by Lisa Freeman
Students will work in teams to research the twelve steps of the Hajj. Each team will also create a travel itinerary and budget for a family of four making a trip to Mecca, Saudi Arabia to participate in the Hajj.
Teacher Introduction
Planning a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to participate in the Hajj is a monumental task which takes a lot of planning. Plans must be made months, sometimes several years, in advance. In this WebQuest, your students will get the opportunity to research the religious significance of the Hajj and plan a pilgrimage to Mecca in detail. Students will work in groups ("Muslim families"), providing an opportunity for cooperative learning. They will exercise Internet search skills to locate answers to questions or to solve problems. Students will be given the opportunity to work with a $30,000.00 budget and to utilize an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of expenditures. To culminate their quest, each family will make an oral and visual presentation highlighting its trip plans.
Here is an evaluation summary of the first implementation of this WebQuest in November, 2007:
First Project Implementation
The implementation of this project occurred during daily one-hour classes over a two week period. Twenty-one seventh grade students were placed into five groups of four or five students each. Each group represented a Muslim-American family planning a trip to Mecca, Saudi Arabia to participate in the Hajj. Group members were assigned individual tasks, but members also had to work cooperatively to share research results and create the visual presentation. Work took place in the computer lab and in the classroom using wireless laptop computers.
Implementation Results
Five group presentations were produced. The average grade of the five presentations was 82/B.
1. Required Elements – evaluation of the content of the presentation. Three out of the five groups were missing key information in their projects.
2. Graphics (originality) – evaluation of student creativity in presentation. Three groups exhibited exceptional creativity in all graphics; 2 groups exhibited creativity in most of the graphics used in the presentation.
3. Graphics (relevance) – evaluation of the use of relevant graphics in presentation. Four groups used graphics relevant to all topics; only one group used graphics not related to the topics addressed in the presentation.
4. Labels – evaluation of the identification of sections of the presentation. All groups clearly labeled important sections of the presentation.
5. Attractiveness – evaluation of the design, layout, and neatness of the presentation. One presentation was exceptionally attractive; three presentations were attractive; and one presentation was deemed acceptable but a bit messy.
6. Mechanics – evaluation of capitalization and punctuation. Four out of five groups had no capitalization or punctuation errors. One group presentation contained more than two errors.
7. Grammar and Spelling –only one group had no spelling/grammar errors. Three groups had three or more spelling/grammar errors.
8. Use of Class Time – All groups used their time well during each class period. They were very focused on getting the job done.
9. Research Documentation – mid-point during the project, I collected each group’s project folder and evaluated its task sheets for accuracy and completion. Notes were made on the tasks sheets and then returned to the students for corrections and additions. I reevaluated the task sheets after the project and found all groups had satisfactorily completed their documentation.
This project was in-depth and required students to constantly ask a lot of “what ifs.” I was impressed with how the groups worked together, and observed they spent the majority of the time discussing the project (and not socializing as is often the case). I believe the reason for the low project average was due to several groups omitting key information (what I call “substance”) in their projects. Although all groups worked very hard, it is my opinion that most of the time the groups focused on how their presentation was going to look rather than on its substance. Apparently, my constant reminders to consult the rubric and review the “Process” section of the WebQuest were heard, but not heeded. Students’ tendency to not follow directions or completely answer questions was also evident in my mid-point review of the research documentation.
Photo Documentation
