WebQuest Overview
Welcome teachers! The following 3-week webquest is designed to introduce 5th graders to the major science concepts of ocean study. To complete the webquest students will complete 8 activities in all and create a final presentation that will be give to the teacher and class on week 3. Each activity on the webquest is both a mini lesson, introducing the key ideas of the topic, as well as giving students a hands-on task to investigate the topic themselves. Each activity will last approximately 45 minutes and should be allotted a 50-minute lesson time slot. You may assign the webquest activities as your schedule allows. Ideally the webquest is structured to be completed over 2 weeks, with 4 50-minute long class periods being set aside each week, and one activity to be completed per class period. The final week three students should be given two full class periods to work on the final assessment and the presentations given and completed on week 3 as well.
The webquest is designed to introduce students to the following major concepts of ocean study; Ocean currents, ocean waves and tides, global climate change and human impact, marine habitats and organisms, and the scale and scope of the oceans. Students will be presented with a learning challenge. They have been sent by the school principle to embark on an expedition aboard a cruise ship to study the oceans of our planet. Their task is to learn about the oceans, why studying them is important, how we affect them, and to share these findings with the school’s team of science teachers. The students will then make suggestions to the school science teachers as to why and how the study of the oceans should be incorporated into the curriculum at their school.