Building a Baby

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Building a Baby! A WebQuest for 6th Grade
Science Designed by Nykki Pare
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Introduction I have designed this lesson as
part of the elementary science methods course at
Roger Williams University, in Bristol, Rhode
Island. I was assigned to complete a review
on a tradebook about twins. Sections of the
book, Twin Tales, discussed the fetal development
of twins, therefore I chose to do my WebQuest on
the fetal development. It is a challenging topic
for sixth grade however it is one that can be
tackled. The main goal for this WebQuest is for
students to have a clear knowledge and
understanding about the development of a baby and
the effects the baby and mother have on each
other. Students will work in groups to research
a specific set of weeks during the gestation
period. They will create chapter papers based on
what they learned and as a class we will create a
complete book about the forty-week gestation
period. Students will also give a class
presentation on their findings using a visual aid
they made. The visuals can be posters,
pamphlets, PowerPoint presentations, and
diagrams. Their project needs to include images,
either found on the Internet or drawn, and must
be creative and original.
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Learners This WebQuest focuses on the content
area of Science. It is geared towards sixth
grade but can be used in seventh and/or eighth
grade as well. You can increase the difficulty
of this WebQuest by having students compare and
contrast the human fetal development to another
animals fetal development. For example,
students can compare humans and dogs. This
WebQuest also incorporates Art and Technology
into the lesson. Students are asked to create a
visual representation of what they have learned
about their specific set of weeks. I believe
that it is important to implement Art into the
classroom and do not advise removing this piece.
It is important for students to have a section of
the lesson that is hands-on and uses creativity.
It is equally important to have students using
technology for learning whenever possible. The
learners will not need to know anything specific
before beginning this WebQuest. I assume that
sixth graders know where babies come from,
however, if there are any mix-ups, you should
address this before beginning the lesson.
According to the Benchmarks for Science
Literacy, Benchmarks for Science Literacy, the
fetal development of a human has to do with the
human development. The website states that by
the end of eighth grade students will know The
developing embryo-and later the newborn
infant-encounters many risks from faults in its
genes, its mother's inadequate diet, her
cigarette smoking or use of alcohol or other
drugs, or from infection. Inadequate child care
may lead to lower physical and mental ability.
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• Curriculum Standards
• Below is a list of Curriculum Standards that this
  specific WebQuest
• reaches.
• National Science Education Standards
• Life Science
• CONTENT STANDARD C
• As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all
  students should develop understanding of
• All organisms are composed of cells -- the
  fundamental unit of life. Most organisms are
  single cells other organisms, including humans,
  are multicellular.
• Cells carry on the many functions needed to
  sustain life. They grow and divide, thereby
  producing more cells. This requires that they
  take in nutrients, which they use to provide
  energy for the work that cells do and to make the
  materials that a cell or an organism needs.
• Benchmarks for Science Literacy
• The Human Organism
• HUMAN DEVEOLPMENT
• By the end of the 8th grade, students should know
  that
• Following fertilization, cell division produces a
  small cluster of cells that then differentiate by
  appearance and function to form the basic tissues
  of an embryo. During the first three months of
  pregnancy, organs begin to form. During the last
  three months, the organs and features mature
  enough to function well after birth. Patterns of
  human development are similar to those of other
  vertebrates.
• The developing embryo-and later the newborn
  infant-encounter many risks from faults in its
  genes, its mothers inadequate diet, her
  cigarette smoking or use of alcohol or other
  drugs, of from infection. Inadequate child care
  may lead to lower physical and mental ability.

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• Curriculum Standards (continued)
• English Language Arts Standards
• Using the McRel (Mid-Continent Research for
  Education and Learning)
• Website I found appropriate benchmarks for this
  WebQuest.
• Standard 1 Writing Uses the general skills
  and strategies of the writing process
• Standard 3 Writing - Uses grammatical and
  mechanical conventions in written compositions
• Standard 4 Writing Gathers and uses
  information for research purposes
• Standard 5 Reading Uses the general skills
  and strategies of the reading process
• Standard 7 Reading - Uses reading skills and
  strategies to understand and interpret a variety
  of informational texts
• Standard 8 Listening and Speaking - Uses
  listening and speaking strategies for different
  purposes
• Standard 9 Viewing - Uses viewing skills and
  strategies to understand and interpret visual
  media
• Standard 10 Media Understands the
  characteristics and components of the media

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PROCESS You will be split into 6 groups of 3.
Each group will have a different segment of the
gestation period and each member of the group
will have a different role. The weeks are
divided as follows. Segment 1 1 - 6 weeks
Role 1 Segment 2 7 - 12
weeks Mothers
Changes Segment 3 13 - 19 weeks
Role 2 Segment 4 20 - 26 weeks
Babys Changes Segment 5 27 - 33 weeks
Role 3 Segment 6 34 - 40 weeks
Outside Influences Once you
have been assigned a gestation period then pick
your role. You will then begin researching
information about the baby, the mother, or the
outside influences that take place during
your specific gestation period. When you have
gathered your information, your group will write
a paper about the information you have obtained.
The papers will become chapters and as a class we
will create a book. You will also design a
visual presentation illustrating what the group
learned. The paper and the visual must describe
the changes that occur in both the fetus and the
mother during the groups gestation period.
 
