A WebQuest for middle school students

By: Jennifer Postal

Introduction

Imagine you are living in an area where there isn’t any place for kids to play outside. No fields for baseball or football, no courts for basketball or tennis and no place to ride bikes or rollerblade. It would probably not be as fun as where you live now. Most of you are able to play outside in fields that are well maintained, with proper equipment as well as parents that are involved in what you are doing.

Unfortunately, what you are able to experience on a daily basis probably does not happen in an inner city location. Those kids do not have opportunities to play in well maintained fields, with proper equipment and parents that are involved. It is important to try to give those kids that are not as privileged as you some of the same opportunities that you can experience.

Task

Soccer is fast becoming a very popular sport for kids to play in the United States. Almost every area has leagues for kids to gain an appreciation of the game of soccer. Your job is to bring a little of what you have to some under privileged kids living in a city. You will have a budget of $1000.00 to set up a soccer league for those kids. The players in the program will be able to learn important skills of teamwork, sportsmanship and fundamental skills of soccer by participating in your league.

The resources listed below will help your group to give other kids the same some of the same chances that you are able to enjoy. At the end of the project, each group will present their suggestions for how to accomplish this task to the class.

Process

Working in a group, you will need to keep in mind some key things:

1. These kids don’t have the resources that you are familiar with so buying equipment will be necessary. Look for the best prices on balls, goals and uniforms.

2. Finding a suitable location for playing games will be important.

3. Recruiting qualified coaches who are familiar with the game of soccer will be essential.

4. How will your group find kids to play in the league? Will you try to partner with a local school? Will there be qualifications to join, such as grades or attendance? Will there be a charge for participating?

5. How long will the season last? When are the game dates? Will every participant receive a reward for participating?

Each group will need to turn in a typed plan in addition to presenting it to the class for how they will accomplish the task.

Resources

Equipment Drills and Lesson Plans

Soccer Supplies Soccer for Parents

Soccer Equipment Soccer Skills

Soccer Lesson Plans

Kids First Soccer

Soccer Locations Qualified Instructors

Parks in Baltimore City Loyola College Men's Soccer Team

Permits for Park Use Towson University Women's Soccer Team

Evaluation

Your written response and presentation to the class will be evaluated by the following rubric:

	1	2	3	Your Score
Organization	The information is not organized at all.	Information is hard to follow. There is no logical sequence of topics.	Information is organized in an easy to follow way. Easy to identify topics and sections.
Quality of Information	Information does not relate to the topic.	Information relates to the main topic. No details are given at all.	Information clearly relates to the main topic with lots of details.
Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling	Very frequent grammar, punctuation and/or spelling errors.	Minimal grammar, punctuation and/or spelling errors.	All grammar, punctuation and/or spelling are correct.
Oral Presentation	Only one member of the group presented. Little preparation is apparent.	Some of the group members participated. Information was not presented in a logical format. Some preparation went into the presentation.	All group members participated in an equal fashion. Information is presented so that the audience is able to follow. The presentation was carefully thought out

Conclusion

After finishing this project, you should now have an understanding of the different details that are required when planning an athletic program. It is very hard to plan a program as well as stay on budget. It is even more difficult if the resources are not already in place. Without proper funding activities like the one that was just created would not be able to occur. Hopefully, you have seen the importance of bringing athletics to those that may not otherwise have an opportunity.

WebQuest Links

Here is a list of five Web Quests that are in the area of Health/Physical Education.

Sports Fanatics WebQuest

This WebQuest gives elementary school children the opportunity to invent a new sport.

Is Fast Food What I Should Eat For Lunch WebQuest

This WebQuest is designed for high school students to determine the nutritional quality of fast food eating.

Cardio Fitness WebQuest

This WebQuest is designed for middle school students to learn about fitness levels.

Drug Awareness WebQuest

This WebQuest is designed for elementary students to introduce them to the dangers and effects of tobacco use.

Baseball WebQuest

This WebQuest is designed for fourth graders to have a better understanding of how math is used in everyday life.