Introduction
This Web Quest is addressed to 3rd grade students and its topic is about Australian Animals.
The aims of this Web Quest are:
- To learn about Australian Animals
- To know Australian marsupial mammals
- To write a description of one of the Australian marsupials
Referring to the Learning outcomes we have:
CONTENT:
- Student will know the names of the Australian marsupials
- Students will know how to describe a marsupial
COGNITION:
- Student will be able to recognize an Australian marsupials
- Student will be able to pronounce correctly the names of the Australian marsupials
- Students will be able to describe Australian marsupial following the model given.
In relation to communication we have:
LANGUAGE OF LEARNING:
Key vocabulary: mammal, marsupials, pouch, fur.
LANGUAGE FOR LEARNING:
He has got…
He eats…
He can…
Task
TASK 1
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Do you know Australian animals? Try to do a list of them! 10 animals names are enough!
Maybe this link will help you:
http://perthzoo.wa.gov.au/animals-plants/australia/
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TASK 2
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Now that you know some of the Australian animals find which are marsupial mammals.
You can find this information in this link:
http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/au/Australian_native_animals
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TASK 3
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Now write a little description of one of the following marsupials: koala, kangaroo wombat, quokka, opossum or Tasmanian devil.
You can find useful information in this links:
For koala: http://www.kidsplanet.org/factsheets/koala.html
For kangaroo: http://www.kidsplanet.org/factsheets/kangaroo.html
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/animals/kangaroo.html
For wombat: http://www.softschools.com/facts/animals/wombat_facts/244/
For Tasmanian devil: http://www.kidsplayandcreate.com/tasmanian-devil-facts-for-kids/
For Quokka: http://www.animalfactguide.com/animal-facts/quokka/
For opossum: http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-opossums/
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Process
PROCESSES:
Children working in groups of three students have to realize a Web Quest about Australian Marsupial following these processes:
Step 1:
They have to create a list of Australian animals they know or not (at least 10). They have a link to look for some more animals.
Step 2:
They have to distinguish which of the animals in their list are marsupial mammals. They have a link that helps them to classify their animals.
Step 3:
Students have to choose one marsupial and write a little description of it following the format teacher gives to them.
Evaluation
This activity aims to work on Australian marsupials, their characteristics, their abilities and their habits. The attention is especially focused on the fact that the baby lives in his mother’s pouch. As children have to look for information on Internet they maybe will be find difficult to understand all the text, for these reason teacher uses a scanning technique for reading a text and children have to search only for required information (the one in the description format). In addition, teacher will provide specific help whenever it will be necessary.
Conclusion
One of the main aims of this work has been to create learning contexts for meaningful interactions between students. The challenge has been creating a real situation of communication in which students have to choose animals, share meanings, negotiate these meanings to achieve a consensus and organise and structure new knowledge in a description text. The focal point has been how to optimize the use of technology in the classroom providing language supportive strategies for using the language to learn.