an investigation and make a reasonable explanation.
Explain the discrepancies in an investigation using evidence to support findings.

The following websites are research sources for students: