Exploring the Grand Canyon

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Exploring the Grand Canyon A WebQuest for 4th
Grade (Science) Designed by Annie
VandiverContact Annie  Based on a
template from San Diego State Universitys The
WebQuest Page
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Introduction This lesson was developed as part
of the elementary science methods course at Roger
Williams University, in Bristol, Rhode Island.
The content was inspired by a book called
Mountain Dance by Thomas Locker. The intent of
this lesson is to introduce students to the
concepts of geology, specifically erosion, but
also includes meteorology, botany, zoology,
environmental awareness and anthropology.
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Learners This lesson is
designed for Third Grade Science focusing
specifically on Earth Science. Some research
done on this field of science suggests that
students of all ages may hold the view that the
world was always as it is now, or that any
changes that have occurred must have been sudden
and comprehensive (Freyberg, 1985). The lesson
also touches upon other fields of study like
plants and animals. In this field research
indicates that Elementary- and middle-school
students hold a much more restricted meaning than
biologists for the word "animal" (Mintzes et al.,
1991). For example, most students list only
vertebrates as animals. Elementary- and
middle-school students use such criteria as
number of legs, body covering, and habitat to
decide whether things are animals. Students
will encounter these two subjects when working on
this web quest and should have some working
knowledge of Earth Science and Biology at least
enough to read and comprehend the information
they come across.
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• Curriculum Standards
• National Science Education Standards
• Earth and Space Science
• CONTENT STANDARD DAs a result of their
  activities in grades K-4, all students should
  develop an understanding of
• Changes in earth and sky
• The surface of the earth changes. Some changes
  are due to slow processes, such as erosion and
  weathering, and some changes are due to rapid
  processes, such as landslides, volcanic
  eruptions, and earthquakes.
• Weather changes from day to day and over the
  seasons. Weather can be described by measurable
  quantities, such as temperature, wind direction
  and speed, and precipitation.
• Benchmarks for Science Literacy
• The Physical Setting
• Processes That Shape the Earth
• By the end of the 5th grade, students should know
  that
• Waves, wind, water, and ice shape and reshape the
  earth's land surface by eroding rock and soil in
  some areas and depositing them in other areas,
  sometimes in seasonal layers.
• The Living Environment

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Process You will first be broken up into groups
of seven. You can have the students count of be
seven, or however you want. The make up of the
group is not going to effect the outcome of the
project. Students of varying learning levels can
work in the same group. Once you are in your
groups you will choose a role to play in the
group. Spend about ten minutes with your group
members discussing each role and what that person
should be focused on. There are descriptions
of each role on the WebQuest, but circulate
around the room and answer any questions that
might come up. At this point you should break
off from your group to research the Grand Canyon
in your field independently. Remind them that
it is ok to talk to their team mates and share
information with them. To begin your research
investigate some general information about the
Grand Canyon and take note of anything relating
specifically to your topic. (There is a lot of
general information on the Grand Canyon so you
may want to consider dividing the list up with
your group members. If you do this, be sure to
let your team mates know when there is
information on their topic at a particular
site.) Note you do not need to read every web
page word for word. However, you should scan
through them thoroughly. Many of the web sites
will have a lot of the same information, but
there still might be something new on a page, so
make sure you give each web page a good
looking-over. If there are links to pictures,
articles or even other web sites click them to
see what it learns if you think it will be useful
to your research. Dont just look at a sites
homepage navigate through the site. A lot of
information will not be on the first page you
see. Crystalinks - Grand Canyon Encarta article
on the Grand Canyon Grand Canyon
Explorer National Geographic - Grand
Canyon American Park Network
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Process (contd)

• Grand Canyon National Park Information
• PBS article on Grand Canyon
• Protected Areas Programme
• Science and History at the Grand Canyon
• The Online Guide to Grand Canyon National Park
• Links to Articles - there is a portion of this
  web site in French. Just scroll down, the rest
  is in English.
• Online Dictionary this is a wonderful site to
  help you define some challenging words that you
  might come across
• Now that you have seen the canyon and have some
  basic knowledge, dive into your specific field
  and collect information from the web sites linked
  below.
• Remember to tell your team mates if you find any
  information relating to their field.
• When looking at web sites remember to be
  critical. Ask questions like
• Is this source reliable?
• Does this information agree with other
  information I have found?
• Is this information fact or theory?
• How does this contribute to my research?
• You should consider looking at one of the General
  Information sites with the class
• and model asking these questions with them.
• Also remember to investigate your field beyond
  just the grand canyon.
• If you are a Zoologist, you should have
  information what species of animals live at the
  Grand Canyon and some information about these
  species. If you are an Anthropologist you should
  be aware of the culture of the peoples that have
  lived and currently live in and near the Grand
  Canyon.

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Process (contd)

• Exploring the Grand Canyon is a lesson
  organized into seven different focuses in the
  science and social studies fields. The web sites
  chosen do have a lot of the same information, but
  each one has something the others dont so
  encourage your students to skim through each web
  site. Most of the links also dont take you
  right to the site with the information pertinent
  to their field the students need to navigate
  through the sites.
• This lesson is designed to be fairly simple for a
  teacher to implement. Most of the work is done
  by the students the teacher simply has to be
  there to answer questions and observe the
  students work. As far as time goes, its up to
  you if you want to put a time limit on each
  section or if you just want to let the students
  do everything in their own time. A time limit
  might help keep them on track, however.
• Before the students begin this web quest they
  need to be introduced to the concepts of erosion,
  anthropology, biology and meteorology. The book
  Mountain Dance by Thomas Locker would be an
  excellent way of incorporating the concept of
  erosion into your Language Arts curriculum. You
  could also work in weather patterns and Native
  American tribes in the American Southwest into
  your Social Studies curriculum.
• Variations
• If you do not have the resources to get each
  student their own computer you could consider
  turning this into a jigsaw activity. Break the
  group up into seven groups allowing each group to
  take on one of the seven roles described in the
  web quest. Have each group research one field of
  study as a group. Next, reorganize the students
  into groups with one member from each of the
  original seven groups. Each student can teach
  the other students in their group what they
  learned in the first group. Then that group can
  write the final report to congress arguing
  whether or not the Grand Canyon should be made
  into a National Park.
• If you find you do not have enough students to
  make groups of seven, you could consider taking
  out a few of the roles. You could also eliminate
  a role if you feel that your students are not
  prepared to do research in that field.

