ABC's Behind the News (BTN) ran this segment recently: Penguin Dogs! This seemed interesting! What was happening here? How could I use it in a WebQuest?
This segment was about special dogs called Maremma (pronounced Mare-Emma) from Italy who are great guard dogs if they love the animals they look after. These particular Maremmas are guarding penguins at Middle Island in Victoria.
If you were incorporating it into a WebQuest, it could be used as a resource for students to look at as a solution to reducing fox predation on the penguins.
Or, it could be used as an another example of using other animals to control the Feral Fox invasion in Australia.
The question could be Should we be using an European animal to control another European pest (the fox)? Will we learn from our past mistakes about Biological Control? What about how we introduce Cane toads to help control the French's Cane Beetle and the Greyback Cane Beetle? This would be a great WebQuest question to solve a messy problem for students in Years 5 - 8.
There are messy problems everywhere for students to attempt to solve!!! Have a go at creating a WebQuest! It does take time and effort - but it is then around for a while for you and other teachers to use!!! Try SWAT
http://www.webquestdirect.com.au/swat - a web 2.0 tool that is easy to use.
Or, if you want to use what other teachers have already created, you can individually or through your school subscribe to WebQuest Direct (it is only $US42 or $AU65 for an individual for the year; or, $US550, or $350 primary, or $495 secondary for a whole school and every teacher). We have thousands of reviewed and rated WebQuests that you can search and find appropriate. Of course, you can also spend the time and effort of searching with Google to find an appropriate WebQuest but isn't your time worth something! We have already done the searching for you!!!
All the best with your WebQuesting!!!
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