Introduction
Welcome
This webquest will focus on the Iditarod and the mushers that make it all possible! You will be studying Iditarod mushers and creating a manual of what it takes to prepare for a long sled dog race.
Content Areas: Reading, Language Arts
Grade levels: 3rd-4th
Standards Covered:
3.2.R.4 Students will summarize facts and details from an informational text.
3.3.W.2 Students will write facts about a subject, including a main idea with supporting details, in multiple paragraphs with transitional words and phrases.
3.6.R.1 Students will conduct research to answer questions, including self-generated questions, and to build knowledge.
3.6.W.2 Students will begin to organize information found during research, following a modified citation style (i.e., author, title, publication year).
3.6.W.3 Students will write informative texts independently for short timeframes (e.g., a single sitting or a day or two) that organize related information about a topic and convey details from a single source.
4.2.R.4 Students will summarize facts and details from an informational text.
4.6.W.2 Students will organize information found during research, following a modified citation style (i.e., author, title, publication year).
4.6.R.1 Students will conduct research to answer questions, including self-generated questions, and to build knowledge, using multiple sources (e.g., visual and text reference sources, electronic resources, and/or interviews).
4.6.R.3 Students will determine the relevance of the information gathered.
Introduction
The Iditarod is the longest annual dogsled race in the world. It is held every year in Alaska. Mushers take their team of dogs along a trail, racing for the finish line against all of the elements that Alaska offers. A musher is a person that drives a dogsled. Mushers face many challenges along the trail such as extreme cold, lack of resources, wild animals, snow, lack of communication with the outside world, and injury. So how do they complete in this 1,000 mile journey each year? Would you be able to survive the conditions? Would you want to try? Imagine you are a rookie musher that wants to try sled dog racing. Where would you begin?
Task
Task:
The Iditarod race is held annually in Alaska and includes a 1,000 mile journey from Anchorage to Nome. Your job is to work with a small group to create a manual of what is required of a musher to prepare for such a race. Your manual can be written in a physical book form and put into a digital form using the program "Canva." Your manual also needs to include your group's opinion on whether you think dogs should be used in this manner.
Essential Questions:
What does it take for a musher to prepare for the Iditarod?
What role do the dogs play in the race?
Should dogs be used in this manner (to pull sleds for a race)?
Group Roles:
You have been assigned to groups of 3. Please decide on a role for each of your group members from the list below:
- Researcher: This person is in charge of finding reliable resources, reading and locating factual information, and fact checking your final product.
- Journalist: Take notes on all of the information your group learns about mushers through your research and help plan out final project.
- Project Developer: This person's role is creating the final project. They need to take the information that the researcher has located and put it into a format that can be shared with others.
Presentation:
Your group will be expected to present your findings and final product to the class through a gallery walk. If a digital manual is created, it will be shared on our classroom website as well.
Evaluation:
Groups will be given a rubric to follow before and during the project completion.
Process
Process:
- Complete some basic Iditarod research/reading by choosing 3 of the articles below to read on your own.
- Work with your team of 3 to decide what roles each of you will fulfill. All members need to take part in the final product. The manual you create needs to represent the findings and work of all 3 team members.
- Decide as a team if you will be creating a physical book/manual or if you want to design a digital one in Canva. You final product can be made from pencil/paper. It must have the following parts:
- Introduction: Describe what the Iditarod is, what a musher is, and what role they play in the race.
- Musher roles/jobs: Describe what mushers do daily/weekly/monthly to prepare for a dogsled race.
- Dogs: What role do the dogs play in the race and how to the mushers train/prepare them?
- Images/Pictures: Please include pictures throughout your manual that show what you are describing.
- Opinion Writing: Should dogs be used in racing? Do you think this is ethically wrong to make dogs work in this way? Why or why not?
- List of sources you used (please include title, author, and publication year.)
- Decide as a team if you think that dogs should be used in this capacity or not. Please include this in your manual somewhere as an opinion piece of writing.
- Work on your individual role to complete research and final project.
- Check with the rubric to ensure that you have included everything you need to get full credit.
- Turn in your manual to your teacher along with notes and research gathered.
- Present your project to your classmates through a gallery walk around the room (half of the groups will be walking around/half presenting and then switch).
Evaluation
| Criteria | 20 points | 15 points | 10 points | 0 points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research Content | All information was clear, accurate, and thorough. | Most information was clear, accurate, and thorough. | Most information was clear and accurate, but not thorough. | Information was not accurate. |
| Roles Followed | Group members chose roles and followed them throughout the project. | Group members mostly followed their roles chosen. | Group members rarely followed the roles chosen. | Group did not attempt to follow roles. |
| Opinion Piece | Group members chose an opinion and wrote about why they felt that way with text-based evidence. | Group members chose an opinion but included little evidence. | Group members chose an opinion but did not include evidence. | Group did not choose an opinion. |
| Final Product | Final product communicates the steps to becoming a dogsled musher in an organized, clear format. | Final product communicates the steps to becoming a dogsled musher but in a somewhat organized manner. | Final product lacks organization and clear directions. | No attempt at a final product. |
| Collaboration | Team members worked well together. | Team members worked well together most of the time. | Team members worked well together rarely. | Team did not work together. |
Conclusion
Now that you have completed your research and learned all about the Iditarod mushers, do you think you could do it? Those extreme elements would definitely put you to the test! Using what you have learned, design and engineer some winter gear to help battle the elements. You could make snow shoes, dog booties, or hand warmers! Solve a problem that you learned about in your research that is common for dogs or mushers during the Iditarod. How could your product help them? How could you market it?
Credits
Intro Image: https://www.gq.com/story/real-life-diet-iditarod-musher
Task Image: https://deltadiscovery.com/iditarod-mushers-and-rule-35/
Process Image: https://deltadiscovery.com/iditarod-mushers-and-rule-35/
Conclusion Image: https://apnews.com/article/alaska-anchorage-coronavirus-pandemic-iditarod-trail-sled-dog-race-dogs-b9bc4935c9a86c02605804eb66cafe9f
Teacher Page
Extension Ideas:
- Students could try to find a local musher to visit or musher that is willing to do a video call with the class to interview and ask questions about what they learned and still are wondering about.
- Students could make the item that they designed or engineered in the conclusion portion of the webquest.
- Students could write a children's book about the Iditarod and share with a class of younger students.
Additional Resources for teachers:
Iditarod lessons: https://iditarod.com/edu/category/insider-in-the-classroom/
Iditarod unit ideas: https://www.teachinginthetongass.com/2015/02/iditarod-activities-for-the-classroom.html
Book Lists for Iditarod topic:https://iditarod.com/edu/iditarod-books/
Epic! Booklist for mushers, sled dogs, and the Iditarod: https://www.getepic.com/collection/29862259/iditarod-books?utm_source=t2t&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=content&share=6837980580