Into Thin Air Webquest

Introduction

MOUNT EVEREST RESEARCH

 

Mount Everest is located in the Himalayas in Tibet.  It is the highest peak in the world at 29,035 ft.  It is a magnificant and wonderous place that has its own climate, animals, culture, and dangers.  In this webquest you will research all the splendid complexities that are associated with Mount Everest. 

In your research you will come across the dangers also associated with climbing Everest and you will have to weigh the good verses the bad when deciding whether you will encourage your best friend and photographer to climb Mount Everest.

YOU ARE READY FOR THE TASKS AT HAND!!!!

Please click on the "Task" icon on the left and find out what you will be doing. 

Task

MOUNT EVEREST

Your best friend, an award winning photographer, has been asked by National Geographic to climb and photograph Mount Everest.  Your first task is to research, discuss, and problem solve all the complexities of Everest.  Then once your research is complete you will be writing your best friend a letter explaining whether you think that your friend should or should not climb Mount Everest.

GO AHEAD AND BEGIN THE "PROCESS" OF RESEARCH!!!

You are ready to begin the actual research on Mount Everest.  Click on the "process" icon and complete all 7 aspects of research on Mount Everest.

Process

Read through the following information about Mount Everest and complete the Into Thin Air Webquest Assignment on Google Classroom as you go.  You should open two tabs at once, so you can click from this information back to the Google Classroom assignment.

Weather on Mount Everest

Look up the weather today at Mount Everest by searching "weather at Mount Everest" in Google.  Go to the Google document and mark what you have found.

Sherpa Culture

Go to the following link and read the article.  Answer the three questions on the Google Document.

Sherpa Article

Altitude Sickness

Read the following paragraph, and answer questions in the Google Document.

Climbing Mount Everest requires one to endure life at a high altitude. This can be very hard on the body and cause many sicknesses if precautions are not made.

There are some recommendations that will prevent altitude sickness. Having a slow ascent that gives a person’s body time to acclimatize will prevent sickness. Also, when an altitude above 10,000 feet is reached, altitude should not increase more than 1,000 feet per night. Every two to three days, a second night should be spent at the same elevation.

Alcohol, sleeping pills and narcotic pain medicines should be avoided because they hinder breathing. Lastly, a lot of water should be drunk.

If these recommendations are ignored, three diseases could occur. AMS, or Acute Mountain Sickness, is one of them. This is a disease caused by not allowing enough time to acclimatize. The symptoms of this disease include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, dizziness and sleeping difficulty.

HACE, or High Altitude Cerebral Edema, is another, more severe sickness. This disease has the same syptoms as AMS, but they are more severe. A change in mental status and ataxia can also occur from HACE.

High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, known as HAPE, is the worst of altitude sickness. The symptoms of this disease are a cough, weakness, a decreased exercise performance, chest tightness or congestion, rales or wheezing in at least one lung field, blue lips and an increased heartrate.

HACE and HAPE can be deadly.

View from Base Camp

Go to the Google Maps link and scroll down the page.  Explore the panoramic picture using the arrows at the bottom and moving your cursor around.  Click through the twelve picture slideshow at the bottom and answer the questions in the Google Document.

Google Maps Link

Deaths on Mount Everest

Go to the following link to read about deaths on Mount Everest, and then go back to the Google Document to answer questions.

Deaths Article

Evaluation

Using the information that you have gathered, go back to the Google Document and write a four-five sentence letter to your best friend who wants to climb Mount Everest.  Should they do it?  Why or why not?  Make sure you use both logos and pathos in your argument.