From Adlai Stevenson High School

Mitzila_ivette@yahoo.com

You are employed by the police department as a private investigator. The media has been reporting that four adolescents from Stevenson HS have committed suicide.

Two of these students were treated by the School’s Physician and were diagnosed with chronic tiredness.

According to the Physician, new findings show that the adolescents who do not get enough sleep may be more likely to have suicidal thoughts and to attempt suicide than their more well-rested peers. Based on this case, the news media has spread the false impression that the students are too tired because their teachers are giving them too much homework and the students are not getting enough sleep.

The Department of Health wants to avoid a possible panic situation in New York City, and so you have been assigned to investigate the problem. Your job is to find out what happened and educate the public on chronic tiredness and its repercussions in teenagers. You will address questions such as 1. How is it contracted? 2. How were the students affected by this problem? 3. What are the suggested methods of prevention?

Working in groups of three, you will design a poster board and present your findings to the class in a 3-5 minutes oral presentation. Your written and oral presentation will address the problems of chronic tiredness and its relation with adolescent’s suicidal behaviors. Using the six-step Public Policy Analyst approach, you will create a typed, double space, and a 200-400 worded report which will go in a folder.

1. You will use the steps of the PPA outlined below:

a. Define the problem -worksheet 1: Which population is affected? What are the undesirable social conditions that result from this problem?

b. Gather the evidence: worksheet 2: Select one site

to show that the problem does exist.

c. Identifying the causes: worksheet 3: Support the

factors that contribute to the problem that you

have identified.

d. Analyze the existing public policy solutions:

worksheet 4: What are the advantages and disad-

vantages of existing policies?

a. Propose an original public policy : worksheet 5:

Propose a new public policy alternative.

b. Selecting the best public policy solution:

worksheet 6: Can your policy be easily enacted

by the government agency? Will your policy

produce results that will lessen the social

problem?

Specific web sites:

I. History of the problem for worksheet 1,3

www.mja.com.au/public/guides/cfs/cfs2.html

www.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/adolescence/partx6.html

II. Gather evidence for worksheet 2,3

www.ericdigests.org/pre-923/teenage.htm

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=594&e=1&u=/nm/20041022/hl_nm/suicide_sleep_dc

Analyzing existing public policies, programs and solutions

www.focusas.com/Suicide.html

The evaluation of your project will be based on two projects. First the oral presentation and your PPA report.

The following rubrics will be used to evaluate you. The maximum points you can get is 8.

Oral Presentation

Required components of the project	Evaluation of Your Presentation will be:
	0	1	2	3	4
Creativity	Oral report without any visualization	At least 1 table or map/picture is presented	At least 1 table and 1 picture are presented	At least 2 tables and 2 pictures are presented	At least 3 tables and 3 pictures are presented
Speech	Boring, mumbling speech that can be heard only by front row students.	Clear and Interesting, but not too convincing for the whole class	Clear, interesting and convincing for the whole class	Clear, interesting, convincing, and triggering class involvement	Clear, bright, strongly convincing, and triggering an exciting discussion

For your oral presentation the maximum points you can get is 32 points.

Evaluation of Your Paper Project

Required components of the project	Evaluation of Your Paper Project will be:
	0	1	2	3	4
Define the problem	The problem is defined in a short sentence. Definitions are somewhat unclear.	The problem is defined in 2 extended sentences. Definitions are somewhat clear.	The problem is defined in 3 extended sentences. Definitions are clear to the group.	The problem is defined in 1 paragraph. Definitions are clear to the class.	The problem is defined in 1 well-developed paragraph. Definitions are clear to the class.
Gather evidence	Evidence is coming from 1 minor source. No tables are used.	Evidence is coming from 1 major and 1 minor source. 1 small table is presented	Evidence is coming from 2 major sources. 2 small tables are presented	Evidence is coming from 3 major sources. 2 extended tables and 1 graph are presented.	Evidence is coming from 4 or more major sources. 2 extended tables and 2 graphs are presented.
Identify causes	At least 1 cause is briefly mentioned.	At least 2 causes are mentioned but not expanded.	At least 2 causes are clearly presented.	At least 3 causes are clearly presented and somewhat inter-connected.	More than 3 causes are clearly presented and strongly inter-connected.
Evaluate a policy	Present public policy is mentioned but not evaluated	Present public policy is mentioned and shortly evaluated	Present public policy is presented and evaluated	Present public policy is clearly presented and evaluated	Present public policy is clearly presented and critically evaluated
Develop solutions	Only 1 solution is presented.	2 solutions are presented.	3 solutions are presented.	4 solutions are presented.	More than 4 solutions are presented.
Select best solution	Solution is put under question by the group members	Choice for the best solution is clear but not explained.	Choice for the best solution is explained clear and briefly.	Choice for the best solution is explained clear and fairly.	Choice for the best solution is clear and well explained, and convincing
Grammar	not more than 4 grammar mistakes	not more than 3 grammar mistakes	not more than 2 grammar mistakes	no grammar mistakes	no grammar mistakes
Typed report, including tables, pictures, and maps	at least 2 pages	3 pages	4 pages	5 pages	6 pages

Standards:

English Language Arts:

E1C: Read and comprehend informational materials

E2C: Read and comprehend informational materials

E3B: Participate in group meetings

Health performance:

S5C: Uses evidence from reliable sources to develop descriptions, explanations and models

S5: Scientific thinking

S5F: Works individually and in terms to collect and share information.

S6D: Acquires information from multiple sources.

Conclusion:

From this web-quest, you should have learned many issues concerning Chronic fatigue or Chronic tiredness. You will be able to analyze news and articles and judge their accuracy and search for the right information. You will also learn how to explore topics using the internet as your main source of information. In addition, you might create new policies that contribute to the health and well being of the general public.