Biome Webquest

Introduction

A travel agency is trying to boost travel to different parts of the world by increasing the advertising and selling vacation packages. You have been hired to make a presentation to sell a travel package

Task

Working as a group develop a short presentation to the class to sell your vacation package. After all presentations are finished, the class will vote on the most appealing vacation. Winners will receive a bonus!

Vacation Packages

taiga (coniferous forest)
tundra
tropical rain forest
desert
temperate grassland (prairie)
savannah (also listed as grasslands on some sites)
temperate deciduous forest
freshwater (lakes, rivers, or streams)
ocean

Process

Each team will be assigned a biome by the teacher. It is the team's job to research the biome and gather facts and information about that biome. Each member of the team will become an expert in a particular aspect of the biome. As a group the team will create a flyer or pamphlet that showcases their biome as a vacation spot. Students will use a word processing program to create the flyer. Pictures and facts should be included.

Team Roles

Botanist	Plant Expert
Zoologist	Animal Expert
Meteorologist	Weather Expert
Geographer	Map and Area Expert

Discuss with your team which role each of you will assume. Remember that you are all responsible for learning about the biome you are presenting, but your role reflects an area of particular focus for you as your research.

Each team member should choose a website from the resource list and find their biome, they should record facts and information about the biome. This factsheet will be turned in to show that you did your share of the group work. Please do not print out whole webpages, a list of facts on notebook paper is fine.

Remember your role. You can write down anything useful you think the team will need, but your focus should be on the role you were assigned (geographer, meteorologist, Zoologist, Botanist)

Some questions to consider:

What kinds of activities could people do in this location?
What kinds of plants and animals live there?
What kind of clothes should they bring?
What's the weather like?
What is the best time of year to to travel there?
What part of the world will they be travelling to?
Are there any dangerous elements to traveling there?

Rejoin your group and discuss your findings. Develop your flyer or pamphlet. All flyers will be shown to the class and the class will vote on the most appealing "vacation package". The winning group will receive 5 bonus points!

Evaluation

	Needs Work (1 pts)	Adequate (2 Pts)	Excellent (3 pts)
Content
weather	information lacking or inaccurate	includes accurate information, though lacking in volume or depth	includes accurate and relevant information
plants	information lacking or inaccurate	includes accurate information, though lacking in volume or depth	includes accurate and relevant information
animals	information lacking or inaccurate	includes accurate information, though lacking in volume or depth	includes accurate and relevant information
geography	information lacking or inaccurate	includes accurate information, though lacking in volume or depth	includes accurate and relevant information
Creativity	Flyer is not interesting, minimal effort involved	Flyer has some interesting features that may appeal to the audience	Flyer has images and facts that are interesting to the reader, appeal to audience
Format	Major errors in layout, grammar, such that flyer is nearly unreadable	Some spelling or grammar errors	Flyer has no spelling or grammar errors, layout is organized, easy to read
Fact Sheets (individual)	Fact sheet turned in, research not extensive	Fact sheet turned in, shows extensive research
Total	18 (team) + 2 (individual) = 20 possible