Preserving our Habitats

A Web Quest for 5th Grade (Science)

Introduction

A habitat is any place where a particular plant or animal species lives. It can be as small as a pond or as large as the earth. It is important to understand the effects that humans have on the habitats. In some ways humans have a positive influence on the environment but in other ways humans often times contribute to the depletion of our natural habitats. Finding out what you can do to protect the natural habitats that surround you, is one way to help protect plant and animal species.

Task

You live in a community where your natural habitats are in danger of being depleted. A local construction company is planning on clearing land to to make room for hundreds of apartment and housing complexes as well as a giant mall. You have become outraged because your favorite animals will not have homes. You need to find out as much information as you can about your local habitat and use the information to persuade the construction company to stop the building of the apartments, houses and malls. You will present the information using Inspiration software or PowerPoint as well as creating an individual letter to the editor of your local newspaper (School or class newspaper), and a poster representing your view on the issue.

Process

Part 1: Gather as much information as you can on your habitat

1. This will be done in groups of 4 or 5.
2. Each group will research 1 of these 6 habitats: Coast land, grassland, Tropical rain forest, Coniferous rain forest, tundra, desert.
3. Your teacher will scaffold the research process with a handout/table/chart of questions to answer and ideas to keep in mind while researching. Make sure you keep track of your sources for documentation later. Share the information you have gathered with your group members, remember you are working together cooperatively!!!

You can find information on the different habitats at these web sites:

List of habitats (Biomes):
On these web sites there will be information on several habitats. Click on your habitat and you will get more specific information.
Habitats
Virtual zoo
More on habitats

Wetlands/tidepools (Coastline):
Wetlands
More on wetlands
Even more on wetlands and tide pools

Tropical Rain forest:
Elements of the Rain forest
A rain forest electronic field - Go to the "Kid's corner of the Rain forest"

Desert:
The desert and animals desert
More on desert habitats

Tundra:
The Tundra
More on the tundra

Coniferous (Temperate) forests:
Example of Olympic forest

Conservation for Wildlife and Wild Places
You can find information on how wildlife and wild places connect with each other.

There are many resources besides the Internet where you will find valuable information, talk to the school librarian or the librarian at the Public library to gather more information.

Here are a list of a few resources:
"Cheetah" written by Taylor, Morrison. Henry & Holt & Company, 1998.
"Grassland" written by Sayre, April P. NY, Twenty-First Century Books, 1994.
"The Temperate Forest (Deep Green Planet)" Lorenzo Fornasari, Renato Massa, and Monica Carabella. Raintree/Steck Vaughn, 1996.
"Tropical Rain Forest" Sayre, April P. NY, Twenty-First Century Books, 1994.

Step 2:
Create a graphic organizer using Inspiration software or Power Point that includes:
1. A visual representation of the habitat as well as a brief description.
2. Geographical locations of the habitat
3. Examples of animals with visuals and explain how the animal has adapted to
environment.
4. Examples and descriptions of plants with a visual representation.

Part 3:
Each person will write a letter to the editor describing the reasons why they should stop the construction of the houses, apartments, and mall.

1. Include why the construction company wants to build on the land.
2. Back up your opinion with research.
3. Tell what will happen to the animal and plant species in your habitat if there
homes are destroyed. (What would happen if there were no plants? Animals?)

Step 4:

Create a poster
1. It should be to the point, be original. For example: "Save the Rain forest!"
2. It needs to be colorful, it should catch someone's eye!!
3. Pictures of animal that you want to save in the habitat.

Step 5: The Presentation

Your presentation will be given to the president of the company (teacher/principal) and his/her colleagues (the class) to protect the surrounding habitats.
The final product will be comprised of a graphic organizer/Power Point, poster, letter to the editor supporting your research on your habitat. The final draft must be a professional looking, properly formatted product. You do not have to read your letter but you should include some of the information from your letter in your groups presentation.

Evaluation

Your group grade will reflect the content, graphic organizer, poster and the overall presentation of your project. You will receive an individual grade on your letter to the editor and your performance as a group member.
Important: If you are not contributing to the assignments you will be given a lower grade and the other group members' grades will NOT be affected by your poor performance.

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4
Research (content)	Used only sources given from web quest	Used just the Internet or the library and only cited a few resources	Used several resources, some information was portrayed inaccurately, forgot to include some citation	Used all available resources (Internet, library, experts), information was portrayed accurately, everything was cited
Was the presentation convincing?	Information was not backed by resources, unclear	Resources only supported a few statements, did not refute the opposition, not very clear and not professional	Most of the information was supported by resources, refuted the opposition, somewhat clear and professional	All information was supported by several resources, refuted the opposition, clear, professional
Graphic Organizer/ PowerPoint	disorganized, no graphics, plants and animals with no descriptions	Somewhat disorganized, minimal graphics, only plants or animals, no adaptations to the environment, 1 item for each category	Organization is mostly clear, few graphics, some animal and plant species and their adaptations to the environment, two items for each category	Organization is clear, several graphics, includes several animal and plant species as well as how it has adapted to the environment, at least three items for each category
Letter to the Editor	no voice, sentences are disorganized, way too many grammar and spelling errors to many to count, nothing is supported by facts	sentences are not clear, sentence fluency, grammar, spelling have over 10 errors, few pieces of information are supported by facts	has somewhat of a voice, lacks some clarity, sentence fluency, grammar and punctuation have few errors and most information is supported by facts	has voice, clarity, sentence fluency, grammar, and punctuation are error free, and statements are supported by facts
Poster	Black and white, too wordy, boring	Too many words, not clear what it is stating, some color, not original	Not quite to the point, somewhat captivating, colorful, original	To the point, captures the audience, colorful, original
Group work as a group member	Did not contribute to the decision making, did a minimal amount of work, no effort in putting together the project	Involved in a few of decisions, helped with only 1 or 2 parts of the process	Involved in most of the decision making, accept most suggestions and somewhat flexible	Involved in all of the decision making, willingness to take suggestions, flexible

Conclusion

After completing this web quest you will have understood the effects humans have on the environment. You will also know what plant and animal species live in the habitat and how they have adapted to the environment. You will also be more knowledgeable in how to find resources from the internet and libraries.

Do you think that construction is causing a problem in your neighborhood? What do you think you can do about it, now that you have information on the preservation of the habitats?

Credits & Reference

I would like to thank Dr. Mike Charles for his persistence on furthering my education in technology. Without him, I would not have spent hours and hours trying to figure out how to make a web quest!!!

"We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this Web Quest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this Web Quest. On the line after the original author's name, you may add Modified by (your name) on (date). If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL."

Link back to The Web Quest Page and the Design Patterns.

Last updated on 10/31/02. Based on a template from The Web Quest Page