Endangered Zoo WebQuest
by Heather Feher
November 19, 2003
Introduction | Task | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion | Reflection | Extensions | Notes to Teacher
You have a mission! There are endangered animals out there and they need your help to save them. It will be your job to build a zoo to house three different endangered animals from three very different habitats. Your zoo will be located right here in Phoenix! You will need to develop a zoo where your animals can live harmoniously in the zoo within their separate habitats.
You will be working in groups of three for this mission. Each of you will choose an animal that is from a habitat listed below. You must each choose an animal from a different habitat. Then, you will do research to find out everything you will need to know about that animal and its habitat in order to build your zoo. You will need to find out what other animals live there. You will also need to find out what kind of plant life exists in your habitat, what kind of landforms there are, and what the climate is like. You will need to identify the components of habitat that are essential for all animals to survive. Remember, there are four basic needs of every animal that must be present in a habitat in order for your animal to survive: food, water, shelter and space.
You will first choose an animal that would be from one of the habitats listed below. Once you have chosen an animal, you will get into a group with two other people who have an animal from a habitat that is different from your own.
v Arctic
v Antarctic
v Desert
v Jungle
v Rainforest
v Ocean
v Freshwater Lake
v River
v Forest
v Mountains
v Grasslands
Once you have divided into groups, you need to begin researching your animal. You must find out information about the habitat in which it lives. You should know what other animals cohabitate in the habitat with your animal as well as what the habitat is like. You will also find out what kind of landforms are associated with this habitat as well as what the climate is like and how these things are utilized by your animal. Now, you need to do some more research to find out how this animal’s four needs of food, water, shelter and space are met in this habitat and how you can implement them into your zoo.
Once you have finished doing all of your research it will be time to build your zoos. You will build your habitat in a shoebox in a diorama fashion. You can use modeling clay, pictures from magazines, toothpicks, popsicle sticks, sand, etc. Basically, anything you can find to use in your diorama to represent your animal and habitat you can use.
Finally, you will create a summary of your zoo. Each person will need to write a report of his/her habitat in the form of a poster. You will need to include a description of the animal and what kind of food it eats, where it lives, and some information about its endangerment. Give some brief information about why the animal is endangered and what is being done to help this animal. The group will combine all three posters to form a gallery of your zoo. You will also find a way to connect your habitats together in order to form a zoo with them.
Click here to go to your list of resources.
This project is worth 50 points.
Click on the rubric link to see how you will earn your points.
*You can earn up to 16 group effort points from your teammates at the end of this project. They will be grading you. Each member of the group has 8 points that they can award their members.
*rubrics were created using rubistar
Now that we have completed this project and seen everybody's presentations it's time to wrap everything up. What I would like for you to do is pick one other animal from a zoo other than your own. I want you to write two paragraphs describing what you learned about that animal and its habitat. The first paragraph should tell about the animal and the second paragraph should tell about the habitat.
Welcome to the end of this project! Hopefully this has been a fun and educational journey for you. Now they we are at the end of this journey it's time to reflect back on the road we traveled. I would like for you to write 4 paragraphs reflecting on your assignment. The first paragraph will be an introduction to your project and a brief re-cap of what you did. Next you will describe what you learned doing this assignment. The third paragraph will describe how the group experience worked for you. Did you like it? Would you have preferred to work alone? Finally, you will close your essay and give any final thoughts about this project. Did you have fun? Would you do it again?
"Visit a zoo or an aquarium and arrange for a staff person to explain how the zoo/aquarium staff addresses the same basic requirements for animals that the students did--that is, the components of habitat."
taken from Project WILD Aquatic: Education Activity Guide ©1992
