A PROJECT
CRITICAL WEB QUEST
Ms. A.J.
Grey-Gabbard
All Saints
School
The Introduction: In New York City, fast
food chain McDonald’s has noticed that the last six months has seen a
decline in the sale of many of their most popular food items such as the Big
Mac, McFlurry’s and their French fries. The recent interest shown by the media
to the number of obese middle school children is affecting their sales. They have hired your group to investigate how
they can address the growing social problem of obesity among middle
school students. Obesity has become a major health problem throughout the
This will be your job in this web quest. You, along with fellow group
members will research the problem of obesity. You will attempt to find public
policy solutions to stop this plague. Your recommendations will be submitted to
the Mayor for possible legislation. Just think! You have an opportunity to save
lives and improve the health friends, family and millions of fellow New
Yorkers. GOOD LUCK! You have an important task to accomplish.
2. The Task:
Mayor Bloomberg has teamed with Shaquille
O’Neal to combat this issue. The mayor has enlisted your group to research
and present possible policy solutions to the issue.
Working in groups of five, you will create one
of the following:
I. PowerPoint – Using Microsoft
PowerPoint create a PowerPoint presentation of no more than 10 slides
showing how obesity became a problem in New York, evidence for the problem and existing public policies
that deal with the problem. Graphics and text must be used. You may use charts,
graphs, pictures or illustrations from Internet resources given in the resource
section of the web quest. The Power Point must relate to the topic and must
follow the SIX STEP Public Policy
Analyst (PPA). PowerPoint must be presented to your class.
II: Brochure – Informational booklet created using information from your
research:
Using Microsoft Publisher, create a tri-fold
brochure informing readers about the health issues that may arise when healthy
choices are made versus unhealthy ones. Your brochure should include at least
3-5 illustrations one of which must be a graph.
The brochure must include all the steps in the Public Policy Analyst (PPA). An
oral presentation on your brochure must be presented to your class.
II. Poster Campaign- On poster boards and pictures from magazines, Internet sources or
pictures you have drawn, create an informative poster educating people on how
to read the nutritional labels found on foods and what they mean. Posters must
be eye-catching and any illustration used must relate clearly to the topic and
can be read from at least 3 ft away. The six steps of the Public Policy Analyst (PPA) must be represented in
the Poster. An oral presentation on your poster must be presented to your
class.
§ PowerPoint
must be no more than ten slides in length.
§ Each of the six steps of the Public
Policy Analyst must
be represented in your PowerPoint- one slide per step.
§ Brochure must
be a tri-fold
§ Brochure must
clearly depict health issues that may arise from an unhealthy diet.
§ Brochure must
be both informative and attractive.
·
Poster must be colorful and eye-catching
·
Must contain relevant information
·
All items of importance must be labeled clearly and
can be read from at least 3 ft away
- Booklet must be well
written, creative, proper use of grammar and punctuation
- Information must be
organized clearly and be relevant
- Booklet must be 2-3
pages in length and include graphics or illustrations.
The Process:
·
Your group will be
assigned one task that you are responsible for researching via the Internet
websites provided.
·
Each group will
consist of five students. Each member of the group will have an assigned role.
Each group member will have a specific role as follows:
III. Facilitator/Planner- You are
responsible for the overall planning and organization of the research and
creating an informational booklet based on the data collected.
IV. Presenter/Reporter- Present the
consensus of the group and their findings
V. Artist/
Illustrator-
Design a poster or banner representative of the group
VI. Public
Relations/Researcher-
Research printed material, and on the internet
VII. Time
keeper/ Recorder- Keep time and
assist Illustrator
·
THE PUBLIC POLICY
ANALYST WORKSHEETS
·
Follow the six steps
of the Public Policy Analyst PPA. Each step contains a worksheet. These
worksheets will be completed by the group, using the Internet resources, and
will be used as the basis for completing your task products. The links are listed below. The worksheets are
at the bottom of each web page.
2. FIND EVIDENCE FOR THE
PROBLEM
4: EVALUATE EXISITNG PUBLIC POLICY
5:
DEVELOP PUBLIC
POLICY SOLUTIONS
6:
DETERMINE THE
BEST SOLUTION
***** The
facilitator of each group will produce an informational booklet based on the
information gathered within the group*****
In your group,
you will gather data from the Websites listed below in the resources section.
You will
review the data found on the charts, tables and other data to describe and
present the extent of the current problem of obesity in middle school children.
In the format
you have been assigned, PowerPoint, Brochure or Poster campaign use graphics;
charts and tables present the problem and possible solution to the problem.
