|
The following
is our "Cliff Note" version of the full project, meant to provide
you with a quick overview of its main features and the standards and content
it covers. The complete project specs and related resources are available
at this website:
(From
web site Introduction)
"This WebQuest
is about a situation involving the dumping of hazardous wastes at Love
Canal, New York. This is an interdisciplinary activity, that includes
Social Studies, Science, and Language Arts."
"Love Canal,
New York, began in 1892 when William T. Love proposed digging a canal
to connect the upper and lower parts of the Niagara River. The canal
was never completed. However, from 1920-1953, the canal was used to
dump hazardous wastes. In 1953, the canal area was covered with dirt
and presumed safe. When area residents started reporting health problems,
officials began to investigate the dumping of the hazardous wastes.
They decided that Love Canal was a health hazard and evacuated the area.
Since that time, Superfund has been set up to clean up the waste site.
As a result, in the early 1990's, people began moving back into Love
Canal. Many of the homes have been renovated and resold to new citizens
at much lower rates than in other surrounding communities.
It
has been at least 40 years since wastes have been dumped at Love Canal.
With all of the clean-up efforts that have taken place over the past 25
years, do you think Love Canal would be a good place to live today? Imagine
that the following scenario exists: You have been offered a job making
$100,000 per year in this particular community. In addition, the housing
market is very inexpensive here.
Your task is to
analyze the living conditions that exist today in Love Canal. Choose
a role below and use the goal statements to help you decide. After each
team member has made a selection, click on the appropriate role to gain
a clear understanding of the issues involved. Would you accept the job
and move your family to Love Canal?"
Students who complete
this project will understand:
- The specific history
and issues surrounding The Love Canal Debate
- The relationship
between environmental factors and the health of individuals and our
planet
- How to present
a convincing argument (orally and in writing) based on research
- How to research
science and health issues on the Web, and how to determine what is useful
information
- How to generalize
their learnings to other local issues of environmental and health concerns
Rubrics
are provided for the assessment of both the individual and group work
in this project. In addition, the following rubrics may be helpful in
evaluating student learning:
Students must accomplish
many different tasks and performances to complete this [project]. They
must apply basic computer skills including gathering and compiling research
from the Internet, classroom sources, and textbooks. Once each member
of the team has become an expert from one perspective based on his or
her research, teammates combine what they have learned into a Group
Report, and later, an oral presentation. A group activity is included
to provide teammates with a process to work through their differences
(from their various perspectives) and develop a common group report.
Basic
computer skills, including ability in Netscape (or other browser) navigation.
Understanding of how to gather and compile research from the Internet.
|
(more complete listing and explanations can be found at http://www.mcrel.org/standards-
benchmarks/)
- Standard 1 - Uses the general skills and strategies of the
writing process including use of content style, and structure
appropriate for specific audiences, writes expository compositions,
writes compositions that address problems/solutions, and writes
in response to literature.
(Level III, Grade 6-8: 5, 6,11, 12)
- Standard 4 - Gathers and uses information for research purposes,
including uses a variety of resource materials to gather information;
determines the appropriateness of an information source; organizes
information and ideas from multiple sources; and uses appropriate
methods to cite and document references.
(Level III, Grade 6-8: 4, 5, 6, 8)
- Standard 5 - Uses the general skills and strategies of the
reading process, including establishes and adjusts purposes
for reading; understands specific devices an author uses to
accomplish his or her purpose; and reflects on what has been
learned after reading and formulates ideas, opinions, and personal
responses to texts.
(Level III, Grade 6-8: 1, 5, 6)
- Standard 6 - Uses reading skills and strategies to understand
a variety of informational texts; knows the defining characteristics
of a variety of informational texts; summarizes and paraphrases
information in texts; uses new information to adjust and extend
personal knowledge base; understands techniques used to convey
viewpoint; draws conclusions and makes inferences based on explicit
and implicit information in texts; and differentiates between
fact and opinion in informational texts.
(Level III, Grade 6-8: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- Standard 8 - Uses listening and speaking strategies for different
purposes, including plays a variety of roles in group discussions;
asks questions to seek elaboration and clarification of ideas;
conveys a clear main point when speaking to others and stays
on the topic being discussed; makes oral presentations to the
class; uses appropriate verbal and nonverbal techniques for
oral presentations, evaluates strategies used by speakers in
oral presentations; and understands elements of persuasion and
appeal in spoken texts.
(Level III, Grade 6-8: 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12)
- Standard 6 - Understands relationships among organisms and
their physical environment, including knows that all individuals
of a species that exist together at a given place and time make
up a population, and all populations living together and the
physical factors with which they interact compose an ecosystem;
knows factors that affect the number and types of organisms
an ecosystem can support; knows ways in which organisms interact
and depend on one another through food chains and food webs
in an ecosystem; knows how energy is transferred through food
webs in an ecosystem; and knows how matter is recycled within
ecosystems.
(Level III, Grade 6-8: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
- Standard 2 - Knows environmental and external factors that
affect individual and community health, including knows cultural
beliefs, socioeconomic considerations, and other environmental
factors within a community that influence the health of its
members; understands how various messages from the media, technology,
and other sources impact health practices; and knows local,
state, federal, and international efforts to contain an environmental
crisis and prevent a recurrence.
(Level III, Grade 6-8: 1, 2, 3)
- Standard 1 - Knows the characteristics and uses of computer
hardware and operating systems
- Standard 2 - Knows the characteristics and uses of computer
software programs
- Standard 6 - Understands the nature and uses of different
forms of technology
|
|
