Teacher Resource Page for WebQuest

Introduction | Learners | Standards | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Credits | Cover

Introduction

This webquest was created for the Identity Theft Resource Center for the purpose of teaching high school students about a serious problem in the United States. Identity theft is a major concern among law enforcement officials, the banking and credit card industry, and the federal government. Schools should also be aware of this growing phenomenon, and they should have resources to teach students about it.

Learners

This particular project is intended for high school students in a social studies classroom. The students should know how to search and use the internet, work together in groups to make decisions, and write a one page report. For specific details please review the WebQuest.

Standards

This particular WebQuest addresses the following standards.

For Social Studies:

NSS-C.9-12.5 ROLES OF THE CITIZEN What are the responsibilities of citizens?

For English :

NL-ENG.K-12.7 EVALUATING DATA Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.

For Technology:

NT.K-12.5 TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH TOOLS Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources, and students use technology tools to process data and report results.

Process

The following schedule is a suggested timeline. It is not the only way to teach this WebQuest about identity theft.

Session One: It is important to begin by introducing the concepts of identity theft to your students. We have provided a PowerPoint presentation that you may use in addition to this WebQuest or as a stand alone presentation only. The introduction portion of this module will also prepare students for what they need to know in their first meeting. Read the letter to the students and give them time to get started on their initial research in the computer lab or as homework.

Meeting One: You may want to have a class discussion about identity theft so that students can share what they discovered from their initial findings or initial presentation. The students can then meet in groups of four to share any other additional details that they discovered about identity theft. During this first meeting, you might want to walk around the room and show your interest in their conversations about identity theft. After some time (teacher judgement), the students need to have their first meeting from the WebQuest so that they can decide upon research roles. After the student committee reaches a consensus, they can print the activity sheet for the particular role and begin research.

Time to Research: You may want to give your students more than a day to research the perspective well. We recommend that you assign this as homework, and we recommend that the students deliver you a written response to their research so that they are held accountable for their portion of the next meeting. A deliverable to you could be a well written paragraph, an outline, or other form of notes. This individual research is very important to the next group meeting.

Meeting Two : The students will meet for their second meeting and share their findings from the four unique perspectives. During these small group meetings, the students will also take notes highlighting what they find the most interesting. You will probably want to show them the outline of the written recommendation so that each student can see what information he or she will need for the final report.

Final Deliverable: The last and final project is a written recommendation that has a specific outline to follow. This can be assigned as homework, or it can be something that the group begins immediately after session three ends. We recommend that teachers give the students time to finish this project. We could also see this final deliverable being a collaborative effort of the committee.

Publishing the WebQuest: If you are an educator who is using this WebQuest for your class, you may freely publish this WebQuest. Please leave the author's names upon the WebQuest. Also if you need any help in publishing this WebQuest please contact Matt Moore (matt@mattmoore.net).

Resources

This WebQuest is flexible. You do not necessarily need to have students use a computer lab for this WebQuest to work. You could assign the Internet portions as homework and require the students to meet in short meetings during your class. Once again this has been designed with the fact that different teachers can use this in different ways. You may also feel free to copy this WebQuest to your webpage, but please leave the structure and design the same.

Evaluation

We have provided a rubric to help you grade and evaluate the written recommendation. This is only a suggesion.

Credits

Bernie Dodge, a great professor at San Diego State University, was the one who helped us learn about WebQuests and their power.

Linda Foley, Jay Foley, and Derek Marshall of the Identity Theft Resource Center helped us formulate a plan for bringing this program to high school students. They inspired us with stories about identity theft and provided great resources and real life examples.

The Federal Trade Commission for understanding that we are creating this project to help students learn about a growing problem in society. We do not expect these reports to be sent to the Federal Trade Commission.