Mission Briefing
Your Role
You will act as researchers and community advocates in a cohort as you work to understand how funding for zoos work. Then addressing potential donors directly with a plea for assistance. Despite sharing a classroom with each other, your main form of communication with your cohort will be digital—email or Google Meet. If you need help from me, email or invite me to your Google Meet.
The Problem
Potawatomi Zoo and many other zoos around the world are in need of more funding to help provide the best care possible to its animals. Without increased funding, the proposed additions and renovations to the zoo will fail. Not everyone knows or understands the important work that happens at zoos, you are going to help change that.
What You Will Learn
By the end of this project helping the zoo increase its funding, you will be able to say:
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I can understand what information is the most trustworthy or reliable on the internet.
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I can use outside knowledge in my own writing, giving credit when it is due.
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I can use relevant information to form an argument.
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I can present information in multiple ways.
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I can work with a team.
Project Timeline - 4 Week Plan
You will form research cohorts and begin your research on how zoos are funded (Private versus Public, it makes a hue difference!), why zoos keep animals, and their role in conservation efforts. By the end of the week you will have a list of resources called an Annotated Bibliography to reference for the rest of the project.
Week 1
Week 2
Within your research cohorts,
you will begin crafting a letter
detailing why someone should become
a potential donor to the zoo. You will take more detailed notes and annotations on your selected resources, going back and finding more if needed, and ultimately
coming away with a
group plan to
write a letter.
Week 4
With letters that have been thoroughly reviewed, the beginning of this week will be used to type a final, formal, draft that can actually be sent to businesses, or even the zoo so they can use the letters. Then your cohort will work together to build a visual presentation of
your arguments for why someone should become a donor to the zoo. By the end of the
week your letter will be finished and you
will be ready to present next week.
Week 3
This week will be spent writing the
rough drafts of your letters. Each
team member will choose an aspect (grammar, vocabulary, spelling) of the cohorts paper to review. Then, different research cohorts will peer-review each others rough drafts. By the end of the week your research cohort will have a
letter that is ready to be finalized!
Week 5...
Present!
Mission Control
Below is a set of tabs, click on a tab to see all of the relevant information for that week. Week 5 has been omitted because it is purely presenting your final products. All of the information for building and preparing to present are in Week 4.
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View the video to learn more about how you will interact with assignments within this project. A shared project folder in Google Drive with your group and me.
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Remember to make a copy of any Google Docs, and put your copy in your project folder, before trying to fill them out.
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Day 1 (Monday)
Your goal is to plan out with your team who is researching what part of the project: Who is researching about funding, who is researching benefits to animals in zoos, and who is researching how zoos contribute to conservation. Resources divided into those categories are available along the left side of this page. Or you can divide the research up, each member reviews 4 sources, in totally different ways than my suggestion, the work just needs to be divided because there is too much for one-person. Make sure to mark it on your TRAAP Test Document. TRAAP Test Doc due Friday. See Rubric.
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Days 2-3 (Tue-Wed)
You have two goals for Tuesday and Wednesday. They are as follows.
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Perform the TRAAP Test for all of your chosen sources; each group member should have at least 4 sources that they are testing for reliability.
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Orient yourself with using Google Meet and Email to communicate with your group members and me.
Hint for while you work:
There are three sites that should be considered unreliable for this project. There is one in each section of research.
Another hint:
While you need to TRAAP Test 4 sources, you ultimately pick 2 that you will use in your letter.
Days 4-5
Finish TRAAP Testing your sources, and create your annotated bibliography [AB] of the 2 sources that you want to use. Each member should have their own, covering the sources they TRAAP Tested. View the video to refresh your memory on why ABs are an important step in the research process. Submit your TRAAP Tests and ABs by ensuring, making sure, that they are in your shared project folder in Google Drive. TRAAP Tests and ABs due Friday. See Rubrics.
Research Center
Here is your spot to find all of the information, resources, and support you need to get through Week 1. The sites you are using as research are further below.
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Your cohorts have been assigned in the form of links to a Google Meets meeting in your email, this is going to be your main form of communication with your team—but we are in the classroom together, I know, but the skill of working with a group fully digital is an important challenge to learn to overcome!
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How to use this WebQuest
This Webquest was built to function within Google Drive. All of the files are shared in View Only mode, so students create copies to fill out the digital worksheets. The assignments are then automatically turned in within the shared folder. I then download the files at the end of the class-period they are due so that I can preserve the state they are in and keep the assignment in-house on Google Drive and this site. You can just as easily add the step of submitting them through Google Classroom, I just chose not to.
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All of the resources for guided research are vetted and do not contain anything inappropriate for school on the pages linked to. The intent is for students to download the articles as PDFs after vetting them to then highlight digitally, but if you have a different way of having students highlight the articles, go for it.
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The introduction video is the only part that is specific, but I did my best to leave it open to all zoos. My local zoo is a private zoo, hence the emphasis on donors, but public zoos welcome donors as well! You could even emphasize your local zoo to your students.
A note on the rubrics
Rubrics used throughout this WebQuest have strong repetition to emphasize the interconnections between each step of the writing process and how they build off of each other. The rubrics are scaled so that all of the writing process rubrics/points add up to 108 points and the two final products add up to 115 points. This is because the entirety of the writing process is just as important as the final products, students should be able to maintain a good grade if they excel at the planning and flop the final product and vice-versa.
