A Web Quest for Horticulture Students
Designed by
Lori Powell-Mayhew
Lori_Powell@fc.mcps.k12.md.us
Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher Page
Introduction:
Organic Farming is not a new trend, but it is receiving a lot of
positive press, and more people are choosing to consume organically grown food,
purchased in our regular grocery stores.
This current demand is being met by a small but growing number of
organic farming operations including organic dairy and meats, not just
vegetables and fruits as it the past.
Additionally, you can purchase organically grown food at most local
grocery stores. Up until the last
2-3 years for a good selection you needed to shop at small hard to find whole
food stores.
So going Organic
has gone mainstream. In this web
quest you are going to explore this trend and develop your own value system
related to organically grown food and food produced using modern production
agriculture methods. Once you have
explored organic farming, understand what it is, how it compares to other
methods, and weighed is costs and benefits you will be able to determine how
you will spend your food budget.
Once
you have completed this Web Quest you will develop an opinion statement on organic farming to
share with your peers. From a
given budget for fruits and vegetables you will determine what you would
purchase from the grocery store produce section, and you will be asked to
defend this decision based on what you have learned in the Web Quest.
1.
You will need
to refine your knowledge of organic farming. We all have a general understanding of what organic farming
means, so visit the Organic Farming Research Foundation at http://www.ofrf.org/general/about_organic/
and confirm your information of dispel myths associated with organic farming.
a.
Develop a poster that states five key facts about organic
farming. (you do not need to create the poster, but you need to submit the key
facts to your instructor in a word document using the hand in folder.
b.
Write one well-developed sentence that clearly states the
potential benefits of organic farming. Post this statement on the class comment
bulletin board.
2.
To help you
develop and understanding of the controversy surrounding the issue you will
want to visit some pro and con organic farming sites.
a.
I have
provided some sites for you to visit, but you are not limited to these
links.
b.
If you do
search on you own record the websites you visit with their URL address.
c.
As you visit
each site write down key points in a word document. Divide the page in half and record pros on one side and cons
on the other you will submit this activity using the hand in folder.
Natural Selection
Foods-http://www.naturalselectionfoods.com/organic.html
Why Organic Food is Bad- http://www.postpolitics.com/blogs/archives/000264.html
Top 10 Environmental Reason to
Buy Organic Food -http://www.organic.org/new/topten.html
Organic Advocates, knives and
forks -http://www.organicadvocates.org/org3.html
Rethinking
Organics - http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/rethinking111303.cfm
Case
Aginst Biotech food has to do with Commercialism than safety -http://www.consumerfreedom.com/article_detail.cfm?ARTICLE_ID=68
In Defense of
Biotechnology- http://sci.newsfactor.com/perl/story/7047.html
Genetically
Modified Foods called safe - http://www.agbioworld.org/biotech_info/pr/canada_release1_22_00.html
3.
Working in
teams of three select three different grocery stores in your local area and
evaluate their organic produce offerings using the provided questions as a
guide.
a.
Grocery Store
Offering of Organic Produce Evaluation
·
How many feet
of grocery store space does the organic food display take up?
·
How many
different organically grown fruits and vegetables are offered?
·
Record the
price of 10 organically grown fruits and/or vegetables, and the price of the
same item grown conventionally.
·
How was the
organically grown produce marketed?
4.
Develop a
shopping list for the produce department.
Select from the 10 items you compared in step 3 and calculate the cost
to purchase list buying only organic and then conventionally produced produce.
a.
Write a well-developed sentence describing this comparison. Post this statement on the class
comment bulletin board.
Concluding
Activity
After
completing the above lessons develop an
opinion statement on organic farming to share with your peers. This should be a one – three sentence
statement. Support this statement with
information, facts and opinions you developed over the course of the Web Quest. Submit your statement in a word
document to your instructor using the hand-in folder.
Key
Facts about Organic Farming- 10 points
Pro and
Con Notes- 10 points
Grocery
Store Activity- points
Opinion
Statement
|
|
Beginning 1 |
Developing 2 |
Accomplished 3 |
Exemplary 4 |
Score |
|
Opinion
Statement |
Statement
does not reflect an opinion.
|
Statement
reflects an opinion, but the opinion is vague and not well developed. |
Statement
reflects an opinion is clear developed.
|
Statement
reflects an opinion is clear well developed and personalized. |
|
|
Statement
Support |
Not
supported |
Support
material is not well-developed uses only one example or point. |
Support
material is developed and contains more than one point or example. |
Support
material is well-developed and contains more than two points or examples. |
|
|
Presentation |
Spelling,
grammar and punctuation were not considered. |
One
or more was not addressed. |
All
were address, minimal errors.
|
No
errors found. |
|
Having an opinion is a very easy activity. Many of our opinions come from family, media, and even teachers. But developing and opinion takes a clear understanding of the issues and the ability to clearly articulate that opinion with fact. That is what you have developed in this Web Quest, an opinion of organic farming that you developed through your own research. Is your informed opinion different?
Related
Articles and Issues for your interest
·
Environmental
Working Group - www.ewg.org
Last updated on August
15, 1999. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page