A WebQuest for 4th Grade Science

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A Honeybee's Hive of Facts
A WebQuest for 4th Grade Science Designed by Megh
an O'Neil   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 assignment requires that we create a lesson
that will model all of the knowledge we have
gained throughout the course. In this lesson we
should be able to display our understanding of an
inquiry based classroom and developing lessons
that will meet science standards. Overall this
is an assessment of how well we have grown as
future educators in our understanding of how to
teach science in the most beneficial ways.
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Learners This lesson is targeted for fourth
grade science. Most topics that are covered in
this lesson are easily understood, if student is
having trouble with something in particular it
may be necessary to explain a certain topic in
more depth. The following link may be of some
help if a student has trouble understanding
Understanding why some students may not
understand
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• Curriculum Standards
• National Science Education Standards
• Life Science
• CONTENT STANDARD CAs a result of activities in
  grades K-4, all students should develop
  understanding of
• The characteristics of organisms
• Organisms have basic needs. For example, animals
  need air, water, and food plants require air,
  water, nutrients, and light. Organisms can
  survive only in environments in which their needs
  can be met. The world has many different
  environments, and distinct environments support
  the life of different types of organisms.
• Each plant or animal has different structures
  that serve different functions in growth,
  survival, and reproduction. For example, humans
  have distinct body structures for walking,
  holding, seeing, and talking.
• The behavior of individual organisms is
  influenced by internal cues (such as hunger) and
  by external cues (such as a change in the
  environment). Humans and other organisms have
  senses that help them detect internal and
  external cues.
• Plants and animals have life cycles that include
  being born, developing into adults, reproducing,
  and eventually dying. The details of this life
  cycle are different for different organisms.
• All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat
  plants for food. Other animals eat animals that
  eat the plants.
• An organism's patterns of behavior are related to
  the nature of that organism's environment,
  including the kinds and numbers of other
  organisms present, the availability of food and
  resources, and the physical characteristics of
  the environment. When the environment changes,
  some plants and animals survive and reproduce,
  and others die or move to new locations.See
  Content Standard F (grades K-4)
• All organisms cause changes in the environment
  where they live. Some of these changes are
  detrimental to the organism or other organisms,
  whereas others are beneficial.

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• Curriculum Standards (continued)
• Humans depend on their natural and constructed
  environments. Humans change
• environments in ways that can be either
  beneficial or detrimental for themselves
• and other organisms.
• Benchmarks for Science Literacy
• Chapter 5 The Living Environment
• A. Diversity of Life
• By the end of the 5th grade, students should know
  that
• A great variety of kinds of living things can be
  sorted into groups in
• many ways using various features to decide
  which things belong to
• which group.
• Features used for grouping depend on the purpose
  of the grouping.
• D. Interdependence of Life
• For any particular environment, some kinds of
  plants and animals survive well, some survive
• less well, and some cannot survive at all.
  
• Organisms interact with one another in various
  ways besides providing food. Many

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• Curriculum Standards (continued)
• English Language Arts Standards
• Standard 4 Writing Gathers and uses
  information for research purposes
• Level II (Grades 3-5)    
• 1. Uses a variety of strategies to plan research
  (e.g., identifies possible topic by
  brainstorming, listing questions, using idea
  webs organizes prior knowledge about a topic
  develops a course of action determines how to
  locate necessary information)   
• 2. Uses encyclopedias to gather information for
  research topics   
• 3. Uses dictionaries to gather information for
  research topics   
• 4. Uses electronic media to gather information
  (e.g., databases, Internet, CD-ROM, television
  shows, cassette recordings, videos, pull-down
  menus, word searches)
• 7. Uses strategies to gather and record
  information for research topics (e.g., uses
  notes, maps, charts, graphs, tables, and other
  graphic organizers paraphrases and summarizes
  information gathers direct quotes provides
  narrative descriptions)   
• 8. Uses strategies to compile information into
  written reports or summaries (e.g., incorporates
  notes into a finished product includes simple
  facts, details, explanations, and examples draws
  conclusions from relationships and patterns that
  emerge from data from different sources uses
  appropriate visual aids and media)
• Standard 7 Reading - Uses reading skills and
  strategies to understand and interpret a variety
  of informational texts
• 1. Uses reading skills and strategies to
  understand a variety of informational texts
  (e.g., textbooks, biographical sketches, letters,
  diaries, directions, procedures, magazines)

