WebQuest+Inquiry+-+Antiklia+Spathis


 * Original WebQuest: Hurricane Fury (Spring 2009) designed by Ms. Wilkinson **

** Introduction **

Hurricane season begins June 1st and last through November 30th. However, hurricanes have struck land as early as the month of May and as late as December. This season brings with it fear and apprehension of the unknown. During the hurricane months, the threat of hurricanes is very high. These natural disasters do not only threaten the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean, but many other countries and regions. Would you know what to do if a hurricane struck your hometown? How would you prepare? What would you do after it has passed?

** The Task **

You have been recruited into the Junior FEMA Relief Organization. A category 5 hurricane is pending and will strike three states (Florida, Texas and Mississippi) within the next week. You have been given the assignment to alert people of those states to the impending disaster, coordinate efforts to combat flooding. Select temporary relief sites and the types of relief needed after the disaster. Work as a team to gather all the information you need. After you have gathered the information, you will create a Relief Effort Brief to the heads of FEMA outlining your intent to proactively deal with the impending hurricane. Use the group wiki to keep your group informed.

** The Process **

You will work as a team to complete the assignment. Each team member will choose one of the roles outlined below. After each team member has completed his/her research, the team will synthesize the information into a complete brief for the heads of FEMA. Use your group wiki to keep your team updated. You will be graded on your individual progress as well as your group progress. You may use other resources if it would provide additional information for your purposes. Please remember to update your group daily using your group wiki.


 * Revised WebQuest: Hurricane Fury by Antiklia Spathis **


 * Introduction **

Hurricane season begins June 1st and last through November 30th. However, hurricanes have struck land as early as the month of May and as late as December. This season brings with it fear and apprehension of the unknown. During the hurricane months, the threats of hurricanes are very high. These natural disasters do not only threaten the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean, but many other countries and regions as well. People hurry to evacuate their towns and make every effort to board up their residences, businesses and properties. Do you know where hurricanes come from? How they are formed? The speed in which they are moving? How they are measured? And where they disappear off to after they are done ruining the place? Join meteorologist, Ms. Spathis to find out.


 * The Task **

Hurricane season has begun. Hurricanes have started to form in front of your very eyes and on your computer. Your task will be to create, track and name your own hurricane. We will also learn how do hurricanes form, how are they named, how are they measured and where do they go after they are done? You will create one online handout with any silly questions you might have about hurricanes. For example, what would it be like to be sitting on top of the hurricane? Will I get dizzy staring at a hurricane from up above? Etc.


 * The Process **

There will be a group 3 students working together. All team member will help each other along the way. I have provided links to websites where you can create your own hurricane, know how to measure them, etc. One person from the group will be responsible for creating the hurricane. The next person will track the hurricanes every move, noting the speed of the hurricane, the intensity and the measurements. And the other person will name the hurricane but they will have to find out what hurricane name is next in queue. You will be graded as a group. Update your information using your Wiki group. Let�s get started!

**Sandra Jones' feedback to Antiklia Spathis ** The changes you made to the WebQuest lead the students in a different direction from the original (an observation not valuation). I understand your changes to the introduction; however, I am concerned that your editions seem to be feeding the students. Shouldn�t how people prepare for these events come from the student�s learning? The questions that you raised in the introduction will definitely contribute to their learning, but I would have liked to see them as part of the task, and again in the learning objective.

In the task section, I didn't really follow your thought process on the silly questions. My concern is that the addition of this line of thinking detracts from task authenticity (see the WebQuest Quality Scale []).

In the process section you break up the assignment for the students, there's no opportunity for them to collaborate amongst themselves to determine who does what. As listed in your revision there are three very different assignments with differing levels of engagement and contribution. Can you rework this section to encourage a more equitable distribution of the workload? One way to do this would be to give them a planning session to chart out all of the questions they want/need to answer for the assignment, giving teach team the opportunity to (democratically) assign tasks.

I enjoyed the changes you made in the WebQuest. I like the added questions in your introduction phase. I believe this will make the students think about what they know about hurricanes and at the same time let them know that there may be some things that they do not know. I agree with Sandra when she says that the questions raised in the Introduction keep being asked throughtout the WebQuest. Also, I like how you mention to join the meteorologist but maybe there could be a way to motivate and draw their attention more. Such as Ms. Spathis needs your help to find out more about hurricanes! That is just an idea. Overall, I believe the Introduction is pretty good though.
 * Brian Jacovina's Feedback **

Regarding your task, I think the task is pretty clear within the first sentence or two. I do not quite understand the point of the silly worksheet. I do not know the grade for the WebQuest but it just seems like work that does not really need to be done. I can see if the WebQuest is for a young grade and you are trying to engage them more but again it seems like work that isn't being done for the final product.

I think your process is clear but I think their should be more group work and more guidelines on when they should work together. Also, it seems like certain students have alot more work then others. I feel like the person who tracks the storm from start to finish has alot more work then the student who has to name the hurricane. Also, I believe there should be a final project that needs to be done with all the information gathered. Are the students making a powerpoint? Are they making a presentation to the class? I believe something like that should be mentioned in this part of the WebQuest.

Thank you for your feedback. I believe the whole point was to change and or improve the original WebQuest as per teacher/assignment instuctions that is why I changed the original. You guys are right about the "silly questions" part not making it authentic. I wanted to add something fun in there but I guess it does not make sense. I will definitely take into consideration your comments and revise for the better when I have to post the fiinal version. Thank you!
 * To Sandra and Brian: **