BY

MS. T. Williams

CIS166X

Comprising over 70% of the Earth’s surface, water is undoubtedly the most important natural resource that exists on our planet. Water is essential for life to exist on our planet. Although we as human recognize this fact, we disregard it by polluting our rivers, lakes and oceans. By polluting the oceans we are killing off the fishes and other marine life. People depend on the resources of the ocean for food and recreation. Our drinking water has become greatly affected as is our ability to use water for recreational purposes. We are destroying our planet and the animals are dying at a high rate. In order to combat water pollution, we must understand the problem and become part of the solution. You were just assigned to work with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a public policy solution to combat the water pollution in the Hudson River.

You will be put into groups of four to write a 2-3 pages paper on the problem and also give a 5 minutes oral presentation to the class using the six steps in the Public Policy Analysts.

1. Define the problem as stated in the introduction.

2. Gather Evidence to prove that this problem exists.

3. Identify causes that contributed to this problem.

4. Evaluate policy that already exists to combat this problem.

5. Develop solutions to eliminate the problem.

6. Select the best solution from the solution listed in number 5.

Steps: In the Resources section click and read the first four hyperlinks. For hyperlinks #’s 5-10 read and complete worksheet at the end of each page.

1. Water Pollution and Society

2. Natural Resources Defense Council

3. Water Pollution

4. Bureau of Water Pollution Control

5. Define the problem and complete worksheet at the end of the page

6. Gather Evidence and complete worksheet at the end of the page

7. Identify causes and complete worksheet at the end of the page

8. Evaluate policy and complete worksheet at the end of page

9. Develop solutions and complete worksheet at the end of page

10. Select the best solution and complete worksheet at the bottom of the page

You will complete a 2-3 pages paper and give a 5 minutes oral presentation using the steps in the Public Policy Analysts.

Water Pollution and Society

http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/waterpollution.htm

Natural Resources Defense Council

http://www.nrdc.org/water/oceans/nttw.asp

Water Pollution

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761572857

Bureau of Water Pollution Control

http://ndep.nv.gov/bwpc/bwpc01.htm

define the problem

Gather Evidence

Identify causes

Evaluate a policy

Develop solutions

Select the best solution

This project is based on research paper which is worth 80 points and an oral presentation worth 20 points. The total points for this project is 100 points. The criteria for the research paper and oral presentation is below.

RUBRIC:

Criteria for Oral Presentation

Points

	4	3	2	1
Body Language	Movements seemed fluid and helped the audience visualize.	Made movements or gestures that enhanced articulation.	Very little movement or descriptive gestures.	No movement or descriptive gestures.	___3_
Eye Contact	Holds attention of entire audience with the use of direct eye contact.	Consistent use of direct eye contact with audience.	Displayed minimal eye contact with audience.	No eye contact with audience.	__3__
Introduction and Closure	Student delivers open and closing remarks that capture the attention of the audience and set the mood.	Student displays clear introductory or closing remarks.	Student clearly uses either an introductory or closing remark, but not both.	Student does not display clear introductory or closing remarks.	__4__
Pacing	Good use of drama and student meets apportioned time interval.	Delivery is patterned, but does not meet apportioned time interval.	Delivery is in bursts and does not meet apportioned time interval.	Delivery is either too quick or too slow to meet apportioned time interval.	__3__
Poise	Student displays relaxed, self-confident nature about self, with no mistakes.	Makes minor mistakes, but quickly recovers from them; displays little or no tension.	Displays mild tension; has trouble recovering from mistakes.	Tension and nervousness is obvious; has trouble recovering from mistakes.	__3__
Voice	Use of fluid speech and inflection maintains the interest of the audience.	Satisfactory use of inflection, but does not consistently use fluid speech.	Displays some level of inflection throughout delivery.	Consistently uses a monotone voice.	__4__
				Total---->	__20__

Criteria for a Written Project

Max Points

	4	3	2	1
Introduction	All questions were answered completely and rationales for the answers were clearly stated.	All questions were answered completely, but rationales for the all the answers were not clearly stated.	Not all questions were answered completely, or greater than 2 rationales for the all answers were not clearly stated.	All questions were not answered completely.	20
Task (which includes cover page)	All areas of the task were addressed and handled with a high degree of sophistication. The plan followed by the team demonstrated a great deal of thought.	At least one area of the task was not addressed. The plan followed by the team demonstrated a great deal of thought.	At least two areas of the task were not addressed. The plan followed by the team demonstrated a moderate level of thought.	The task is incomplete and/or it is apparent that little effort went into the development of the task.	20
Public Policy/ Solution Originality	The ideas expressed by the body of work demonstrate a high degree of originality.	The ideas expressed by the body of work are mostly original. The group may have improved upon a previous idea.	The ideas expressed by the body of work demonstrate a low degree of originality.	There were no original ideas expressed in this project.	20
Grammar, Format , and Spelling	The final body of work was free of grammar, spelling, and formatting errors.	The final body of work had 1 error related to either grammar, spelling, and formatting errors.	The final body of work had 3-5 grammar, spelling, and formatting errors.	The final body of work had major grammar, spelling, and formatting errors.	20
				Your Total---	80

This web quest focuses on the following:

English Language Arts Performance Standards

E1c: Read and comprehend informational materials.

E2a: Produce a report of information.

E3b: Participate in-group meetings.

E3c: Prepare and deliver an individual presentation

Science:

S2a: Structure and function in living systems.

S5c: Uses evidence from reliable sources to develop description.

S5f: Works individually and in team to collect and share information.

In this project we have learned that water pollution is harmful to many creatures in the sea and also to our environment. It contaminates the fish which we eat and animals eat, if this happens our life cycle will gradually decrease making it hard to live and our environment will become non-useful for our animals.