Exploring the Everglades in Florida

Everglades in Florida is an exceptional area that contributes to the habitat of species, water cleaning, and other species-saving havens. This Web Quest briefly describes its ecological role and the need to protect it, demonstrating Florida's State Standards for geography and using Bloom's Taxonomy. The guiding question is: I wonder what kind of interference human activities have in the Everglades and what preservation of such a critical ecosystem requires. Specifically, at the end of this unit, students will first learn the signifiance of the Everglades. Secondly, recognise the Everglades species and their role, and finally, assess the effects people have left on the Everglades and what can be done to fix it. This project makes people reflect on environmental topics and how to care for them.

Students will be grouped to create a PowerPoint presentation with narration or a video about the Everglades, its ecosystem, problems, and Solutions. The project should be atleast  ten slides or five minutes in video format and include Maps, Photos and Graphs in the prject's content. Regarding the Everglades, students are asked to use at least three reference sources to increase the degree of knowledge. Specifically, the objective jis to help students expresswhy the Everglades have to be protected and to share some information about conservation agencies' activities. This task helps in teamwork, literature search, and expression and presentation of work.

This Web Quest is structured to ensure that students effectively complete the task. Each member will work on one aspect of the group's presentation: wildlife, plants, human impact,or conservation. Each student will play specific role: The Researcher will research for accurate information; The Designer will create an organised visual and ensure the design is cohesive; The Presenter will narrate the presentation; and the Editor will edit for accuracy and clarity. Essential resources contributed here are the Everglades National Park(https://www.nps.gov/ever/) and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation pages(https://myfwc.com/), which contain comprehensive information about the ecosystem. Group meetings will help members compile the findings, assign roles, and finalize the project. This process encourages collaboration, learning based on roles, and using digital tools for research and presentation.

 Students' projects will be considered under specific criteria to balance the level of content quality, the order of presentation, visual aids, collaboration, and Originality. Each point and its weight are explained according to the following rubric. This format will clearly show the expectations and where the students must concentrate their efforts. Each project would be out of 100 points. For example, if a project scores perfectly in Content but has low scores in Originality, then a comment would be made on that project to ensure that future assignments reflect more creative thought. This detailed rubric ensures fairness and thorough evaluation to ensure quality work and accountability within group collaboration.

With this Everglades Web Quest, students can research an essential ecosystem and understand the consequences of human behaviours upon the environment. Students would have researched and presented conservation efforts that would bring about environmental responsibility. A possible enrichment activity may be to watch the National Geographic "The Everglades" documentary or take virtual tours of the Everglades National Park. These resources provide more context about the ecosystem and conservation efforts. This Web Quest connects students academically in a real-world dimension that challenges them to reflect upon their place in maintaining natural environments.