Cultural Diversity
An 8th Grade Interdisciplinary
WebQuest
Designed by
Kate Thurston, Steve Harrises
kthurston@mansd.org, sharrises@mansd.org
Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher & Resource Page
Introduction
 You are eating lunch in the school cafeteria. There must be 200 middle school students
in the room. You notice that most of
the tables seem to be ganged together with students from the same backgrounds
and cultures. Why do kids group
together in this way? Where does this
come from? What understandings might
help us live together with more acceptance, understanding, and mutual
consideration?
The
Task
Your task is to become Hillside Middle
School’s resident expert and consultant on your assigned nation and
culture. You will help open your
peers’ minds to the similarities and differences amongst us all. Your team
will present the information to your class through the eyes of a peer who has
or whose family has recently immigrated to Manchester, NH.
Your team’s task is to create a
presentation that includes a slideshow, presentation board, and performance.
The mandatory items for the presentation include: thorough understanding of
the nation chosen, including history, language(s), geography, profile of the
ethnic and religious groups comprising the country’s past and current
population, nature of customs, “fun facts”, and how any and all of these
things compare to Manchester, NH and the United States. Your presentation must include sight,
sound, and motion, and must clearly distinguish your country from any other.
The team’s tasks include:
·
Slideshow
presentation including:
o
Placement of the
country in the world and comparing to other geographies
§
Map of the country,
with population centers and natural wonders marked
§
Demographics with
comparisons to other geographies
§
Trade or
industry(s) upon which your country’s economy depends
o
Nation’s flag and
anthem (if available)
o
Principle Language,
other languages and dialects commonly spoken
o
Profile of ethnic
and religious groups, past and present
o
Timeline showing
events and eras that stand out in your country’s history
o
Description of the
important holidays and historical dates
o
Current political
structure, conflicts or problems, and your nation’s leaders
o
“Fun Facts”
·
“Show and Tell”
presentation including:
o
Display of
artifacts from your country / culture
o
Chart or other
visual showing most important contributions of that country to the world,
past and present
o
Discussion of
popular food past and present
o
Photographs, video,
and audio demonstrating country’s fine arts, folk art and pop culture
o
Common customs
(similar or different from same US custom, such as greeting)
o
Performance of a
scene selected from a short story, play, novel or poem that is either set in
your country, or about a person or persons from your country
·
Radio or television
Talk Show interview
o
What is “A Day in
the Life” of an adolescent living in your country? How is it the same or different from a day in the life of a
recently emigrated adolescent’s day in Manchester?
§
Be sure to touch
upon popular music, books, and other entertainment!
§
This segment can be
presented “live” or can be pre-recorded
REMEMBER TO COMPARE YOUR INFORMATION, WHENEVER
POSSIBLE, TO THAT OF THE UNITED STATES & THE WORLD
POSSIBLE
COUNTRIES / CULTURES
Afghanistan, Bosnia, Cambodia, Canada, China, Croatia, Cuba,
Egypt, Ethiopia, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Liberia, Mexico, Poland,
Puerto Rico, Russia, Sudan, Vietnam,
or other that is approved by your teacher.
The Process
- First you’ll be assigned to a team of 4-5
students
- You will given the country/ethnicity your
team will examine
- Group Activity 1 – Getting to Know Your Teammates
- Name your webquest team
- Each teammate will pick a role(s)
Ø Statistician
Ø Anthropologist
Ø Talk Show Host /
Biographer
Ø Culture Vulture
Ø Project Manager ...
the Big Cheese
- Each teammate reviews his/her role on the
team as well as the overall project
- Project Manager works with team to create
the first WIP report (work-in-progress)
- Drivers start your engines, runners take
your marks, let the games begin… get started!
Student Website
Resources
Evaluation
|
Your Name
_________________________________________________
Team Name
____________________________________________
Date __________________ Block
________________
YOUR
OVERALL SCORE ________
Cultural Diversity Webquest
2004
|
|
|
CATEGORY
|
4 –
Exemplary
|
3 –
Accomplished
|
2 –
Developing
|
1 -
Beginning
|
|
 Presentation
|
Well-rehearsed
with smooth delivery that holds audience attention.
|
Rehearsed
with fairly smooth delivery that holds audience attention most of the time.
|
Delivery
not smooth, but able to maintain interest of the audience most of the time.
|
Delivery
not smooth and audience attention often lost.
|
|
 Requirements
|
All
requirements are met and exceeded.
|
All
requirements are met.
|
One
requirement was not completely met.
|
More
than one requirement was not completely met.
