A PROJECT CRITICAL WEB QUEST
Homeless
Children: The Incidental Casualties of War?
Ms.
C.
John
H. Finley P.S.129 Fourth Grade
Some of you might have heard of the quote “It takes a village to raise a child.” However, have you ever thought of
what happens when the village is destroyed by natural disaster or war? Imagine the difficulty of not only
having nowhere to live but also not having a family. In the past decade over 1
million children have been orphaned and another 12 million have been left
homeless as a result of armed conflict. Moreover, most of today’s wars
are not being fought between states, but are civil wars where children are
often the casualties of battles being fought within villages. The psychological
and physical impact of war on children is numerous. For example, many children
often feel guilty for not being able to prevent or do more and a staggering
number are often recruited to fight in
these adult wars.
Civil wars have been raging throughout the twentieth
century. They have a produced the major social problem: War and child
exploitation.
You have been appointed to the United Nations to solve
this problem. Your mission as “Junior Diplomats” to the United
Nations is to come up with a plan on how to meet the needs (three categories)
of these children who are in a crisis and present them to UNICEF via a power point
presentation.
In this web quest you will produce a slide show and
paper featuring the impact of war on children and come up with a plan on how to
meet the needs of these children in crisis. You have an opportunity to help
create public policies that can save the lives of millions. You will become public policy
analysts!
GOOD LUCK!
Task 
·
Students will create a Power Point presentation that will be presented to
UNICEF on the impact of war on children and how the needs of the children will
be meet during this time of crisis.
Your
Power Point presentation will include the following:
·
A minimum of 10 slides including a title slide
·
The utilization of charts, graphs, pictures and other
features you find worthwhile
·
Each slide will include text
THE PUBLIC POLICY ANALYST- This
process will be described below. You will use the Six Steps of the PPA as an
outline for the power point. All six steps MUST be included in the two products
Process
This section explains how students will
complete the task.
Students will be divided into groups of five…
Student # 1 will research the history of civil war and its psychological and physical impact on
children.
Student # 2 will research how the material needs such as food, shelter and health can be met during
this time of crisis.
Student # 3 will research how the developmental needs such as schooling and play can be met during
this time of crisis.
Student # 4 will research how the emotional needs such as protection and psychological healing will
be met during this time of crisis.
Student # 5 will complete the technical component of
the projects. This student will use all the information gathered by the others
in the group to complete all six PPA worksheets. These worksheets will form the
outline for your product.
Students must utilize the Six step PPA
model to complete the project. Click on the links below and read about each
step. Then click on the “MS Word” worksheet and each group must
complete the worksheets using the research gathered. Research should be done by
using the web sites listed in the “resource section” of the web
quest and outside text materials
STEP # 1: Identify the
problem
STEP # 2: Gather Evidence of
the problem
STEP # 3: Determine the
Causes for the problem
STEP # 4: Evaluate existing
Public Polices
STEP # 5: Developing solutions
to the Problem
STEP # 6: Choose the BEST
solution
Resources
General Web Sites
Specific Web Sites
www.pangaea.org/streetchildren/africa/angola.htm
www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender
www.amazon.com/wild-children-felice-holman
www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail
www.amazon.com/wild-children-felice-holman
Evaluation
|
|
CATEGORY
|
4 Excellent |
3 Very Good |
2 Satisfactory |
1 Unsatisfactory |
|
Content - Accuracy |
All content throughout the presentation is accurate. There are
no factual errors. |
Most of the content is accurate but there is one piece of
information that might be inaccurate. |
The content is generally accurate, but one piece of information
is clearly flawed or inaccurate. |
Content is typically confusing or contains more than one factual
error. |
|
Cooperation |
Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively all
of the time. |
Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively most
of the time. |
Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively some
of the time. |
Group often is not effective in delegating tasks and/or sharing
responsibility. |
|
Sequencing of Information |
Information is organized in a clear, logical way. It is easy to
anticipate the type of material that might be on the next card. |
Most information is organized in a clear, logical way. One card
or item of information seems out of place. |
Some information is logically sequenced. An occasional card or
item of information seems out of place. |
There is no clear plan for the organization of information. |
|
Text - Font Choice & Formatting |
Font formats (e.g., color, bold, italic) have been carefully
planned to enhance readability and content. |
Font formats have been carefully planned to enhance readability.
|
Font formatting has been carefully planned to complement the
content. It may be a little hard to read. |
Font formatting makes it very difficult to read the material. |
|
Use of Graphics |
All graphics are attractive (size and colors) and support the
theme/content of the presentation. |
A few graphics are not attractive but all support the
theme/content of the presentation. |
All graphics are attractive but a few do not seem to support the
theme/content of the presentation. |
Several graphics are unattractive AND detract from the content
of the presentation. |
|
Spelling and Grammar |
Presentation has no misspellings or grammatical errors. |
Presentation has 1-2 misspellings, but no grammatical errors. |
Presentation has 1-2 grammatical errors but no misspellings. |
Presentation has more than 2 grammatical and/or spelling errors.
|
|
Effectiveness |
Project includes all material needed to gain a comfortable
understanding of the topic. It is a highly effective study guide. |
Project includes most material needed to gain a comfortable
understanding of the material but is lacking one or two key elements. It is
an adequate study guide. |
Project is missing more than two key elements. It would make an
incomplete study guide. |
Project is lacking several key elements and has inaccuracies
that make it a poor study guide. |
Grading:
A=25-28 points B= 21-24 points C=17-20 points F= Below
17 points
Conclusion 
You should have learned, through completion of this web
quest, the severity of the problem facing helpless children in war torn areas
of the world. You also have a much better understanding material, developmental
and emotional deprivations that face homeless children. Hopefully, you have
gained more compassion, insight, and wisdom on the plight of children less
fortunate than you, and hopefully make a difference in their lives. Moreover,
you have experienced the role of a public policy maker. These social scientists
evaluate critical social problems and attempt to find solutions that benefit
millions. Let’s hope you have found policy solutions that will help the
helpless. Thanks for your participation. MAKE A
DIFFERENCE!
STANDARDS ADDRESSED
English Language Arts
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.
Social Studies
Standard 2: World History
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.
Standard 3: Geography
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live—local, national, and global—including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the Earth’s surface.
Standard 4: Economics
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of how the United States and other societies develop economic systems and associated institutions to allocate scarce resources, how major decision-making units function in the United States and other national economies, and how an economy solves the scarcity problem through market and nonmarket mechanisms.
Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to
demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments;
the governmental system of the