Travel the 50 States

Webquest for Social StudiesHigh School StudentsHeather Hicks-Ottmer

Introduction Did you know that the United States is the

4th largest country in the world? United States is home to many interesting

things such as: Mount Rushmore 5 Great Lakes Grand Canyon Over 100 Ballparks such as Wrigley’s Field Over 100 Zoos, such as San Diego Zoo The List goes on

The Webquest: You are going to divide into groups of 3 students. Your group is going to plan a trip to a certain region Your group is going to put together a PowerPoint of

your trip. Your group will be assigned one of the 5 regions:

West Middle West Northeast Southwest Southeast

The Trip

On your trip, you need to decide to visit at least 5 places that is in your assigned region These places must not be a state only, it

must be more specified such as a city or national park. (I.e. Grand Canyon, New York City)

They must be in 5 different states..

Transportation Your group is going to have to decide on

how to get there. It can be by car or by plane. Remember if you fly to the particular

destination, you need to remember to include the use of taxis as well as the use of rental cars in your project

Write how far it is from where you live, how far it is from the first place to the second place, second place to the third place, third place to the fourth place and the fourth place to the final destination as well as how you will get home from there.

When you choose the places: Be sure to include the name of the place, where it is

located (name of state), Be sure to include the address Be sure to include the reasons and activities you plan

to do while you are there Tell the purpose behind the choosing of each place

(Seattle because it is home to the first Starbucks) Be sure to include the name of the hotels you will be

staying at Be sure to tell us what the culture is like there

(example: Oklahoma has Native Americans) Most of the places you will visit will have interesting

places to eat.

Price: There is no price

limit on this trip This trip will be 2

weeks long. The amount of

days spent in one place is up to you.

Be sure to keep in mind: The weather What you need to

bring What you need to

wear Where and what

you will eat everyday

These are the websites approved:

Google www.google.com

Tourism sites 50 State Travel Information

Other sites things to see in US - Google Search Any websites with teacher’s approval

Daily Tasks: Monday Divide into groups, assign the region. Go to the tourism website and select the

states that are in your region and find interesting things to do.

Select the 5 places you would like to travel to

Figure out the mileages and mode of transportation (rental car, your own car or fly, taxis)

Bookmark these links to be able to go back when needed in further research

Tuesday Research more about the places,

choose the activities Research the weather involved with

these places Make the packing list and

recommendations for the needed wardrobe

Bookmark these links to be used in your presentation

Wednesday Research more about the places and find

the hotels to stay Pick a restaurant to eat per night Plan the 2 weeks calendar of what places to

go on which days and how long the stay will be during each place.

Gather all of the needed information from the requirement list and make an outline to prepare for the next day’s activity.

Thursday

Put together the PowerPoint Be sure to have the hyperlinks or

images Be sure to include all of the

requirements as listed Be sure to look at the rubric for any

additional information to get as many points as possible

Friday

Each group will give a 10 minutes presentation on their Powerpoint and trip

The class will evaluate and tell the teacher what they have learned from these presentations

Criteria: Requirements The name of the region you

are assigned The minimum 5 places you

will visit 4 activities for each place Name of hotel for every night Name of one restaurant for

each day in the places and what kind of food it serves

The miles traveled and the mode of transportation

5 Interesting facts about each particular place you are visiting

The packing list of items you will be needing

The current conditions of the places you will be visiting (weather)

Include pictures or links if you wish to show us what you will be doing or seeing.

Be sure to cite the information you get to avoid plagiarism

These are worth 40 points, or 4 points for each requirement per place.

Power Point Presentation Must consist of a Title page

with the members names on it and name of the region

An introduction page stating the 5 places and a map with the pinpoints of the places

5 slides, one place per slide In each slide, state the

activities, the purpose behind this place you chose, the name of the hotel, where you will eat, how long you will be staying at this place, the mode of transportation

The power point presentation will be created together and then an oral presentation of what the students have done will be given.

The oral presentation needs to be at least 10 minutes long.

Each person must do at least one slide in the oral presentation.

Each link must be shown or each image must be explained so the students will have a clear picture of what is going on.

Rubric

Your Rubric: Multimedia Project : Webquest

Power Point Example

The Mexcio ProjectBy: Heather Hicks-Ottmer

Introduction

I have chosen to go visit Mexico. The 5 places I will be visiting are:

Cancun Mexico City Cozumel Acapulco Yucatan

Yucatan We chose to go to this place mainly to see the Mayan Ruins We will be staying in the all inclusive resort, Playa De Mar,

for 3 days. We are going to be doing the activities: See the ruins Mayan Ruins Mexico: Yucatan Peninsula Mayan

Ruins, Mexico Go scuba diving Go to Xcaret, which is an Eco Park. Xcaret Eco Park Experience the Sian Kaan tour We will be eating mostly at our resort because it is all inclusive

resort. The weather here is sunny because it is close to the beaches

and we can wear shorts or dresses. We have to bring swimsuits to participate in most of the activities.

We flew to here from Dallas, TX. We used taxis as our transportation and most of the activities we did came with chartered bus.

Evaluation at the end:

Ask the student which trip was the best out of the 5 group projects.

Ask the student to evaluate their peer’s trip plans according to the rubric. Ask them to find problems such as no

mention of transportation, etc if it is not in the peer’s presentation.