A Web Quest for Chemistry Students

Keith Radcliffe

Binghamton High School

Acid rain’s destructive effects on trees

Introduction / Task / Process / Resources / Evaluation / Conclusion

In response to the recent public outcry on the subject of acid rain in the Northeastern United States, the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency has asked your principal, Dr. Penna, to have a number of his students investigate this pollution problem within your state. Congratulations, you have been selected by your school principal, Dr. Penna, as one of twelve students from Binghamton High School to assist in this task! Acid rain has many undesirable effects but generally has polluted thousands of lakes, rivers, and streams, killing fish and other aquatic life. It has also had a significant effect on our living environment by damaging soil, crops, plants and trees in our forests and lakes; in short it can seriously affect the entire ecology of a region.

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Your task is to suggest a feasible solution to reduce/eliminate the causes of acid rain pollution. Your final product needs to be a report (or presentation) that will persuade the general public and politicians to enact new laws to eliminate, or reduce, the causes of acid rain pollution. In your “acid rain” report you need to include sections dealing with the adverse environmental effects, the inherent causes, current policies in effect for dealing with the problem, and feasible suggestions to reduce/eliminate acid rain. Your report can be presented either as a web quest and/or as a PowerPoint presentation. (If you need extra help setting up either of these computer technologies, consult your teacher.)

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Students will be divided into four groups for this task. Each group will need to follow the TIPS Public Policy Analyst procedure, based on work done at Syracuse University, to accomplish this task. The steps of the procedure are as follows define the problem (what is acid rain, and what are its effects?), gather evidence (what evidence is there for this pollution?), identify causes (find the main cause(s) of the problem), evaluate any existing policies (what policies are in effect today, and how effective are they?), create three new policies/solutions (come up with three ‘better’ policies), and identify the best solution (brainstorm for the ‘best’ policy)

Each step is set up as a link – simply click on each step, and you will be taken to a series of worksheets that your group should complete.

Environmental pollution by industries

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Below you will find a number of helpful links:

Problem definition – (select worksheet 1) what are the social consequences of acid rain?

Evidence gathered – could use statistics, articles by experts, scientific journals, case studies

Causes identified – what are the causes of acid rain?

Policies evaluated – what are the policies presently in force?

– what are the advantages/disadvantages of each of these policies?

New policies – here you would develop possible solutions to the problem

Best solution – considering effectiveness and feasibility, find the best solution

Some additional sources from the “web” are given below, but you are not limited to using these examples. Feel free to use a search engine such as “Google” or “Yahoo”.

Clean air markets – environmental issues

Clean air markets – effects of acid rain: lakes and streams

Clean air markets – overview of acid rain program

What is Acid Rain, and What Causes It?

Acid Rain – A Contemporary World Problem

Acid Rain: Causes, Effects, and Control (by environmental consultant J. L. Kulp)

Environment- general effects

Ten things you can do to help reduce acid rain

Effects of Acid Rain on Aquatic Ecosystems

Environmental Effects of Acid Rain

Acid Rain - a web page created by T. King

The ABC’s of Acid Rain

Acid-rain damage to a forest at Slamba Poremba, Poland

(photo courtesy of C Martin, The Environmental Picture Library).

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Scoring rubric for this assignment

CATEGORY	Excellent	Very Good	Good	Poor
Amount of Information	All topics are addressed and all questions answered with at least 2 sentences about each.	All topics are addressed and most questions answered with at least 2 sentences about each.	All topics are addressed, and most questions answered with 1 sentence about each.	One or more topics were not addressed.
Quality of Information	Information clearly relates to the main topic. It includes several supporting details and/or examples.	Information clearly relates to the main topic. It provides 1-2 supporting details and/or examples.	Information clearly relates to the main topic. No details and/or examples are given.	Information has little or nothing to do with the main topic.
Sources	All sources (information and graphics) are accurately documented in the desired format.	All sources (information and graphics) are accurately documented, but a few are not in the desired format.	All sources (information and graphics) are accurately documented, but many are not in the desired format.	Some sources are not accurately documented.
Mechanics	No grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors.	Almost no grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors	A few grammatical spelling, or punctuation errors.	Many grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors.
Internet Use	Successfully uses suggested internet links to find information and navigates within these sites easily without assistance.	Usually able to use suggested internet links to find information and navigates within these sites easily without assistance.	Occasionally able to use suggested internet links to find information and navigates within these sites easily without assistance.	Needs assistance or supervision to use suggested internet links and/or to navigate within these sites.

New York State Standards : Science

Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment, and recognize the historical development of ideas in science.

New York State Standards : English Language Arts

Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and 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 to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

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Upon completion of this task, students will have learned how to:

· search the web for information

· develop critical thinking and writing skills

· apply scientific concepts to evaluate an environmental issue

· question, analyze, evaluate public policy issues

· learned a great deal about the specific problem of acid rain; its causes, its effects, and some of the efforts in place to reduce or eliminate it

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