Electricity WebQuest
A WebQuest for you! 
 

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion


Introduction 

It's 2:00 in the morning on a rainy night in January and POW the electricity goes out!  Let's hope you have a battery back-up in your alarm clock.  Otherwise, you may miss the bus.  Warm milk on your cereal.  No bacon and eggs or pancakes this morning.  Forget about blow drying your hair.  It's not going to happen today.  You're going to have to take a nice cold shower by flashlight in a house that is now about 45 or 50 degrees.   We tend to take electricity for granted until we lose it.  Where does electricity really come from?  Come along on that mystical path as we explore the magic of electricity. As Ben Franklin once said: "IT'S ELECTRIFYING!" (Or was that JohnTravolta?)


The Task 
You are to complete the following as your finished product for this WebQuest:
  1. A multimedia presentation (PowerPoint) or a Posterboard.
  2. Build an electrical project or perform an electrical experiment/demo.
RESEARCH AREAS:
You will need to know the following... In other words the products above must show that you have a background in the following areas (in no particular order):
  • Static electricity
  • Conductors and insulators
  • Series and parallel circuits
  • Electric charge
  • Electrical current
  • Ohm's law
  • Electrical safety

 

The Process 
  1. You will work together in teams of two to three. 
  2. Each person on the team will have a specific job. 
  3. Once your team decides on how to accomplish the task(s), you will brainstorm what roles are needed and who will fulfill those roles.
  4. Decide how you are going to collect your information from the internet. (Note taking, mind mapping, etc...  You may want to capture pictures off the internet during your research to use in your finished product - see below)
  5. At this point, share your information with your teacher before you continue.
  6. Once you have the OK from your teacher, you need to research the areas listed above under the task section.
  7. Any changes made in the process  must be OK'd by your teacher.
  8. Below you will find web sites to help you in your research: 
To capture pictures off the internet, right mouse-click over the picture and save to the hard drive, the server, or a floppy disk.  You may rename the file if you want to.

http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/index.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/10796/ch11/ch11.htm 
Atoms Family
http://www.miamisci.org/af/sln/
from Atoms Family (electricity)
http://www.miamisci.org/af/sln/frankenstein/index.html
Energy Quest
http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/index.html 
from Energy Quest- "What is electricity?"
http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter02.html
More Electricity
(charge, conductors & insulators, current, ohm's law)
http://library.thinkquest.org/10796/ch11/ch11.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/10796/ch13/ch13.htm#s1
Series & parallel circuit
http://library.thinkquest.org/10796/ch14/ch14.htm 
Electrical Safety
http://www.smud.org/safety/world/html/kids2.html
Static Electricity
http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/static.htm 
DC Circuits w/quiz
http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/dccircuits.htm
AC electricity (w/quiz)
http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/ac.htm
Science definitions (kewl)
http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/definitions.cfm
Theatre of Electricity (good videos & pics)
http://www.mos.org/sln/toe/toe.html
Ben Franklin Bio
http://sln.fi.edu/franklin/rotten.html
Van der Graff Page (nice pic)
http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/emotor/vdg.html 
Scientists
http://energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/joule.html
http://energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/einstein.html
http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/index.html
http://energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/edison.html 
http://energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/ohm.html
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Ohm.html
http://energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/tesla.html 
http://energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/faraday.html
http://www.iee.org.uk/publish/faraday/faraday1.html
http://sln.fi.edu/franklin/rotten.html
http://sln.fi.edu/franklin/


Evaluation

Grade for this WebQuest will be given as a group.  Any individual within the group who fails to do his/her part as designated by the group, will receive an individual grade lower than the group grade.  Problems that arise must be worked out by the group without bickering.  If a solution cannot be found by the group, the group may ask the teacher to help find a solution. 
Beginning

1

 Developing

2

 Accomplished

3

 Exemplary

4

 Score
Product 1

 
Product includes accurate information from less than 3 research areas listed under the task section. 
Product includes accurate information from only 3-5 research areas listed under the task section. 

Product includes accurate information from 6 research areas listed under the task section. 
Product includes accurate information from each of the 7 research areas listed under the task section. 
  
Product 2











 
Product incomplete or missing.
Product poor in design and execution.
 Product is average in design, execution, and presentation.
Product is above average in design, execution, and presentation.
  
Overall











 
The products show no planning, creativity, or elaboration.  Shows no effort or research.
The products show little  planning, creativity, or elaboration.  Shows little effort or research.
The products show some planning, creativity, elaboration.  Shows some amount of effort and research.
The products show a large amount of  planning, creativity, elaboration.  Shows a great deal of effort and research. 
  
Group Dynamics

 
Members of the group bickered daily about roles and obligations.  Teacher needed to mediate more than five times.
Members of the group bickered about roles and obligations.  Teacher needed to mediate up to  five times.
Members of the group bickered about roles and obligations.  Teacher needed to mediate up to  three times.
Group worked well together.  Each member fulfilled his/her obligation as spelled out by the group under numbers 3 and 4 within the process section.
  


Conclusion

You have learned a lot about electricity in this WebQuest; what it is and how it is generated. Be prepared to share what you've learned with the class, present your presentation or web site, and demonstrate your electrical project or demo.