|
|
 Mechanics
|
No
misspellings or grammatical errors.
|
Three or
fewer misspellings and/or mechanical errors.
|
Four
misspellings and/or grammatical errors.
|
More
than 4 errors in spelling or grammar.
|
|
 Content
|
Covers
topic in-depth with details and examples. Subject knowledge is excellent.
|
Includes
essential knowledge about the topic. Subject knowledge appears to be good.
|
Includes
essential information about the topic but there are 1-2 factual errors.
|
Content
is minimal OR there are several factual errors.
|
|
 Sources
|
Source
information collected for all graphics, facts and quotes. All documented in
desired format.
|
Source information
collected for all graphics, facts and quotes. Most documented in desired
format.
|
Source
information collected for graphics, facts and quotes, but not documented in
desired format.
|
Very
little or no source information was collected.
|
|
 Attractiveness
|
Makes
excellent use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance the
presentation.
|
Makes
good use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance to
presentation.
|
Makes
use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. but occasionally these detract
from the presentation content.
|
Use of
font, color, graphics, effects etc. but these often distract from the
presenation content.
|
|
 Organization
|
Content
is well organized using headings or bulleted lists to group related
material.
|
Uses
headings or bulleted lists to organize, but the overall organization of
topics appears flawed.
|
Content
is logically organized for the most part.
|
There
was no clear or logical organizational structure, just lots of facts.
|
|
Speaks
Clearly
|
Speaks
clearly and distinctly all (100-95%) the time, and mispronounces no words.
|
Speaks
clearly and distinctly all (100-95%) the time, but mispronounces one word.
|
Speaks
clearly and distinctly most ( 94-85%) of the time. Mispronounces no more
than one word.
|
Often
mumbles or can not be understood OR mispronounces more than one word.
|
|
Volume
|
Volume
is loud enough to be heard by all audience members throughout the
presentation.
|
Volume
is loud enough to be heard by all audience members at least 90% of the
time.
|
Volume
is loud enough to be heard by all audience members at least 80% of the
time.
|
Volume
often too soft to be heard by all audience members.
|
|
 Preparedness
|
Student
is completely prepared and has obviously rehearsed.
|
Student
seems pretty prepared but might have needed a couple more rehearsals.
|
The
student is somewhat prepared, but it is clear that rehearsal was lacking.
|
Student
does not seem at all prepared to present.
|
|
Quality
of Work
|
Provides
work of the highest quality.
|
Provides
high quality work.
|
Provides
work that occasionally needs to be checked/redone by other group members to
ensure quality.
|
Provides
work that usually needs to be checked/redone by others to ensure quality.
|
|
Time-management
|
Routinely
uses time well throughout the project to ensure things get done on time.
Group does not have to adjust deadlines or work responsibilities because of
this person's procrastination.
|
Usually
uses time well throughout the project, but may have procrastinated on one
thing. Group does not have to adjust deadlines or work responsibilities
because of this person's procrastination.
|
Tends to
procrastinate, but always gets things done by the deadlines. Group does not
have to adjust deadlines or work responsibilities because of this person's
procrastination.
|
Rarely
gets things done by the deadlines AND group has to adjust deadlines or work
responsibilities because of this person's inadequate time management.
|
Conclusion
By the end of this project you will have
a better sense of the cultures, backgrounds, and challenges of the diverse
population served by our school, city and country.
Credits & References
Special thanks to the Greater Manchester
Professional Development Center for their support in designing and building
this webquest. www.gmpdc.org
http://www.coleharbourhigh.ednet.ns.ca/library%20web/WebQuestCultures.htm
(1st image)
http://www.lbhf.gov.uk/external/northfulhamndc/newwebimage/bme.gif
(Children and globe cartoon)
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php
http://www.thenationalanthems.com/
http://www.ellisisland.com/indexHistory.html
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/newamericans/sharestories.html
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook28.html
http://www.historychannel.com/ellisisland/index2.html
http://www.earthcam.com/
http://www.findsounds.com/types.html
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amhome.html
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=01000US&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=&_cityTown=manchester&_state=04000US33&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on
Teacher
& Resource Page
o
This project should
take 3 weeks (one class period per day)
o
Getting to Know
Your Teammates (Day One Activity Worksheet)
o
Student Roles and
Worksheets
o
Statistician
§
Statistician spreadsheet
o
Anthropologist
o
Talk Show Host/Biographer
§
Interviewing Tips
o
Culture Vulture
o
Project Manager
§
WIP Report
o
New Hampshire Frameworks
Last updated on August 15, 1999. Based
on a template from The WebQuest Page
|
