Appendix 12.16.b. Web Quest on Spiders

Are we afraid of spiders?

A WebQuest for 3rd Grade (Spiders)

Designed by

Pınar Gűrdal

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Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher Page


Introduction

Have you ever seen a spider web when the sun is shining behind it? What does it look like? Have you ever wondered how spiders make webs and why they don’t get caught in them? Would you like to know many different kinds of spiders? In this webquest, we will look at spiders and remember that they are a beautiful and mysterious part of beautiful nature and we can protect them better if we learn about them. We will find out if spiders are allies or enemies to us or to their environment. Don’t you think October is a great month to learn all about spiders? When we complete our activities, you will be able to act as a scientist and tell or teach your friends about spiders.

This document should be written with the student as the intended audience. Write a short paragraph here to introduce the activity or lesson to the students. If there is a role or scenario involved (e.g., "You are a detective trying to identify the mysterious poet.") then here is where you'll set the stage. If there's no motivational intro like that, use this section to provide a short advance organizer or overview. Remember that the purpose of this section is to both prepare and hook the reader.

It is also in this section that you'll communicate the Big Question (Essential Question, Guiding Question) that the whole WebQuest is centered around.


The Task

Describe crisply and clearly what the end result of the learners' activities will be. The task could be a:

·  We will create our big foam spider to watch over our classroom.

·  You will present our feelings about spiders to the classroom.

·  You will tell us the importance of spiders in terms of their place in the environment.

·  Each group we form will review the parts and characteristics of one spider and present a report to the class written on Word. The report should have pictures of the spiders, drawings, other visual aids that you want to use and text of the findings of that group.

·  Each group will tell us its opinion of whether or spiders are good for us and the environment and you will give us your reasons for your opinion.

·  position to be formulated and defended;

·  problem or mystery solved;

·  product to be designed;

·  complexity to be analyzed;

·  personal insight to be articulated;

·  summary to be created;

·  persuasive message or journalistic account to be crafted;

·  a creative work, or

·  anything that requires the learners to process and transform the information they've gathered.

If the final product involves using some tool (e.g., HyperStudio, the Web, video), mention it here.

Don't list the steps that students will go through to get to the end point. That belongs in the Process section.

Process


You will need to form groups. Each of you will need to choose one of the three roles that we have in the group. The three roles that we have in each group are a scientist, a reporter and an environmentalist. After you form your group, you will gather information to complete the steps that I listed below:

1.  You will learn different characteristics of spiders.

2.  You will discover the various sizes, colors and shapes of spiders.

3.  You will work together to record important facts, and make diagrams, models and drawings.

4.  You can use the following names to do research and find other pictures of these spiders:


tarantula
tarantula2 /
brown recluse
brown recluse2
brown recluse 3 /
black widow
black widow2
black widow 3

cobweb weaver
cobweb weaver2 /
camel spider /
house spider (tegenaria gigantea)

Black and Yellow Garden Spider /
barn spider /
crab spider

5.  When you want to take a break from your research, you can do some coloring with the spiders below and try to name them with the names that you will learn:

6.  You might want to check the following website of Natioanal Geographic for your research. It may be helpful if you want to get some facts on spiders.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0623_040623_spiderfacts.html

7.  You can go to the public library or the school library and try to find some of the following books on spiders:

Back, Christine and Barrie Watts. Spiders Web. Stopwatch Books. Silver Burdett Press, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
(Photos and drawings of how a spiders web is made)
Bailey, Donna. 1991. Spiders. Animal World. Steck-Vaughn Company, Austin, TX
(Photos, life cycle, diversity)
Bailey, Donna, 1991. Spider's Web. Animal World. Steck-Vaughn Company, Austin, TX
(Photos, web building)
Bailey, Donna. 1991. Unusual Spiders. Animal World. Steck-Vaughn Company, Austin, TX
(Photos, diversity)
Bailey, Jill. 1989. The life cycle of a spider. Bookwright Press, NY.
(Drawings, spider life cycle)
Barrett, Norman. 1989. Spiders. Franklin Watts, London. (Photos, spider diversity)

8.  I would like you to read the following poems to your classmates, I am sure they will love it. I can go over the poems with you if you have any questions on the pronunciation:

Spider Poems

"The Silly Willy Spider"
The silly willy spider
Crawled up on _____'s head!
It crawled all around
Then made a nice soft bed.
It wiggled down his/her shoulder
And jumped down to the floor
Then the silly willy spider
Crawled to someone else for more! / "Little Miss Muffet"
Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider
And sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffet away!
The Spider in the Web
(tune: Farmer in the Dell)
The spider in the web,
The spider in the web
Spin, spin, oh watch him spin,
The spider in the web.
The spider eats a (bug name)
The spider eats a ______.
Spin, spin, oh watch him spin,
The spider in the web. / Tune: I'm a Little Teapot:
I'm a little spider watch me spin
If you'll be my dinner
I'll let you come in
Then I'll spin a web to hold you tight
And gobble you up in ONE BIG BITE!
There's a Spider on the Wall
Tune: Twinkle Little Star
There's a spider on the wall
If he's careful he won't fall
He moves slowly down the wall
I can watch him crawl and crawl
I wonder if he minds my stare
Or does he know and just not care? / Spider, Spider Fingerplay
Spider hurrying,
(Run fingers back and forth.)
Spider scurrying,
See her silken thread.
(Stretch thread between fingers and thumb.)
Spider hurrying,
(Run fingers back and forth.)
Spider scurrying,
See her little web.
(Make spiral with fingers.)

