Welcome to the Teacher Guide for the Web Quest: Our Planet Earth!

This page will serve as a step-by-step guide to help you teach this lesson to your students.

Basic Information:

This Web Quest has been specifically designed for students anywhere from the 4th grade to the 6th grade, as the web pages and the poster project are made for a younger audience.

A copy of BBC's "Planet Earth" will also be needed, as this video serves as the primary introduction for this Web Quest. I would recommend showing at least 2 - 3 of the "Planet Earth" episodes, to give your students a good idea of what is happening to the planet today.

The Goals:

The goals of this Web Quest is to introduce students to Global Warming and the effects that it is having on our planet. Students will be researching animals and then using information about Global Warming to talk about what the current state of these animals are. This information will be presented in a Poster project with pictures and a few paragraphs discussing what the students have learned.

Students are also required to write one to two paragraphs about what they have learned in this Social Studies Web Quest. Students are encouraged to check over their writing before adding it to their poster, which gives students an opportunity to learn how to edit their own work, as well as get experience writing about a specific topic.

Students are also required to use their school library to conduct further information about their animal. Students gain knowledge of how to use their school library and conduct research using the materials they have on hand.

Hopefully the student will come away from this project with a deeper understanding for what Global Warming is doing to our planet, and what they can do to try and help stop it.

Prior Skills:

Students do not need any prior skills coming into this assignment other than a working knowledge of how to use the Internet.

As I said above, the introduction for this project is the BBC series, "Planet Earth." The students will need to have watched some segments of this video before starting the Web Quest. I recommend the teacher talk with his/her students after every episode about what they saw in the video and attempt to answer any questions students may have about what is happening to our planet. Keep in mind: Some of these basic questions about Global Warming will be answered throughout the Web Quest.

The "Planet Earth" series plays a vital role in this Web Quest. Not only does it introduce the topic of Global Warming, but it also plants some ideas in student's minds about how animals are being affected by it. Students are given the tough task of researching how their particular animal is affected by Global Warming. The "Planet Earth" series is intended to help kids think about the ways their animal could be affected. If your students are struggling with this aspect, remind them of the "Planet Earth" series and some of the reasons animals were being affected.

Helping a Challenged Student:

This project can be hard on students who have trouble focusing for long periods of time, or who have trouble using a computer. If you have students in your class who need an easier version of this Web Quest, there are a number of things you can try:

A) I have students the options of working in pairs. If there are some students who need extra help, remind them that they can work in pairs and can split up the reading.

B) If the reading proves too much for a student, have the student only read the following from the Global Warming section:

"Climate Change: What Is It..."

"Climate & Weather"

"So What's the BIG DEAL?"

"We Can Make a DIFFERENCE!"

If the student is still having trouble keeping up with all the material presented from this website, create a few questions for the student that help guide the student through the material.

C) For students who are having trouble grasping the goal or focus of the Web Quest, ask them to answer the general question: "What is Global Warming doing to our planet?" Tell the student to take notes that will answer this question, and apply these answers to their poster.

Time Needed:

Students will need approximately an hour per website, totaling 2 hours of online time needed. Additional research will done in the library, and this will take an estimate hour of work as well. Finally, the writing of the paragraph(s) and the making of the poster should take the student about an hour to an hour and a half, estimated.

The total project should take an estimated four and a half hours. I recommend giving students a good three weeks to work on this project.

Grading Instructions:

This project is part guided discovery and part self discovery. Teachers can expect a quality amount of Global Warming material and animal material from the students based on the websites provided. However, the poster project is designed to have students go to their local school library and study the relationship Global Warming is having on their specific animal. This final step will be dependent on the resources available to your students. If limited resources are available, consider grading your students based on how well they present data on both Global Warming and their animal, and not necessarily on how well they talk about the relationship between the two. But in general, a teacher should follow the following guidelines:

Very Good:

The student has written a paragraph or two that outlines how their specific animal is affected by Global Warming. Student briefly talks about what Global Warming is, what their animal is, and how Global Warming has affected that animal through some planet change caused by Global Warming. For example, this change could be extinction of food, change in climate or weather, cutting down of habitat, etc. Student also has displayed pictures that show their animal and pictures displaying some aspect of Global Warming's effects on that animal. This last picture could show a dying habitat, or a picture of a dead animal. However, teachers should keep in mind that these pictures are not provided for students from the websites, and should be a little lenient on the grading of the pictures. As long as they have some pictures relating to their animal and the Global Warming, it will suffice.

OK:

The student has written a paragraph or two that talks about what Global Warming is, and gives some information about their animal. Student mentions that Global Warming is having an affect on their animal. Student shows pictures relating to either Global Warming or their animal.

Not So Good:

The student has a written paragraph that does not grasp what Global Warming is, or fails to include any information about their animal. Student does not mention any kind of relationship between Global Warming and their animal. Pictures do not show anything relating to Global Warming or relating to the animal.