Webquest Pre-Plan - It's Electrifying!

For my webquest, I decided to focus on Electricity.  The students will be asked to design a new lab layout including the electrical designs for the electrician.  Once they have submitted their designs, they will help the electrician by evaluating his plan and offering suggestions that will fix the problems he made.

Intro

Welcome future electricians!  I am Principal Circuits and I need your help with the electrical design of our newest Physical Science lab.  As you travel through this journey in figuring out the best electrical layout for the new lab, you will be learning about electricity and electrical circuits.   Once you have made your electrical design proposals, I will still need your expertise in helping me supervise my electrician and make sure he does the best job possible.

Task

-Stage 1: Students will research the basics of electricity including vocabulary words, how electricity works, and types of electrical circuits.

Provided websites, videos, and online labs will be used to build the students’ knowledge on electricity as well as the students creating vocabulary flashcards using quizlet.com.

-Stage 2: Students will implement their knowledge of electricity by submitting electrical diagrams for the Physical Science lab-remodeling project. 

Video will be used to show students how to create electrical diagrams and what the appropriate symbols are for their diagrams.  They will upload their diagrams to VoiceThread where they will explain why they chose the design they did.

-Stage 3: Students will evaluate the work the of the electrician hired to do the Physical Science lab remodel (now that the best model was chosen), where they must critique his work and offer suggestions to help the electrician do the job to the best of his ability.

Students will have to explain to the principal what corrections the hired electrician needs to do and why. They will also give a new plan to help him out.  Students can write a formal letter or create a podcast/audio file presentation.  There will be help videos for either option showing the students how to successfully accomplish the task.

I am still working on all the pieces, trying to flush it out and make it usable.  I am thinking of using this after the students have learned about electricity, but before they have learned about circuits.  I am not sure though :)  Everyday I think on this project, I come up with something new.  My project keeps evolving!!!