Webquest: Tourism Director Application - 6th Grade Computer Science

Image courtesy of: http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/E/Europe.htm

WebQuest Created By: Mr. Green
F-LMS, Lakeville, Massachusetts

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

Everyone wants a good, high-paying job when they begin working.

This is your chance! This newspaper advertisement appeared in last week’s newspaper:

Job Advertisement When you called, you were transferred from secretary to secretary until you finally reached the employment office. The job you discussed with the personnel director sounds great - company car, great pay, lots of vacation time, and discounts on air fare when you want to visit home. The only problem for you is you will have to have a partner. The personnel director told you that they want to hire a two-person team for the job. Fortunately for you, you have a friend that is also looking for work!
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The Problem

The personnel director would love to hire you and your partner as a team for the job, but there have been a number of applicants for the position. In order to justify hiring the two of you, you will need to convince her that you are the right people for the job. You're both enthusiastic, personable, and positive. Above all, you have the skills needed to do the job right!

Image courtesy of: http://www.hipp-europe.org/images/flags-circle.gif

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Your Task

In order to get the job, you will need to demonstrate knowledge of one European country. To do this, you and your partner will need to build a PowerPoint presentation demonstrating your capability in bringing in new tourists.
 

Each team will be given a country to research, and should try to provide these important facts (among any others you think are considerations):

1. What is the general climate of the country? What (if any) special equipment is needed to live comfortably there?

2. Basic facts about the country:

  • How large is the country?
  • What is the population size?
  • What form of currency do they use?

3. Are there any special geographical features included within its borders?

3. What kinds of historical events have happened there? What famous people have lived or been born there?

4. What kind of government is in place?

5. What kinds of tourist attractions are in place?

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The Procedure

Each student will research a country in Europe and then create a PowerPoint Presentation that will be presented to the class.

Each student will meet with his or her team member to determine what will be included in the presentation.

What facts are the most important to include?

Are there any historical events or people that really should be included in the presentation? What about geographical features and/or locations? These questions and many more will be answered by researching and meeting with your partner.

This project will span approximately 4 weeks (meeting every other day).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Process

1. Your teacher will assign a country to each student.

2. Students will research that country, placing all their information in a packet (everyone must fill out a research packet). Please use the resources found in the webquest. The research packet will be passed out to each student. You will have three class days to find information on your country. Time is of the essence - if your presentation isn't completed by the cutoff date, you won't be hired! You need to make sure that you cite each source of information in your packet correctly (an example is given in the research packet). You will be graded on your packet for content information. See evaluation.

3. Each student will create a PowerPoint presentation on his or her country. This will take three days.

4. Students will then meet with another team member who is researching the same country. They will discuss what information to include from each individual presentation in forming a group presentation. Teams will have two class days to do this.

5. Each day, students will be taught something new about PowerPoint to help them complete their presentations: background schemes, changing fonts, special effects and transitions, inserting clip art and web images, citing of information etc. This will take about 5-6 days.

6. Students will be graded on their technical areas of their presentation-see evaluation PowerPoint Mechanics.

7. Students will then present their PowerPoint slideshows to the class. In order to get an "A" in the presentation, students need to give the more information about their country than what is in the slideshow. It should take about 2 days to present all presentations.

 

 

 

 

Resources

The following websites are to be used to research your country:

Yahooligans
http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/Around_the_World/Countries/

Geographia
http://www.geographia.com/indx03.htm

CIA Factbook
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/

VisitEurope.com
http://www.visiteurope.com/

WorldAtlas.com
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/eu.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evaluation

You will be graded in the following areas:

 

1. Your Research Packet will be graded on completeness and content information. You need to have three to four facts per slide, as well as a title. The credit slide needs to be properly filled out per the examples given. Also, you should provide information on the images you want to use in your slideshow.

2. You will be given a grade on PowerPoint Mechanics- all the technical information on how to create a PowerPoint slideshow. See PowerPoint Mechanics Rubric

3. You will be given a grade for your Presentation to the class. In order to get an "A", you need to give the class more information than what is on your slides. You can use a card or piece of paper to help with this information.

Remember:

  • Don't read from the slides. The slides should remind you of what you want to say to your audience.
  • Move around. Our eyes are drawn to movement, and this will help make sure that your audience is focused on you.
  • Project your voice - you need to speak clearly and loudly enough for the back row to hear you without yelling.
  • Make eye contact with your audience - this will draw them in and make them feel like you value them and their attention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion & Standards

http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/
targets/images/pho/t046/T046747A.jpg

This webquest addresses the following standards:

  Massachusetts Instructional Technology Standards:

1.13

Save a file to the desktop, the hard drive, and external storage spaces (e.g., floppy disk, CD-ROM, virtual electronic space).

1.17

Identify and use editing and formatting features of a word processing program (e.g., centering, line spacing, margins, cut and paste, fonts, styles, spelling, page numbers).

1.18

Insert images (e.g., graphics, clip art, tables) from other files into word-processed document.

1.25

Identify and use navigation features of browser (e.g., "go," "back," "forward").

1.26

Using a browser, "bookmark" a Web site for future reference.

1.28

Copy an image from a Web site into a file on the desktop; write a correct citation caption in keeping with copyright law.

1.32

Create a slide presentation using appropriate applications.

2.14

Write correct citations for text and images gathered from electronic sources. Understand that use of materials is limited by the fair use rule of copyright law.

3.9

Communicate results of research and learning with others using the most appropriate tools (e.g., desktop-published or word-processed report, multimedia presentation).

Massachusetts Social Studies Standards:

Grade 6 World Geography: Europe

E.1

On a map of the world, locate the continent of Europe. On a map of Europe, locate the Atlantic Ocean, Arctic Ocean, Norwegian Sea, and Barents Sea. Locate the Volga, Danube, Ural, Rhine, Elbe, Seine, Po, and Thames Rivers. Locate the Alps, Pyrenees, and Balkan Mountains. Locate the countries in the northern, southern, central, eastern, and western regions of Europe.

E.2
Use a map key to locate countries and major cities in Europe. (G)

E.3

Explain how the following five factors have influenced settlement and the economies of major European countries. (G, E)
A. absolute and relative locations
B. climate
C. major physical characteristics
D. major natural resources
E. population size

 Massachusetts English Language Arts Standards:

 

Language Strand, Standard 3: Oral Presentation

Students will make oral presentations that demonstrate appropriate consideration of audience, purpose, and the information to be conveyed.

Composition Strand, Standard 22: Standard English Conventions

Students will use knowledge of standard English conventions in their writing, revising, and editing.

Composition Strand, Standard 23: Organizing Ideas in Writing

Students will organize ideas in writing in a way that makes sense for their purpose.

Composition Strand, Standard 24: Research

Students will gather information from a variety of sources, analyze and evaluate the quality of information they obtain, and use it to answer their own questions.

 

 

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