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• Curriculum Standards (continued)
• 5. Summarizes and paraphrases information in
  texts (e.g., includes the main idea and
  significant supporting details of a reading
  selection)
• Standard 8 Listening and Speaking - Uses
  listening and speaking strategies for different
  purposes
• 1. Contributes to group discussions   
• 2. Asks questions in class (e.g., when he or she
  is confused, to seek others' opinions and
  comments)   
• 3. Responds to questions and comments (e.g.,
  gives reasons in support of opinions, responds to
  others' ideas)   
• 4. Listens to classmates and adults (e.g., does
  not interrupt, faces the speaker, asks questions,
  summarizes or paraphrases to confirm
  understanding, gives feedback, eliminates
  barriers to effective listening)   
• 5. Uses strategies to convey a clear main point
  when speaking (e.g., expresses ideas in a logical
  manner, uses specific vocabulary to establish
  tone and present information)
• 12. Understands the main ideas and supporting
  details in spoken texts (e.g., presentations by
  peers or quest speakers, a current affairs report
  on the radio)    
• 13. Listens to and understands persuasive
  messages (e.g., television commercials, commands
  and requests, pressure from peers)

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Process This is a fairly simple lesson then a
beginning teacher could pull off. The lesson
will hopefully only take a few days in a fourth
grade classroom, taking into consideration the
amount of time spent on other content areas. This
lesson, allow mainly science based requires some
English skills and art skills also. The
Process 1. First youll be assigned to a team of
five. 2. Then you will be assigned a focus topic.
3. Once you have been assigned the topic, you
will begin the researching process by visiting
several links to help you to become more familiar
with the honeybee and gain some possible facts on
the specific topic you have been
assigned Honeybee Encyclopedia The Blessed Bee
Encyclopedia Presentation Enter the Hive Tales
from the Hive Bee - Wikipedia, encyclopedia Honey
Bee Facts A Hive Full of Honeybee Facts Honeybees
that Build Perfect Combs
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Process (Continued) 4. After exploring these
websites, you will be given time in the school
library to explore books on the honeybee. Some
use books to use as resources are Resources
Books The Life and Times of the Honeybee by
Charles Micucci The Magic School Bus Inside a
Beehive by Joanna Cole, illus. by Bruce
Degen From Blossom to Honey by
AliMitgutsch The Bee Tree by Patricia
Polacco 5. You might try beginning your research
by collecting a large amount of facts, and
then meeting to discuss the most interesting and
unique. 6. After you have decided on the ten
most unique and interesting fact you will
receive ten yellow hexagonal cardboard cut out
(the same shape as the honeybee comb) to put
your ten facts on 7. Finally once each group has
neatly written their ten facts on their
cardboard honeybee combs. 8. Last, when the
honeybee hive of facts is complete and put
together, we will have a field trip to the
Providence Childrens Museum to deliver it
and spend the day exploring the other wonderful
and education exhibits.
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• Resources Needed
• Some very helpful and appropriate websites for
  children researching the honeybee are
• Honeybee Encyclopedia
• The Blessed Bee Encyclopedia
• Presentation Enter the Hive
• Tales from the Hive
• Bee - Wikipedia, encyclopedia
• Honey Bee Facts
• A Hive Full of Honeybee Facts
• Honeybees that Build Perfect Combs
• Some very helpful books are (and they can be
  purchased at Amazon)
• The Life and Times of the Honeybee
• by Charles Micucci
• The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive
• by Joanna Cole, illus. by Bruce Degen
• From Blossom to Honey

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• Evaluation
• The success of the lesson will be evaluated on
  the following criteria
• General overall knowledge gained about their
  topic
• Accuracy of the facts
• Amount resources students used
• How interesting the facts were
• Citation of where students found the facts
• Use of strategies to enhance student's research
• Understanding of characteristics of the honeybee
• How well the group worked together to present the
  best product

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Conclusion This is a valuable lesson to teach
the many interesting facts and details about the
honeybee but also a good way for the class to
come together as a community. Although not every
class will have the opportunity to participate
in completing a project for a museum, a mural
like this could be hung in any classroom. This
is a project that will also enhance childrens
abilities to research and cite information.
Overall, this is a very educationally valuable
lesson.
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• Credits References
• I would like to thank the Providence Childrens
  Museum first for allowing us such a wonderful
  opportunity to take part in preparing a mural for
  your new exhibit on honeybees.
• I would also like to thank the parents who
  volunteered as chaperons for the field trip to
  deliver the final project
• Sources of images
• First image on first slide
• Second image on first slide
• Third image on first slide
• Image on 11th slide
• 5. Image on 12th slide
• Latest version of this template and learning
  materials can be found at The WebQuest Page