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Teaching Guide
[Spiders: Allies or Enemies?] with link to it
produced by 
[E. K. Wright]

Web Institute for Teachers, Summer, 2004

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Introduction

Aim

Rationale  

                                                                                                                                                          

Goals and Objectives

Audience

Prerequisites

Subject-Matter

Instructional Plan

Materials

Assessment and Evaluation

Appendices

Resources

Glossary

 


Introduction
This lesson was developed as part of the 2004 WIT class for teachers on using the web in the classroom. This WebQuest will provide additional study of spiders after they have been taught in the classroom.
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Aim
This WebQuest is designed for fourth
graders for further study of spiders to enhance the regular curriculum study.
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Rationale
Many people have a deadly fear of spiders; they are frightened because they think that all spiders are harmful to them.  Through this study the students will determine if spiders are helpful or harmful to the environment and then produce a model of a selected spider in its natural habitat.
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Goals and Objectives
The goals of the lesson is to provide an opportunity for students to explore different species of spiders to determine their properties and effects on nature.  

The Illinois Curriculum Standards that this WebQuest Supports are: 

      Science Goal 12: A. Know and apply concepts that explain how living things function,

         adapt and change.

         12.A.1a Identify and describe the component parts of living things (e.g., birds have feathers; people

       have bones, blood, hair,

       skin) and their major functions.

         12.B.2a  Describe relationships among various organisms in their environments (e.g., predator/prey,

       parasite/host, food chains and food webs).

         Language Arts Goal 3: Write to communicate for a variety of purposes.

         3.C.2a Write for a variety of purposes and for specified audiences in a variety of forms including

       narrative (e.g., fiction, autobiography), expository (e.g., reports, essays) and persuasive writings

       (e.g., editorials, advertisements).

         3.A.2 Write paragraphs that include a variety of sentence types; appropriate use of the eight parts

       of speech; and accurate spelling, capitalization and punctuation.

       Goal 5: Use the language arts to acquire, assess and communicate information.

         5.A.2b Organize and integrate information from a variety of sources (e.g., books, interviews, library

       reference materials, websites, CD/ROMs).

         Social Studies Goal 18: Understand social systems, with an emphasis on the United States.

         18.B.2a Describe interactions of individuals, groups and institutions in situations drawn from the 

       local community (e.g., local response to state and national reforms).

 


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Audience
This lesson is designed for fourth grade students, but can be adapted for other grade levels. 
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Prerequisites
An introduction and initial study of spiders has to take place in class before this lesson can be useful for students.  Also, the students need to be familiar with Word and PowerPoint software in order to complete the reports and presentations .
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Subject-Matter
This lesson is a related to the science subject matter concerning discovery of animal behavior.  
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Instructional Plan
 Before this lesson can be implemented, the following has to be done:

1.  Study the characteristics of spiders and distinguish the difference between them and insects.

2.  Give lessons on the use of Word to write documents and PowerPoint for presentations completion.

3.  A review of Internet searching techniques and navigation of web pages.

The WebQuest assignment will be done in the media center because there is only one computer in the classroom.  The class is scheduled for 50 minutes of time in the media center once a week. The students will probably need approximately three weeks to complete the assignment. If more time is needed, I will sign up for additional computer time to allow the students to finish successfully.

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Materials
Materials will consist of internet sites and other educational materials such as books, paper, pencils,
printers, PowerPoint software, art materials, and video or audio materials.
. 
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Assessment and Evaluation

 1. You will be graded according to how well you work with your team in gathering information both in books and on the computer.

 2. You will be graded according to how well your team works together in the final presentation.

  • Have you practiced?
  • Are you respectful of one another?
  • Is everyone participating?

3. You will also be graded according to your final product.

  • Is your work neat?
  • Are your posters well done and readable?
  • Have you been creative in your presentation?
  • Do you have accurate information?

4. As you can see you will be graded both on your own work and how well you work with your team members.

Rubric

Implementation Plan for WebQuest

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Appendices (optional, if needed)

The following sites could be used to enhance your science curriculum. 

 Cool Science for Kids

 Science Webquests

 Show Me WebQuests

Resources
 A special thanks to the WIT mentors and SCISC facility for their assistance in completion of this project.
Also, a list of sites:

WebQuest Template

What are Spiders

Books about Spiders

Spider Definitions

Glossary

WebQuest

Arachnophobia

Allies