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Geologist

• As you gather information you should be looking
  to answer these questions
• How was the Grand Canyon formed?
• How does erosion work?
• What are some other examples of erosion in
  America?
• What sort of materials make up the Grand Canyon?
• What can we learn from the Grand Canyon in
  regards to geology?
• Dirtmeister
• Grand Canyon National Park - Geological Story
• Grand Canyon Explorer - Geology of the Grand
  Canyon
• Wilner - Grand Canyon
• Erosion from About.com
• Links to information on Erosion
• Remember to tell your team mates if you come
  across information that may help them

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Zoologist

• As you gather information you should consider
  these questions
• What kinds of animals live in the Grand Canyon
  National Park?
• Why do they live in this environment?
• How can these animals be saved?
• Grand Canyon Park Flora and Fauna
• Grand Canyon Animals
• Grand Canyon National Park Foundation
• What kinds of animals and plants live at Grand
  Canyon National Park?
• Kaibab Squirrel
• Mule Deer
• Desert Animals
• Northern Arizona Wildlife
• Squirrel Species
• Remember to tell your team mates if you come
  across information that may help them.
• Hint consider looking for the word Fauna when
  scanning through articles and web pages

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Botanist

• As you gather information you should consider the
  following questions
• What kinds of plants live in and around the Grand
  Canyon?
• What about the Grand Canyon provides these plants
  with an optimal environment?
• How can these plants be preserved?
• Land Use Histor of North America - Colorado
  Plateau
• Plants of the Grand Canyon
• Grand Canyon Park Flora and Fauna
• Utah Agave
• Search engine for Plant species
• The Desert Hiker's Guide - Banana Yucca
• Desert Hiker's Guide to Flora and Fauna
• Remember to tell your team mates if you come
  across information that may help them
• Hint consider looking for the word flora when
  scanning articles and web pages.

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Anthropologist

• As you gather information you should consider
  these questions
• What kinds of peoples have lived in this area?
• What have they left behind?
• What kinds of peoples value the Grand Canyon as
  part of their culture today?
• How will Americans benefit from the Grand Canyon
  being made a national park?
• Human History of Grand Canyon
• American Park Network
• American Indians at the Grand Canyon - Past and
  Present
• Arizona's Native American Tribes
• National Park Service - US Department of the
  Interior
• The Natural American
• Indian Country Today
• Native Americans Crystalinks
• Side Canyon - Travel Southwest
• The Brown Quarterly - The Color of Life
• Human Drama of the Past
• Anasazi Tribe
• Remember to tell your team mates if you come
  across information that might help them.

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Environmentalist

• As you gather information consider these
  questions
• What are some threats facing the environmental
  safety of the Grand Canyon?
• What have people done to damage the Grand Canyon?
• How can people contribute to preserving the Grand
  Canyon?
• National Park Service
• National Park Service
• American Park Network
• Grand Canyon Trust
• PBS - Meeting the Natives
• Seattle Times Article
• Remember to tell your team mates if you come
  across information that may help them.

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Meteorologist

• As you gather information consider these
  questions
• What is the climate of the Grand Canyon?
• How does this climate effect the local wildlife,
  plants and people?
• How is this climate unique?
• Grand Canyon National Park
• Grand Canyon Climate and Weather from About.com
• Local Weather Forecast for Grand Canyon
• Climate is what you expect, weather is what you
  get
• Remember to tell your team mates if you come
  across information that may help them.

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Resources Needed All of the students will need
to have access to their own computer in order to
complete this assignment. One teacher should be
sufficient to supervise this activity.
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Evaluation There are two evaluations connected to
this assignment a group evaluation and an
individual evaluation. You can use one of the
two or both of them.
more
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Evaluation (continued)
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Evaluation (contd)
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Evaluation (contd)
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Conclusion This lesson has so much in it that
any student will be able to find something in it
that they will enjoy. It is fairly concise so
that it will fit into one or two periods and the
subject lends itself to almost every discipline.
Obviously it is based in science, but when
students are learning about the different
climates at the Grand Canyon, you could take the
opportunity to have a geography lesson about
Arizona or deserts in the world. The
anthropology section lends itself to the
historical aspect of the Grand Canyon with the
peoples that have lived in that area. The
geology section allows for a lesson on plate
tectonics or even a lesson on pre-history.
There are so many places that this lesson could
be taken to it does not even have to be based in
Science. Wherever you take it, what remains
consistent with this lesson is that students are
learning about the Grand Canyon. It is an
awesome place, in the true sense of the word, and
most students may never get an opportunity to see
it. This WebQuest will allow those students that
will never see the Grand Canyon an opportunity to
explore it. For those students that will see the
Grand Canyon, they will have a deeper
appreciation of it because of what they learn in
this lesson.
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Credits References This WebQhest was based on
a template found on The WebQuest Page. The
images found here were thanks to Google Images.
The specific sites where each picture was found
is listed below. Geologist Picture Zoologist
Picture Botanist Picture Anthropologist
Picture Environmentalist Picture Meteorologist
Picture Conclusion Picture Any other pictures
seen in this presentation were found in ClipArt
from Microsoft Office.