webquest+inquiry+Mike+McDermott

Took a look at the Maya webquest

Dr. Jane Jones, renowned archaeologist, from the Mayan Discoveries Department of the Museum of Natural History, needs your help to spread the news of this amazing new discovery by going to Guatemala yourself to check out the murals! However, before you start packing, your trip to the lands of the ancient Maya must be approved by a panel of judges who will decide whether or not they will sponsor your trip. Will you be able to help Dr. Jones?
 * Introduction**

**The Task**

As part of a team, you are to discover the lifestyle of the Maya people, in particular, their many accomplishments in the arts, math and sciences, government, and agriculture. Your task is to present your findings to the judges, using a Power Point presentation that should persuade them to sponsor your trip to the ancient lands of the Maya. You must show them that the rich history and the newly found murals of the Maya civilization, are worth exploring and worth their money to be spent. Once you reach your destination, you are to work independently to decipher one of the murals discovered in the underground chamber. While admiring the mural, you stumble upon a journal-like codex that seems to be dated approximately AD 900, similar to the mural. Could these findings explain the reason behind the Maya disappearance?  ﻿**The Process**

**Group Process**

Your mission here will be to persuade the panel of judges, who will decide whether or not they will sponsor your trip to Guatemala, through a PowerPoint Presentation. To accomplish this task, you will be working in a group of four members. Complete the following steps to get your tickets to the lands of the ancient Maya! However, first, each of you must choose one role to perform from the following:
 * 1) Agricultural Specialist, who will explain how the Maya used farming to establish their civilization. Agricultural Specialist's Mission
 * 2) Archeologist, who will explore the wonders left behind by the Maya. Archeologist's Mission
 * 3) Historian, who will search for important events in the Maya history. Historian's Mission
 * 4) Sociologist, who will describe the relationships of the Maya with others and within themselves. Sociologist's Mission

Once you have picked your roles, complete your missions via the links next to each role above.

Finally, put all your research together into a PowerPoint Presentation. This should include:
 * 1) An introduction slide, that states your reason for the presentation
 * 2) At least 3 slides from each group member, which present the research you all discovered through your roles' missions
 * 3) Two concluding slides; one which provides an explanation of why it is important to know more about the Maya civilization; and the second, giving a final persuading thought to the judges to consider funding your trip to Guatemala.
 * 4) Finally, include appropriate images to make your presentation colorful and pleasing to the eye! Remember, you must impress those judges!

Use your Wiki Account to stay in touch with your group members throughout this journey. Remember, it is an easy way to stay up-to-date and organized!


 * Individual Process**

Your mission is to decipher the journal you found in the underground chamber. The writing in it shows to be written by a Maya civilian. Three pages from it are still in tact and seem to be dated at different times; the first page is approximately a month prior to the date of the last Maya artifact found; the second, about a week before; and the last, a day before. This journal explains the final days of the Maya civilization! Since you are all the way in Guatemala, the fastest way to spread the news of this discovery, is through your Gaggle Blog.You will post your explanations of the three journal pages on your blog. For the 3 blog entries, you will explain what you think happened one month before, one week before, and one day before the final day of the Maya civilization. Be sure to:  ﻿The introduction and process were fine the major change would have to be in the task. Instead of having each group take on all tasks I would make each group take one. The new task would read something like this:
 * 1) Title your blog entries: "One month prior," "One week prior," and "One day prior."
 * 2) <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica;">Write your explanation as if you were a Maya citizen, living during the time of their disappearance. Include who you are, what your job is, and describe any hobbies or traditions you follow.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica;">Have a theory of how the Maya civilization ended. This should be developed thoroughly throughout all three time periods. There must be some sort of change you experienced within that final month of your civilization.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica;">Finally, in the last entry, titled "One day prior," give a clear and reasonable explanation for the Maya disappearance.(Your theory for their disappearance must make sense with the accurate facts in Maya history!)
 * 5) <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica;">You are also to provide the museum with a picture of the mural. Here, draw or paint a sensible image that relates to your explanation of the Maya disappearance.

TASK <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica;">﻿ As a group of archeaologists you discover discover five different murals dating back to the ancient mayans time. There will be five groups of five students and your task is to observe the mural and develop a hypothesis based on what is seen. Each mural depicts a different aspect of ancient Mayan society ranging from accomplishments in the arts, math and sciences, government, religion and agriculture. Your job in your group is to determine what aspect your mural is depicting and then research that aspect. Each ancient South American civilization was unique and with your group you have to show what made the Mayan civiliztion special. Your research will be displayed in a powerpoint presentation and brought before a panel of judges, whom you must convince in order to get the fund to do further research in South America on the Mayan civilization.

Mike, The original Webquest was inventive and exciting. I think students would certainly be interested in pursuing this. I am a little confused as to how you revised this Webquest and would suggest changing it in the following ways: To review, I would elaborate a bit more on the new task and then rewrite the process to supplement your task better. The process steps would change with your new task and you will need to rewrite those as well. Also, to help students initiate their website research and know they are on the right track, provide the links to some sites with information about the different aspects of early Mayan society. Good Luck! Elizabeth O'Keeffe
 * 1) Since you have changed the task the students are actually seeing the murals and not just trying to convince the judges to let them go to see them. Therefore, does the rest of the process still make sense? I think revising the process to elaborate more on your revised task would help.
 * 2) In regards to the role playing aspect, since there are five students instead of four, are they still simulating the four roles of historian, archaeologist, sociologist and agricultural specialist? It would still work if you could add another role such as Forensic Anthropologist who will decipher any human remains and discuss how the Mayans were a violent society.
 * 3) I think you would have to revise the igroupprocess a little to include specific questions on the different aspects of Mayan society. I think the individual process with the journal blog would still make sense as long as they don't repeat the information from the murals.
 * 4) An interesting idea would be to hand out actual mural examples from Mayan ruins for the students to review.