Shawn Lees-Carr

SLM 521: Web Drop-In#5

9^th grade English

Environmental Hazards

Introduction: We have been reading stories that clearly have settings that create conflicts, from climbing Mt. Everest to sailing around uncertain territory in terrible storms. Many times these dangers help create suspense and action.

Now, you will select a particular environment and determine the factors and conditions of this environment. You will gather the information in the form of a matrix chart and examine how these variables could kill someone. Finally, you will create a checklist to help future travelers avoid these pitfalls.

Products:

A. Characteristics/Features chart

B. Checklist for future travelers

Activity (Part I):

1. Select an environmental/geographical habitat/area:

Desert Tundra

Coastal area Ocean

Island Mountain

Arctic area Volcanic

Tropical OTHER IDEAS?

2. Examine the chart below. Create one on your own paper! Creating organizers should be something you do on your own, not just wait for a teacher to tell you or give you one.

HABITAT CHART

My Habitat is:
Features	Possible Hazards/Problems caused by the features
Describe: Seasons Temperature Weather (ranges)
Describe: Rainfall/Water resources
Describe: Vegetation/Plants
Describe: Soil/Ground
Describe: Animals
Describe: Natural rock formations or features of the land
Describe (what else?):

3. To be more successful while you gather information, let’s brainstorm some key words you can use while searching. Using the key words in the chart above, create a list of at least 10 specific words you could plug into a search.

4. Going on the hunt. I will help you get there, but I won’t drag you there.

A. First go to the FCPS student information databases by clicking through the media center folder. If you are not at a school computer, you can control+ click on this apple! http://acad.fcps.org/portals/hs.htm

B. The first database we are going to visit is SIRS Discover. If you have used this before, great! If not, it is a very powerful tool that allows you to not only locate information, but also sort it based on certain factors, such as reading level, etc.

C. You will need a username (fcpstjhs) and password (patriots). Once you are on the main page, type in your keywords and make sure you are doing a keyword/natural language search. You can control+ click on the SIRS Discoverer bottom above to take you to the password site. http://ars.sirs.com/discoverer.html

D. Record the information you find. You should just be recording basic facts, but specific facts.

E. Although you may search in other databases, I suggest you give Thomas Gale’s Student Resource Center a try. You will need the user name (fcpstjhs) and password (patriots). You may control-click on the apple to get to the log-in page.

F. Once you reach the database main page, you will want to click on the Student Research Gold section. Once you have reached this page, scroll down and on the left-hand side of the page, you will see a geography bottom. Click it and then you will see some topics to fit your environment.

G. You can also explore the science section.

5. As you collect your information, think about the types of problems or conflicts these features could cause for a character who decided to travel across the habitat or environment.

END of PART I

PART II will involve creating the checklist of dangers for travelers and what to watch out for using the information gathered, along with some additional research on survival skills.