http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/webanimaladi.html
Last revised Sat Oct 10 22:32:02 US/Pacific 2009
created by discover
Rockwell Elementary
Introduction | The Task | The Process | Conclusion |
Welcome Discoverers!
As you work through this Web Quest you will be on your way to becoming familiar with the idea of animal adaptations. Your goal is to create a presentation that will inform others about what you learn. You may choose to create a podcast, a video, a poster, a VoiceThread or a combination of more than one of these. Happy Learning!
Your team has been assigned a specific role. You will use the links provided as well as other resources (library, etc) to become experts on your roles. You and your team will work together to create a Group Report that presents your team's answer to the Quest(ion). By completing this WebQuest, you should achieve the following goals: 1) develop an interest in the study of Animal Adaptations; 2) use the power of the Internet for advanced exploration; 3) learn information about key aspects of Animal Adaptations; 4) realize that complex topics can be looked at from various perspectives; 5) formulate and support an opinion based on your roles; and 6) work with teammates to determine a combined action plan for how to present what you learn.
You will be working together as a group exploring web sites that your teacher has selected. Each group has their own Task to complete and a separate set of web sites to use. There is a task organizer and an evaluation rubric in Background Information to guide your work.
Phase 1 - Background Information
These sites are important because they will provide basic information about the topic as a whole. Everyone should explore these sites before starting your Task.
Phase 2 - Roles
These roles were chosen because they each define the most important elements of Animal Adaptations. Each of you has been assigned a particular role with links and instructions below. Here are the general instructions for all of you. Please see your specific instructions and questions below.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Several members from each WebQuest team will explore one of the roles below.
2. Read through the files designated for your group. You can print out pages and underline the parts that you feel are important or cut and paste from the webpage into a word processor.
3. Remember to include the URL of the page you take information from so you can return to it and use it as a citation.
4. Focus what you've learned into one main opinion that answers the Big Quest(ion) or Task.Adaptations:
Use these links to answer the following questions.
What are adaptations?
Why are they important for the survival of animals?
What are some examples of adaptations that help animals to survive?Habitat:
Use these links to answer the following questions.
What is a habitat?
Describe some different habitats.
What might happen if an animal is forced out of its habitat?
What might it have to do to survive?Interdependence:
Use these links to answer the following questions.
What is interdependence?
Describe the importance of plants in the survival of all animals.
What are prey?
What are predators?
Why do you think it is important to have both prey and predators in a habitat?
Phase 3 - Reaching Consensus
You have all learned about different parts of Animal Adaptations. Now group members come back to the larger WebQuest team with expertise gained by searching from one perspective. You must all now complete the Task as a group. Each of you will bring a certain viewpoint to the answer: some of you will agree and others disagree. Use information, pictures, movies, facts, opinions, etc. from the web sites you explored to convince your teammates that your viewpoint is important and should be part of your team's response. Your WebQuest team should write out an answer that everyone on the team can live with.
So is an elephant smooth, rough, soft, or hard? Well, when you're blindfolded and only *looking* at one part, it's easy to come up with an answer that may not be completely right. It's the same for understanding a topic as broad or complex as Animal Adaptations: when you only know part of the picture, you only know part of the picture. Now you all know a lot more. Nice work. You should be proud of yourselves! How can you use what you've learned to see beyond the black and white of a topic and into the grayer areas? What other parts of Animal Adaptations could still be explored? Remember, learning never stops.
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Content by discover, lowderls@rss.k12.nc.us http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/webanimaladi.html Last revised Sat Oct 10 22:32:02 US/Pacific 2009 |