Modifications for Students
If students are unable to use the internet, need physical papers, or there are other barriers to interacting with the WebQuest in the intended format, here is a link to a Google Drive Folder that contains all of the articles, documents, and rubrics in PDF form.
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The requirement to use mainly Google Meets and Email may be omitted entirely.
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Letters may be handwritten & Presentations be Poster boards.
Teacher Resources
This Webquest is built with Indiana State Standards and ISTE Standards in mind. It is for 7th-graders, but fit 6th and 8th grade classrooms as well. The educational pedagogy that this WebQuest pulls from is centered around Technology Integration in the Classroom, Project/Problem-Based Learning, and Inquiry-Based Learning. Follow the link to my blog (same website, just outside of the WebQuest section, to read through my understanding of those topics, and find further resources at the end of each post to explore.
Procedures to Run the WebQuest
This WebQuest was designed to work within a Block Schedule that meets everyday over the course of 4 weeks. Presentations are the 5th week and should take only a class-period. While being built for a block schedule the work-time for the project is only half of the class-period, roughly 40-45 minutes a day. There are lessons that should be taught before or during the project.
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Lessons to teach before or during the project to ensure student understanding:
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Reliability of Sources - Feel free to use the TRAAP Test as a template to build a lesson, it is the CRAAP Test with a modified name because CRAAP is funny to say but TRAAP tells students to be careful.
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How to cite sources - As I use this as an introduction paper, I leave the citations very basic and open in the worksheets. The level of citations that is required is up to you, and as such your lessons on citations are what you should use.
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Persuasive Writing Techniques
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Self-Review and Peer-Review - The slides provided to students for reminders on the process are the exact slides I use to introduce the concept and have up on the board on Peer-Review days. They were built alongside the Peer-Review sheet students use for the project.​
Concerns on Student Use of Ai
Student use of Ai is mitigate in three main ways during this project.
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#1: The project is designed to be completed inside of the classroom, with a program like GoGuardian in use to keep students on only allowed webpages. Teacher monitoring and interaction with the work process is essential.
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#2: The focus on the entirety of the writing process takes pressure off of students to produce a final product until they are prepared. Through the use of idea development and gradual increases in work completion towards the final product, it is easier to catch student use of Ai between steps because of drastic changes in work quality.
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#3: Finally the team-aspect of the project helps students feel they have a support system that can help them rather than resorting to Ai.
Connections to Indiana State Standards
7.W.1 Write arguments in a variety of forms that:
a. Introduce claim(s), acknowledge alternate or opposing claims, and use appropriate organizational structures.
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b. Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.
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c. Establish and maintain a consistent style and tone appropriate for the purpose and audience.
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d. Use effective transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim(s), reasons, and evidence.
e. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows and supports the argument presented. (E)
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7.W.5 Conduct research assignments and tasks to build knowledge about the research process and the topic under study.
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a. Formulate a research question.
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b. Gather relevant information from multiple sources, using search terms effectively and annotate sources.
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c. Assess the credibility and accuracy of each source.
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d. Quote or paraphrase the information and conclusions of others.
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e. Avoid plagiarism and follow a standard format for citation.
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f. Present information, choosing from a variety of formats. (E)
Standards
Connections
7.W.1.- Students will be writing arguments in the form of persuasive letters for more people/companies to consider becoming donors
7.W.1.a - To start the project students will be making the claim that zoos need more funding, persuasive/argumentative writing structures will be taught
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7.W.1.b - Students are required to cite evidence from multiple sources to support their claims that people/companies should become donors
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7.W.1.c - Students will be practicing writing a professional letter with the intended audience being a potential new donor to a zoo
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7.W.1.d - Students will practice using transitional phrases and logical thinking to put together a cohesive argument for becoming a donor
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7.W.1.e - Students will be required to end with a final conclusion asking for consideration for becoming a donor
7.W.5 - An introduction to research with provided strong and weak sources for students to evaluate
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7.W.5.a - No strong connection, students are provided a research question
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7.W.5.b - Partially connected because students will be required to compile their list of chosen sources and annotating them. Students will not be searching for their own research
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7.W.5.c - Students will be given sources that need to be assessed because some of the sources will be unreliable
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7.W.5.d - Students will be required to paraphrase information within their letters, noting that their knowledge is not their own
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7.W.5.e - Students will be required to provide a basic citation for their paraphrased information
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7.W.5.f - Students will craft both a persuasive letter and a presentation
2.2 Leader - 2.2.c Model Digital Tool Use
This project aligns with ISTE Standard 2.2.c because it is a representation of what can be done with a digital project. The Project Website acts as an explanation and continued resource/hub for student engagement with the project. Turning a traditional paper/pencil research paper introduction into an online collaborative experience within the classroom. Every aspect of the project that could be done in-person or analog is done digitally.
2.3 Citizen - 2.3.b Evaluate Resources for Credibility
This project is an introduction to evaluating resources online for students. The resources that need evaluation are given, and so are the tools/methods of evaluation. After this first-step, students are better prepared to evaluate resources they find on their own.
2.5 Designer - 2.5.b Design Authentic Learning Activities
This project aligns with ISTE Standard 2.5.b because it emphasizes the use of digital tools to facilitate the writing, editing, and finalization of a research paper and presentation. Students are pulled into the project because of real-world consequence/change that can happen because of their final products.