Human-Environment Interaction- Michigan's Most Polluted Zip Code

Topic:
This webquest is designed to allow students the opportunity to explore an issue of local importance, while developing a plan for action regarding the issue. The debate portion explicitly requires students to either argue for or against reducing pollution in southwest Detroit, using sources to support their opinions. They then use the outline to develop a persuasive product which will ask their audience to take a stand on the issue. Additionally, the lesson also implicitly prompts students to contemplate the negative affects manufacturing and refining technology may have on the surrounding environment.

Suggested Length: 
This webquest may require 4-5 55 minute class periods. During the first two periods, students should be reading through the introductory pages, while taking notes on their assigned article. On day three, students should synthesize their evidence into a debate outline. On days four-five, students should be completing their form letter or brochure.

Suggested Differentiation:
Time and resources permitting, the teacher may allow for the differentiation of the product by allowing students to prepare a multimedia presentation or video to persuade their audience. Developing readers may benefit from guided reading groups for the linked resources, in addition to text-to-speech software. For proficient writers, the teacher may elect to remove the scaffolding provided by the rubric and outlines.

Questions for further study:
Students interested in the topic should explore the links on the "Conclusion" page. They lead to several studies which further detail the damage that air pollution is doing in the Detroit area. The EPA links also offer insights about what can be done to address the issues. In terms of cross-curricular connections, science and math teachers may wish to encourage students to access the AIRNow link regularly to record data and make predictions about when air quality might be worse in the Detroit area. 

Standards

This webquest is designed to address standards in Michigan's "Western Hemisphere Studies"

In particular:
6 – G6.1.1 Contemporary Investigations – Conduct research on contemporary global topics and issues,
compose persuasive essays, and develop a plan for action.

6 – G1.2.6 Apply the skills of geographic inquiry (asking geographic questions, acquiring geographic
information, organizing geographic information, analyzing geographic information, and answering
geographic questions) to analyze a problem or issue of importance to a region of the Western
Hemisphere.

6 – G2.2.2 Explain that communities are affected positively or negatively by changes in technology
(e.g., Canada with regard to mining, forestry, hydroelectric power generation, agriculture,
snowmobiles, cell phones, air travel).

6 – G5.1.1 Describe the environmental effects of human action on the atmosphere (air), biosphere (people,
animals, and plants), lithosphere (soil), and hydrosphere (water) (e.g., changes in the tropical
forest environments in Brazil, Peru, and Costa Rica).

Credits

Image Credits:
Welcome- Unknown. (c.1939) "Coke being pushed into a quenching car, Hanna Furnaces of the Great Lakes Steel Corporation, Detroit, Michigan". [Online photo] Retrieved February 6, 2013 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179116773/.

Task- Lobur, Randall (2011). "Untitled" [Personal Photo].

Process- Notorious4Life (2011). "Marathon Petroleum Company (Detroit, Michigan)." [Online photo] Retrieved February 6, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Marathon_Petroleum_Company_Detroit.jpg

Evaluation- Notorious4Life. (2011). "Oakwood Heights (Detroit, Michigan)." [Online photo] Retrieved February 6, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oakwood_Heights_Detroit.jpg