Introduction
You and your family made a trip to Colorado in the middle of winter and now you are sitting in an airport where your flight has been delayed because of the incoming snowy and windy weather. You and your family need to travel to another state via car because the conditions are still safe enough to drive in. You must find a state that is not experiencing snowy weather that you will then be able to fly out of to make it back to Pennsylvania in the next coming day. You will explore this Webquest where you will find statistics about states annual snowfall rates and what they are like during the middle of winter. Your job will be to find the best two states to travel to via car that rarely ever experience snow during the winter so you can board a plane and go home. You will also need to explain which two states you wouldn't travel to because they experience a lot of winter weather and that would put you in the same position of having a delayed flight. You will find throughout this WebQuest what states experience the most snow during the winter months as well as states that hardly ever experience snow in the winter months. You will see in one link that every state has different elevations that can cause weather to be different between every state. Now that you have read the Introduction you can now click the task tab and explore what exactly you are supposed to do for this activity.
Task
Good Job you made it to the task tab! Below will be listed what you must complete to make it back to Pennsylvania. After viewing what you must do move onto the next section.
- You will check the links provided throughout the WebQuest to gather information on what states would be the safest to travel to during winter and what two states would be the most dangerous to travel to in the winter.
- You will record in a table what states receive the least amount of snow on average and what states receive the most snow on average in both centimeters and inches.
- After you have learned what states are the safest to travel to because they do not experience much snow and what states are the most dangerous because they experience a lot of snow you will grab a piece of paper.
- Once grabbing a piece of paper you will write the two states you would travel to that you think are the safest to travel to in the middle of winter and you will write what two states are the most dangerous to travel to in the middle of winter.
- After writing the two safest and two most dangerous states to travel to in the middle of winter. You will then explain why you selected these states to travel to so you can fly out of either of the two states to make it back to Pennsylvania. You must use statistics from the links to incorporate into your decision on where you would travel.
Process
- This link shows the average yearly snowfall for each state. Students will view this website and fill out a table in which they will select the top 10 states that receive the least amount of snow and the top 10 states that experience the most snow. Statistics provided on this site.https://www.currentresults.com/Weather/US/average-snowfall-by-state.php
- Please fill out the table of the state, city, and the amount of snow they receive in inches and centimeters based on the link provided above.
State City Inches Of Snow Centimeters Of Snow Ten Safest First N/A N/A N/A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ten Most Dangerous N/A N/A N/A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 also view this link and see the snowiest places in each state and look at how much more snow these certain snowy places get compared to the main cities of each state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_snowiest_places_in_the_United_States_by_state
- Now ask for a piece of paper from the teacher.
- Once grabbing a piece of paper you will write the two states and cities you would travel to that you think are the safest to travel to in the middle of winter based on your table and you will write what two states and cities are the most dangerous to travel to in the middle of winter based on your table of information.
- After writing the two safest and two most dangerous states and cities to travel to in the middle of winter. You will then explain why you would fly into and out of the two safest states to help you make it back home to Pennsylvania and why you wouldn't travel to the dangerous states as they would be more of a risk to fly into and out of to make it home as you would be more likely to be in the same situation where your flight would be delayed. You must use statistics from the first link to incorporate into your decision on what two states you would select traveling to and what two states you are most likely going to avoid for the safety of your trip back home to Pennsylvania.
Evaluation
For the Evaluation of this Webquest, I will be using a rubric solely designed for individual work on this Webquest.
NGSS Standards I am using in this WebQuest are:
3-ESS2-1 Earth's Systems
Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.
Performance Expectation Grade:3
3-ESS2-2 Earth's Systems
Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
Performance Expectation Grade:3
PDE Standard
Standard - 3.3.4.A5 Describe basic weather elements.
Rubric
| Followed Directions |
Proficient (4 Points) Student Clearly Followed all directions and steps in the correct order and their work was well organized.
|
Average (3 Points) The student skipped steps and was doing different tasks at the incorrect time and work was not as organized as it should be.
|
Below Average (2 Points) The student didn't follow the correct order and was completely ignoring the steps listed and work was not organized.
|
| Data In Graph Is Correct |
The student had all information in their graphs correctly labeled and had the correct information about states and cities and the amount of snow they received graphed correctly. |
The student had minor mistakes with labeling states and cities or had minor mistakes with incorrect data in certain spots about states and cities and how much snow occurs.
|
The student had many errors in labeling or had many errors in including the correct information for the states and cities and how much snow they received.
|
| Correctly Chose Two Safe States and Two States To Avoid | The Student effectively listed the two safest states and the two states they would mostly avoid based on the information they gathered from the link. |
The Student had a minor mistake in either miss choosing the safest states or a mistake with choosing the two states they would mostly avoid.
|
The Student demonstrated no idea of what the safest and most dangerous states are by selecting states that did not make sense and were completely wrong.
|
| Explanation | The student clearly demonstrates understanding and chooses the correct states to travel to and states to avoid as well as shows understanding by including statistics they have gathered from the Webquest into their justification. |
The student has the states they would travel to and avoid correct but doesn't use statistics to show their understanding or help their decision on where they would and would not go.
|
The student's explanation has the incorrect safe and non-safe states and shows no use of statistics from the Webquest in their decision on where they would travel to and where they would not travel to. |
Conclusion
Students would have this time to reflect on the Webquest and the teacher would sum up the topic on what states would be the safest to travel to during the winter if your flight were to be delayed because of snow at the airport you were originally going to travel to. The teacher would also sum up what states we would avoid because they are normally swamped with snow in the winter months. As a class, we would have an open discussion on what we learned and what we liked and disliked about the Webquest and discuss how we could improve the Webquest.