The Resources:
I: Specific Websites
http://www.healthiergeneration.org/default.aspx
http://www.health.state.ny.us/prevention/obesity/activ8kids/
http://members.kaiserpermanente.org/redirects/childhoodobesity/
http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?type=article&article_id=218392366
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/26/health/main516520.shtml
II: General Websites
III:
Articles on the Subject
New York Schools
Trashing Junk Food
Teenage
Obesity: How to prevent teenage obesity - Weight loss for teenagers
NYC
Policy On School Nutrition
The
Evaluation:
Scores will
range from a possible 16 points (highest) to 4 points
(lowest).
|
Scale: A=16 B=12
C=10 D=7 F=4 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
|
PPA
Policy Followed
|
All
questions were answered completely and reasons for the answers were
clearly stated. |
All
questions were answered completely, but reasons for the all the answers were
not clearly stated. |
Not all
questions were answered completely, or greater than 2 reasons for the all
answers were not clearly stated. |
All
questions were not answered completely. |
|
Presentation
|
Clear and
full presentation of the findings of the research. Presents findings for
either, PowerPoint, brochure or poster campaign.
|
Clear and
full presentation of the findings of the research with few mistakes. |
Clear and
full presentation of the findings of the research with some errors. |
Insufficient
and/or unclear presentation of material. |
|
Teamwork |
It is
evident that a mutual effort and interconnected unit created the final
product. |
The team
worked well together, but could have made use of each other's skills to a
better degree. |
The team had
problems working together. Little collaboration occurred. |
The final
product is not the result of a collaborative effort. The group showed no
evidence of collaboration. |
|
PowerPoint |
The ideas expressed
by the body of work demonstrate a high degree of knowledge on the subject for
healthy versus unhealthy foods, and exercise. |
The ideas
expressed by the body of work are mostly informative. |
The ideas
expressed by the body of work demonstrate lack of information. |
There was no
significant information expressed in this project. |
|
Poster |
High level
of creativity and includes relevant information for healthy versus unhealthy
foods, and exercise. |
Moderate
level of creativity and moderate amount of relevant information given for
healthy versus unhealthy foods, and exercise. |
Fair level
of creativity and moderate amount of relevant information given for healthy
versus unhealthy foods, and exercise. |
Poor level
of creativity and moderate amount of relevant information given for healthy
versus unhealthy foods, and exercise. |
|
Brochure |
Brochure
is typed with pictures in color. High level of creativity and informative. |
Brochure
is typed with pictures in black and white. Moderate level of creativity and
moderate amount of information given |
Brochure
is typed without pictures. Poor level of creativity and fair amount of
information given |
Brochure is hand written without color. Poor
level of creativity and poor amount of information given |
The Conclusion
Upon completion of this webquest, the problem of childhood obesity in
Thank you for your participation.
Standard
1: Language for Information and Understanding
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for information and
understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and
ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge
generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers
and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted
conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit
information.
Standard
2: Language for Literary Response and Expression
Students will read and listen to oral, written, and electronically
produced texts and performances from American and world literature; relate
texts and performances to their own lives; and develop an understanding of the
diverse social, historical, and cultural dimensions the texts and performances
represent. As speakers and writers, students will use oral and written language
that follows the accepted conventions of the English language for
self-expression and artistic creation.
Standard
3: Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for critical analysis
and evaluation. As listeners and readers, students will analyze experiences,
ideas, information, and issues presented by others using a variety of
established criteria. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written
language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to
present, from a variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgments on
experiences, ideas, information and issues.
Standard
4: Language for Social Interaction
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for social
interaction. Students will use oral and written language that follows the
accepted conventions of the English language for effective social communication
with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the
social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people and
their views.
Problem
Solving Skills:
a)
Design a Product, Service, or System: Identify needs that could be met by new
products, services, or systems and create solutions for meeting them.
b)
Improve a System: Develop an understanding of the way systems of people, machines,
and processes work;
troubleshoot problems in their operation and devise strategies for improving
their effectiveness.
Communication Tools and
Techniques:
a)
Prepare a formal written proposal or report to an organization beyond the
school.
c)
Develop a multi-media presentation.
Information Tools and
Techniques:
a)
Gather information to assist in completing project work.
b)
Use on-line sources to exchange information for specific purposes.
c)
Use word-processing software to produce a multi-page document.
Standard 5: Students will:
use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their
understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental
system of the
Problem
Solving Skills
•
respect the rights
of others in discussions and classroom debates regardless of whether or not one
agrees with their viewpoint
• explain the role
that civility plays in promoting effective citizenship in preserving democracy
• participate in
negotiation and compromise to resolve classroom, school, and community
disagreements and problems