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Process You may want to begin the lesson with a
class discussion on the fetal development of a
human. Give a brief overview of the topic and of
the objectives in the lesson. If students ask
certain questions that will be answered in their
research, dont answer them, have them write down
the question and challenge them to discover the
answer on their own. How many computers you have
access to, will determine the overall length of
this WebQuest. Students should have two days to
research the information needed and a few more
days to construct a group paper and the visual
presentation. If each group only has access to
one computer it will take the group longer to
find the information, however you could assign
research for homework. The WebQuest should not
take more than a week to complete, assuming
students are working forty-five minutes per day.
This is an interdisciplinary activity, involving
science, technology, art, and language arts.
Since each student is doing the same task,
researching information, it does not matter how
they are grouped. You can decide how to group
your students based on your learners. The process
of fetal development is extremely complex
material, therefore know that students will ask a
variety of questions and may have difficultly in
understanding the vocabulary used in certain
websites. Students should be able to understand
the material once certain vocabulary has been
defined. Therefore, it would be beneficial to
either review vocabulary prior to the WebQuest or
intervene vocabulary as a piece of the WebQuest.
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Resources Needed For this lesson you will need
to have at least one computer for each group. It
would be ideal if every student had his/her own
computer, however, groups can share. The computer
should have access to the Internet, Microsoft
Word, and Microsoft PowerPoint. Please make
sure that the school allows the students to have
access to the websites provided to do their
research. This is a list of websites I have
found informative and appropriate Carnegie
Stages Description of a human embryo from 22
56 days old The Visible Embryo Use the spiral
to navigate through the 40 weeks of
pregnancy Forty Weeks of Pregnancy Information
about the babys growth and the mothers
changes Actual Size The actual size of a
fetus Pregnancy and Alcohol Facts about
drinking alcohol during pregnancy Drugs and
Pregnancy Facts about drinking alcohol during
pregnancy This WebQuest was designed for one
teacher in mind. However, because you have a
large number of students accessing the Internet
at once it may be a good idea to have an aid or a
parent in the room when the students are
accessing the Internet. This WebQuest also
calls for the students to complete a visual
presentation, using whatever material they would
like. You may want to contact the schools art
teacher for help with supplying materials and/or
ideas.
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Evaluation
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Evaluation (continued) For the assessment I
choose to evaluate the students research paper
and their visual presentation. For the paper I
am looking for three main things. First, I want
to make sure the students have a clear
understanding of the material and that their
information was in fact researched based. I am
also looking for a paper that is well organized
with no errors in punctuation, grammar, and
spelling. Notice that I did not ask for the
paper to be a certain length. I have found that
putting page lengths on papers, adds a lot of
unnecessary stress for the children. I also have
found that some gestation periods have more
crucial functions than others, making ones paper
longer than anothers. The second piece being
evaluated is the students presentation. Here I
am looking at the content of the visual, whether
it is a poster, pamphlet, PowerPoint, diagram,
etc., making sure the information was researched.
I am also looking at the students ability to
engage the audience and I am looking at their
speaking skills. As I mentioned earlier you may
want to address vocabulary as a single
assessment. If you decide to do this you will
need to either make another rubric or use another
evaluation tool.
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Evaluation (continued)
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Conclusion This is an excellent lesson to be
used for Science class. There are many
reasons for using this WebQuest. First, it is
filled with information and students will gain a
tremendous amount of knowledge about the fetal
development of a baby. Students need to know
about pregnancy and the outside influences that
can effect the baby and the mothers health.
Too often we as educators and parents wait to
long to talk to children about such topics. This
WebQuest is a great tool to get the information
out there. It is fun, informative, and engaging
for students! It allows students to use the
Internet and other computer programs. As well as
technology, this WebQuest also integrates Art and
Language Arts. In addition it aligns with
standards and benchmarks that need to be reached
by the end of eighth grade.
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Credits References Thank you to the following
websites who provided an abundance of information
for the students and many thanks to the websites
that allowed the use of their images son this
WebQuest! Websites Carnegie Stages The
Visible Embryo Forty Weeks of Pregnancy Actual
Size Pregnancy and Alcohol Drugs and
Pregnancy Images Fetus in amniotic sac Two
month fetus diagram Fetus at four months
Fetus Babies
Pregnant Woman And
some images were taking directly from
YahooImages For more information on WebQuests
and to acquire a template for a WebQuest
visit The San Diego State University
WebQuest page