An additional goal of this WebQuest is to promote Information Literacy and National Educational Technology Standards. Students will need to locate and analyze information from the Web to complete the project. In order to teach this WebQuest successfully the teacher should be able to coach students to successfully find the desired information on their own.
If you have taught WebQuest units in the past, this may possibly be a different approach for you as many WebQuests are already linked to the information the teacher wishes the students to use. It will be a challenge for you as an educator to accept that students will find different and possibly conflicting information which you will have to help them interpret.
Students will need to use problem-solving strategies and critical thinking
during this WebQuest and you should be prepared to guide them to successfully
learn and apply these techniques as the need arises. The following link
(Activity5.doc)
provides a lesson in Web search strategies using keyword searches, which
you may find helpful in preparing your students.
Step 2 - have students from teams and brainstorm several ways to locate the information. It would be good to have a class discussion about the relative merits of the suggested strategies. The students should think of questions they would want to ask to see if the food's content is healthy or unhealthy. Then ask for the class to suggest professions or organizations that might be able to answer the questions.
In the teams, the recorder role is responsible to record the group process, who contributed what, what others said about it, and any decisions reached. You may want to model that role for the class so they get the idea. The time-keeper is supposed to watch the clock and point out when the group has spent more than 1/3 of the time on a particular idea and make sure all three ideas have been documented before time runs out. You will probably have to go around to the groups at work and make sure the timekeeper is keeping things on track. The other two members are Contributors. Their responsibility is to put forth what they know about nutrition and organizations that gather and disseminate information about it. If they don't know much, ask them to just make lists of what they know or have heard is good or bad for the health and where they heard it, then compare to see if the recipe has these things in it. If the source was friends or family have them check to see where that person got the info, or try to guess. Switch recorders and timekeepers at the 1/2 way point so everyone on the Team gets to contribute.
As far as how the document gets produced, probably the best writer or typist should do most of it. Cutting and pasting from the recorder notes is a good idea. Have the whole team cluster around a workstation and contribute to this part too. Have teams check grammar and spelling and produce a good work product. Make sure the teams all have a strong writer.
Step 3 - Searching for information. Make sure to model the process of
looking for the information as shown in the sample lesson above. List keywords
together, circle the ones you want to use, and demo a search in a search
engine for the class. Make sure not to let the students search on their
own until all have been successful finding at least one source with teacher
help.
As they search go around the room and make sure you ask how long they
have been on a particular page if you don't see useful info their, or how
do they know what they are reading is accurate (suggest they cross check
their info) etc. Show them how to save URLs as bookmarks and in a Word
processor
Step 4 - Conversions. This is bound to come up at this point when actual ingredients and amounts of them are scrutinized. Demonstrate dimensional analysis and conversion for the class, and ask students who think they have got it to demonstrate for the class. Have students make a table showing the amounts that are healthy of different ingredients and what their recipe has, and compare across recipes and discuss.
Step 5 - Meat loaf court. You might want to demonstrate arguing from
both sides of the issue to the class to show they are supposed to take
a position and defend it with logic and evidence. Show how the judge should
examine the evidence critically to see that it is factual, authentic, and
valid. Filming this activity could provide valuable insight into how the
students perceive their arguments and how decisions are made, you could
then show the movies to the class and have a classroom discussion about
key events that happened.
| GRADES K-3 | GRADES 3-6 | GRADES 6-9 | GRADES 9-12 |
|
•
Make healthy food choices
•
Group foods in many different ways
|
•
Establish and
maintain
healthy
eating
practices
• Prepare a variety of foods
|
•
Compare caloric
values
of foods
according
to the
percentage
of fat,
protein,
and
carbohydrate
they
contain
•
Select appropriate practices to maintain, lose, or
gain
weight
|
•
Recognize the need for updating one’s personal nutrition plan as individual
needs
or activities
change
|
|
Read
and interpret information available
on
food labels
•Use labels to compare the contents of food products •Identify
ads and recognize strategies used to influence
decisions
|
•Use
critical-thinking skills to analyze marketing and advertising
•Practice
various positive responses to those influences techniques and their influence
on food selection information to make healthy food choices
•Purchase
nutritious foods in a variety of settings
•Use
unit pricing to determine the most economical purchases
•Analyze
and taste foods from different ethnic and cultural groups
•Develop
basic food-preparation skills
|
•Use
effective consumer skills to purchase healthy foods within budget
•Use valid nutrition constraints •Use critical-thinking skills to distinguish facts from fallacies concerning the nutritional value of foods •Adapt
recipes to make them more healthy by lowering fat, salt, or sugar andincreasing
fiber
|
•Use
critical-thinking
skills
to analyze weight modification practices and select appropriate practices
to maintain, lose, or gain weight according to individual need and scientific
research
|
2.Demonstrate knowledge of current
changes in information technologies
and the effect those changes have on
the workplace and society. (2)
3.Exhibit legal and ethical behaviors
when using information and
technology, and discuss consequences
of misuse. (2)
4.Use content-specific tools, software,
and simulations (e.g., environmental
probes, graphing calculators,
exploratory environments, Web tools)
to support learning and research. (3, 5)
5.Apply productivity/multimedia tools
and peripherals to support personal
productivity, group collaboration, and
learning throughout the curriculum. (3,
6)
6.Design, develop, publish, and present
products (e.g., Web pages,
videotapes) using technology resources
that demonstrate and communicate
curriculum concepts to audiences
inside and outside the classroom. (4, 5,
6)
7.Collaborate with peers, experts, and
others using telecommunications and
collaborative tools to investigate
curriculum-related problems, issues,
and information, and to develop
solutions or products for audiences
inside and outside the classroom. (4,
5)
8.Select and use appropriate tools and
technology resources to accomplish a
variety of tasks and solve problems.
(5, 6)
9.Demonstrate an understanding of
concepts underlying hardware,
software, and connectivity, and of
practical applications to learning and
problem solving. (1, 6)
10.Research and evaluate the accuracy,
relevance, appropriateness,
comprehensiveness, and bias of
electronic information sources
concerning real-world problems. (2, 5,
6)