Audience, Time Requirements &
Materials
Goals, Objectives & Defined
Outcomes
NJ Core Curriculum Content
Standards
Audience, Time Requirements & Materials
This WebQuest was designed for 3rd-5th grade
students working in cooperative groups of six students.
A minimum of five, forty-minute periods should be
allocated for its completion.
This WebQuest would work well as an enrichment activity.
It could also be used effectively as an introduction to
a unit on energy in 4th or 5th grade, or as a
culminating activity in 3rd or 4th grade.
In the Process section of
this WebQuest, links are provided to content on the
educational video website BrainPOP. Their content
is accessible only by subscription. If you do not
have a subscription (which is costly, but well worth
it), and you wish to utilize their content for the
purposes of completing this WebQuest, you can sign-up
for a free trial by visiting their site at
www.brainpop.com. Be sure to read the
fine print, as the free trial subscription limits your
ability to access their content from multiple computers.
If
you are unable to purchase a subscription, and a trial
subscription is not an acceptable alterative in your
situation, you can still undertake this WebQuest quite
successfully. The initial BrainPOP video
referenced is used only to introduce and/or review basic
information of the various forms of energy. The
accompanying quiz aligns with the video. They have
been included as an additional method of evaluating
student knowledge and performance, and could be
eliminated if you were using this WebQuest as a
culminating activity to a unit where energy forms were
covered in detail, or you were able to offer an
alternative means of acquiring that information.
The BrainPOP video links included with each role are
supplementary and used to ensure a variety of research
sources. All necessary information is included in
the other web links supplied.
To aid students in processing unfamiliar
vocabulary, a link to
Word Central,
Merriam-Webster's online dictionary for children, is
provided in Process Part 2. Students should have
knowledge of basic energy terminology prior to beginning
this WebQuest.
Students should be familiar with navigating on the World
Wide Web, and able to open and print PDF files.
Students should also have some background on
presidential primaries and platforms. A short
lesson outlining how candidates propose policy on a
variety of issues should suffice to set the stage.
It goes without saying that undertaking this WebQuest
during an election year will increase sense and meaning
for your students.
Return to
Top
Goals, Objectives & Defined Outcomes
Thinking and
Communication Skills:
This WebQuest requires
students to build on current knowledge regarding energy
by researching specific power sources, and then working
cooperatively to create an energy plan. This
process is guided by worksheets that help the students
to organize their thoughts and work toward a logical and
well reasoned conclusion. Students must share
their accumulated knowledge and then debate the pros and
cons of each energy source to decide which will be
included. Finally, students must present their
plans to an audience.
Goals:
To provide students with
knowledge of the variety of energy
sources currently available, and a cursory understanding
of why workable solutions to important political
questions are rarely black and white.
Objectives (Students will be able to):
-
Identify
five sources of energy currently in use in this
country.
-
Differentiate between renewable and non-renewable
energy sources.
-
Attribute sources of energy to the
regions/geographic areas where they are most common
and cost effective to produce.
-
Evaluate different sources of energy based on a
given set of criteria.
-
Explain why no one source of energy can meet all of
our country's energy needs.
Defined Outcomes:
-
Students will
develop an energy plan that incorporates
five of the energy sources explored in this
WebQuest.
-
Students will
design and produce a poster that will be used as a
visual aid in presenting their energy plan.
-
Students will
present and defend an energy plan.
Return to
Top
New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards
This WebQuest was written to align
with the following NJCCCS:
Language Arts Literacy
Standard 3.1 (Reading)
All students will
understand and apply the knowledge of sounds, letters,
and words in written English to become independent and
fluent readers, and will read a variety of materials and
texts with fluency and comprehension.
Standard 3.2 (Writing)
All students will
write in clear, concise, organized language that varies
in content and form for different audiences and
purposes.
Standard 3.3 (Speaking)
All students will
speak in clear, concise, organized language that varies
in content and form for different audiences and
purposes.
Standard 3.4 (Listening)
All students will
listen actively to information from a variety of sources
in a variety of situations.
Standard 3.5 (Viewing and Media Literacy)
All students will
access, view, evaluate, and respond to print, non-print,
and electronic texts and resources.
Science
Standard 5.1 (Scientific
Processes)
All students
will develop problem-solving, decision-making and
inquiry skills, reflected by formulating usable
questions and hypotheses, planning experiments,
conducting systematic observations, interpreting and
analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and communicating
results.
Standard 5.4 (Nature and
Process of Technology)
All students
will understand the interrelationships between science and
technology and develop a conceptual understanding of the
nature and process of technology.
Standard 5.10 (Environmental
Studies)
All students
will develop an understanding of the environment as a system
of interdependent components affected by human activity and
natural phenomena.
Social Studies
Standard 6.1 (Social Studies Skills)
All students will
utilize historical thinking, problem solving, and
research skills to maximize their understanding of
civics, history, geography, and economics
Standard 6.1 (Social Studies Skills)
All students will
utilize historical thinking, problem solving, and
research skills to maximize their understanding of
civics, history, geography, and economics
Standard 6.2 (Civics)
All students will
know, understand and appreciate the values and
principles of American democracy and the rights,
responsibilities, and roles of a citizen in the nation
and the world.
Standard 6.4 (United States and New Jersey History)
All students will
demonstrate knowledge of United States and New Jersey
history in order to understand life and events in the
past and how they relate to the present and future.
Technological Literacy
Standard 8.1 (Computer and Information Literacy)
All students will use
computer applications to gather and organize information
and to solve problems.
Standard 8.2 (Technology Education)
All students will
develop an understanding of the nature and impact of
technology, engineering, technological design, and the
designed world as they relate to the individual,
society, and the environment.
Career Education and Consumer, Family and Life Skills
Standard 9.2 (Consumer,
Family, and Life Skills)
All students
will demonstrate critical life skills in order to be
functional members of society.
Return to
Top |