In Search of a Hero

A WebQuest for Social Studies
Grades 5-8 Designed by Jessica Pierce
jp13@arches.uga.edu

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Reference

Introduction

A hero is someone that is needed to help us to be the best that we can be. They come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Hero's have the characteristics of intergrity, honesty , responsibility or maybe even the quality of being a leader. Sometimes hero's overcome some kind of adversity in their life time...so who would you consider to be a hero?

Task

You are a reporter for Time Magazine. You and the other reporters are competing to do the cover story titled "Hero of the Decade"

First you need to define a hero, then create a want-ad for your "Hero of the Decade" canidate. You must choose someone who you consider a hero who lived sometime within the last decade(1990-1999). Once you have completed this background, you must prepare a persuasive essay to present to the editors of Time Magaine convinceing them to use your hero as the cover story.

NOTE: You must choose from the people below.

(1) President Clinton (6) Washington Redskins (11) Micheal Jackson (16) David Thomas

(2) Micheal Jordan (7) Maya Angelou (12) Christopher Reeves (17) John F. Kennedy Jr.

(3) Nancy Kerrigan (8) U.S. Troops-Desert Storm (13) Dallas Cowboys (18) Sally Jesse Ralphel

(4) Motehr Teresa (9) David Robinson (14) Johnny Cochran (19) Julia Roberts

(5) Jesse Jackson (10) Ghandi (15) Ervin(Magic) Johnson (20) Billy Graham

Process

  1. First you must brainstorm on what mkes a hero. You must find the characteristics that you consider to be important in declaring a hero.
  2. Visit the resource page and choose from the list made by Time Magazine for a posible canidate.
  3. Research the individual that you choose for your 'Hero of the Decade" A minimum of 2 resources are needed. Your goal while researching is to find as much information as possible on your canidate, but not limited to the following:
  4. Date and Place of Birth Family (including spouse, children and parents) Chronolgical accountof his/her life Hardships/struggles experienced Major acomplishments Special events occcurig in the world during his/her lifetime Date and Place of Death NOTE: You can use quotes, but you must give credit to that person!!!
  5. You will be required to make a bibliography, which is citing all of your resources.
  6. From the info that you have gathered, you must prepare a powerpoint presentation to share with your classmates, along with a persuasive essay to present to the editors of Time Magazine.
  7. The last thing that you will need to do, is to reflect on this assignment, and evaluate on both the process and product.

Evaluation

1)Were you able to choose a hero based on your characteristics of a hero?

2)Were there up to date and accurate information available on the internet?

3)Is your want-ad, appealing and proffessional?

4)Does your power point presentation explain why the person you choose is considered a here

5)Is your essy written in the proper format and dies it express a clear opinion? Is your essay persuasive and have supporting facts?

Average

0-4

Above Average

5-8

Exemplary

9-12

Score

 

Research

 Did not satisfy research requirements Researched enough information to continue with project Went over and beyond for the research of thier "Hero of the Decade"

 

Presentation

 Not organized; no thought Somewhat organized and clear Very organized and clear

 

Evaluation

 Did not answer all of the questions Answered the questions, but did not give enough feedback Answered all of the questions with thought

 

Reflection

 Did not complete reflection Completed the reflection Did reflection and gave feedback

 

Essay

 Not well put together. No clear thoughts Some order to the essay, few grammatical errors. Well put together. No grammatical errors. Persuaded the grader of the essay  

Conclusion

You will be givien an endividual grade for each project. Use the rubrics associted wiht each portion of the WebQuest to guide in you work. These rubrics will tell exactly how you will be graded for each of the three main parts

1)Want-Ad Rubric

2)Multimedia presentation Rubric

3)Persuasion Essay Rubric

Reference

Here is the webquest and design patterns page so that you can acquire the latest version of this template and training materials

The WebQuest Page

Design Patterns

"We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that Linda Cooper is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. Modified by Jessica Pierce on 5/1/03.

Last updated on 5/1/03. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page