“Streetsboro & Bicycle Helmets”

A WebQuest For 6th Grade Language Arts
In Preparation for A Persuasive Essay

Designed by
Mrs. T. Betts
nintndo@en.com
Streetsboro Middle School
Streetsboro , Ohio

Introduction | Task | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion

Introduction

Just how hard is your head?

Would you wear a bicycle helmet? What if the law required it?

Would you work to support a bicycle helmet law in Streetsboro? YOU could help the City Council decide.

How are you going to convince the Streetsboro City Council that bicycle helmets are necessary?

This WebQuest is about finding information on the web to support your argument that Streetsboro does need a bicycle helmet safety law.

You will need a WebQuest Search Page and paper and pencil.

You’ll use the information you gather to present your opinions in a well-written, well-supported persuasive essay.

YOU CAN ACHIEVE CHANGE!

The Task

The end result of this task is to write a persuasive essay that will convince the Streetsboro City Council that a bicycle helmet law is necessary.

You will find out how much a typical bicycle helmet costs.

You will find out various bicycle accident statistics.

You will present your position (of needing a bicycle helmet) and defend that with adequate support.

You will gain insight into how helmets work.

You will summarize the information you gather into your persuasive essay.

· You will use provided links to obtain information for your essay.

· Goal: Your final product will be a well-written and well-supported persuasive essay.

Process

The first thing you will do is read this entire WebQuest site to familiarize yourself with its contents and your tasks.

After reading this site, you will return to the “Resources” section below and print the worksheets required for prewriting.

Use the links to help you do your prewriting and answer the questions on the worksheets.

Keep your worksheets stapled together and in your writing folder.

Show the teacher your completed worksheets before beginning your 1^st draft.

Self-edit your 1^st draft, then have it peer-edited. If time, your teacher may be able to do a final edit.

The final copy should be on loose-leaf paper (in the proper format) or typed.

Resources

Click on the links below find information on bicycle helmets, bicycle safety, and to answer the questions on the worksheet. The links below should help you determine the information you need to write your essay and complete the prewriting worksheet.

You MUST click on EACH of the following:

http://www.ci.eugene.or.us/dps/police/trfbikes.htm for general information on bicycle safety (please read all) and bicycle accident statistics.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/search.gsp?search_constraint=0&search_query=bicycle+helmet&Continue.x=16&Continue.y=15 for prices of helmets (please select one and record the price on your worksheet).

http://www.smf.org/cert.html to see if the helmet you selected meets industry standards.

http://www.bhsi.org/stats.htm to answer some more questions on the worksheet

http://www.bhsi.org/mandator.htm to find out which Ohio cities and towns currently has bicycle helmet safety laws.

· Click here to get worksheet (if you haven’t already done so). Print, staple, and put your name on it. Keep it in your writing folder.

Evaluation

Streetsboro Middle School

Persuasive Essay

Name: ________________________

Teacher: Mrs. Betts

Criteria

Pts.

	4	3	2	1
Position Statement	Position is clearly stated and consistently maintained. Clear references to the issue(s) are stated.	Position is clearly stated and consistently maintained. References to the issue(s) at hand are missing.	Position is stated, but is not maintained consistently throughout work.	Statement of position cannot be determined.	____
Supporting Information	Evidence clearly supports the position; evidence is sufficient.	Evidence clearly supports the position; but there is not enough evidence.	Argument is supported by limited evidence.	Evidence is unrelated to argument.	____
Organization	Structure of work is clearly developed.	Structure developed reasonably well, but lacks clarity.	Some attempt to structure the argument has been made, but the structure is poorly developed.	There is a total lack of structure.	____
Tone Of Letter	Tone is consistent and enhances persuasiveness.	Tone enhances persuasiveness, but there are inconsistencies.	Tones do not contribute to persuasiveness.	Tone is inappropriate to purpose.	____
Sentence Structure	Sentence structure is correct.	Sentence structure is generally correct. Some awkward sentences do appear.	Work contains structural weaknesses and grammatical errors.	Work pays little attention to proper sentence structure.
Punctuation & Capitalization	Punctuation and capitalization are correct.	There is one error in punctuation and/or capitalization.	There are two or three errors in punctuation and/or capitalization.	There are four or more errors in punctuation and/or capitalization.
				Total---->	____

Teacher Comments:

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Conclusion

·        You have accomplished the writing of a persuasive essay. These essays will be sent to the Streetsboro City Council in hopes that they will enact a bicycle helmet law for Streetsboro.

·        To help accomplish the goal of enacting a helmet law, we will try to organize a fundraiser to sell approved helmets at a discounted price.

·        On a separate piece of paper, please tell (conclude) what the passage of a helmet law in Streetsboro might accomplish. Refer to the links (in “Resources” above) to help you complete this conclusion.