9.  I would like you to include the following points in your final report:

  • contrast spiders and insects and list at least five differences.
  • classify pictures of animals as spiders or insects.
  • identify spiders as belonging to the arachnid family.
  • identify a spider’s body parts (fangs, jaws, pedipalpi, eyes, legs, cephalothorax, abdomen, and spinnerets) using numbers to describe and count the parts.
  • make predictions about what will happen if an insect, sound, light, or movement are introduced to the spider’s environment.

To accomplish the task, what steps should the learners go through? Use the numbered list format in your web editor to automatically number the steps in the procedure. Describing this section well will help other teachers to see how your lesson flows and how they might adapt it for their own use, so the more detail and care you put into this, the better. Remember that this whole document is addressed to the student, however, so describe the steps using the second person.

1.  First you'll be assigned to a team of 3 students...

2.  Once you've picked a role to play....

3.  ... and so on.

Learners will access the on-line resources that you've identified as they go through the Process. You may have a set of links that everyone looks at as a way of developing background information, or not. If you break learners into groups, embed the links that each group will look at within the description of that stage of the process. (Note, this is a change from the older WebQuest templates which included a separate Resources section. It's now clear that the resources belong in the Process section rather than alone.)

In the Process block, you might also provide some guidance on how to organize the information gathered. This advice could suggestions to use flowcharts, summary tables, concept maps, or other organizing structures. The advice could also take the form of a checklist of questions to analyze the information with, or things to notice or think about. If you have identified or prepared guide documents on the Web that cover specific skills needed for this lesson (e.g. how to brainstorm, how to prepare to interview an expert), link them to this section.


Evaluation

You will be graded on how well you work with your group members and other classmates. You will also be graded on your final product which is your presentation. I will look to see if you use the vocabulary that we have learned in your presentation.

Describe to the learners how their performance will be evaluated. Specify whether there will be a common grade for group work vs. individual grades.

Beginning
1 / Developing
2 / Accomplished
3 / Exemplary
4 / Score
Responsive ness to audience / Is not responsive. Avoids active interaction. / Reluctant in her interaction. Has inadequate answers. / Generally tries to be responsive.Tries to clarify and restate when needed. / Highly responsive. Consistently clarifies and restates.
Accuracy of content. / Information is inaccurate that the listener can not depend on the presented concepts. / Some information is accurate. / No errors on information, some errors are made due to nervousness.. / Information is consistently accurate.
Use of language:
Vocabulary usage and grammar / Vocabulary and grammar skills are so low that listeners can not focus on the material presented. / Slang is present and some vocabulary and grammar mistakes are made. / For the most part, sentence structure and vocabulary usage is good. / Words have their precise meaning.
Sentences are complete.
Organization / Listeners do not understand. Presentation is not organized. / There is some organization but it looks like the student is not prepared. / Organization is generally good. / Presentation is clear and organized.
Use of visual aids / Visual aids are either nonexistent or very poorly put together. / Visual aids are not attractive enough. Listeners may be confused. / Visual aids are good. Some material is not supported by them when it can be. / Visual aids are attractive and well put together and in a professional manner.


Conclusion

The main goal of this project is to make students think about our environment in terms of spiders that share that environment with us. They will have thought about and studied a creature that may be considered scary among children and they will see that creature in a different light realizing that it is part of nature. The presentation will give them a chance to share views that they will feel passionate about with their classmates which will open opportunities for discussion and usage of language and presentation skills. ESL students may come from countries where environmental issues can not be priority and this kind of project will enable them to look into some topics that they have not been exposed to before.

Put a couple of sentences here that summarize what they will have accomplished or learned by completing this activity or lesson. You might also include some rhetorical questions or additional links to encourage them to extend their thinking into other content beyond this lesson.


Credits & References

http://www.teachingkate.org/lessons/spiders.pdf

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED396938&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED396938

http://www.techteachconcepts.com/webquests1.htm

http://www.arachnology.be/pages/Kids.html

http://www.kidzone.ws/lw/spiders/activities.htm

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0623_040623_spiderfacts.html

http://www.teachingheart.net/aspiderunit.html

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/3826

http://www.dltk-teach.com/rhymes/spider/index.htm

http://www.coloring.ws/spiders1.htm

http://www.entomology.cornell.edu/public/IthacaCampus/ExtOutreach/SpiderOutreach/Adult_Resources/Childrens_Books.html

List here the sources of any images, music or text that you're using. Provide links back to the original source. Say thanks to anyone who provided resources or help.

List any books and other analog media that you used as information sources as well.

Last updated on August 15, 1999. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page

Source: Gürdal, 2008, original material.