Volcanoes
A WebQuest for 4th grade Science
Designed by Tiffany Cooke
Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher Page
Introduction
Hello Students! I am soo glad that you are here today and ready to tackle a very important and interesting task. All of you have been studying volcanoes for quite a while now and because of this, The United States Volcanology Association has asked for your expertise. As you know, there has been a tremendous amount of volcanic activity occuring in South America for the last couple of months and the majority of the volcanologists that work for the U.S. Volcanology Association are there now collecting data and reporting on the situation. Because of this, they have a shortage of volcanologists available to contribute to the yearly volcano update magazine that they publish. The association would really appreciate it if you students could do some research on volcanoes in the U.S. and write up your findings for the magazine that will be published at the end of the month!!
Task
At the end of this project, you should each have one publishable piece about the active U.S. volcano of your choice completed. Each piece does not have to consist of just writing alone, I encourage you to be creative and make your pieces unique and interesting!
Process
Students:
To get yourselves ready for this assignment, I want you to think about the mindset of a volcanologist. What kinds of things are important to volcanologists? What type of writing would a volconologist most likely use? You should use your thoughts about these things to help guide your writing.
Your next step in this process is going to be choosing the volcano that you want to do your piece on. The volcano you choose must be somewhere in the U.S. and it must be an active volcano. I suggest that you report on volcanoes that either have had some kind of change in activity within the last year or an anniversary of a big event in the volcano's history.
Once you have decided on your volcano, it is time to begin your research. Your report must include, but is not limited to: description of type of vocano, where it is located, a brief summary of the volcano's history, the date and type of its last activity, description of the type of eruptions that it is known for, a description of the products it produces during its eruptions and any possible dangers it poses to the population or environment around it.
The websites listed below are a good place to start your research.
types of volcanoes/types of eruptions
find your volcano/recent volcano activity
Evaluation
Each of your final pieces will be evaluated based on the following criterion.
|
Not satisfactory 1 |
Needs some work 2 |
Needs a little polishing 3 |
Publishable 4 |
Score |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Contains all components
|
One or more of the essential components are missing | All components are present but are not covered in enough depth | All components are present and in depth | Extra components added and all components are very detailed | |
|
Accurate Information
|
The majority of the information is inaccurate and no citations | A couple of informational errors and very few accurate citations | All information is accurate with a few citation errors | All information is accurate and also has correct citations | |
|
Quality of Writing
|
Extensive gramatical errors, limited fluency, no voice | Noticeable gramatical errors, difficult to read, weak voice | Very few gramatical errors, sentences flow well, good voice in parts | No gramatical errors, sentence fluency excellent, good voice | |
|
Creativity
|
No creative aspects | A few creative aspects | Many creative aspects | Whole piece created in a creative manner |
Conclusion
All of you put a lot of work into your pieces and the U.S. Volcanology Association sent an issue of the magazine and a thank you letter for all of your efforts. I hope that you learned a lot and had a lot of fun doing this project! Again, great job!
Credits & References
volcano picture was taken from www.ace.nmu.ac.uk
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