WebQuest Design CEP 811 Teacher Information LEARNERS This WebQuest is intended for high school students. It requires a certain maturity to analyze, synthesize and evaluate the content. Most learners have difficulties writing persuasive essays. Instead of asking students to simply imagine what professional boxers go through during and after a boxing match, we can actually have them read about their agony, watch family members’ testimonies, and see what doctors have to say about boxing patients. Then, when students present their arguments before an authority figure, in this case the Federal Boxing Commission, their essay (and other presentation mediums) will have a greater impact on their audience. EDUCATIONAL GOAL Students will have to write a persuasive letter to the Federal Boxing Commission urging them to ban boxing because of the injuries it afflicts on boxers. In order to do that, they will have to collect information pertaining to the different types of injuries boxers usually are subject to, and their effect (short and long term) on them. They will also have to gather statistics on injury and death tolls and present them in the form of a chart or world map representation. That is, they write the figures on each country on the world map for an easier visual representation. STANDARDS My WebQuest targets several standards:
Curricular Standards: Selecting, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information drawn from distinct sources Writing a persuasive letter in the form of an essay to a real audience
Social Standards: Making sound judgments about boxing Empathizing with society’s concerns
Technological Standards: Using Word to write an essay and create tables and charts Using PowerPoint to present information
Created by: Jean-Claude Aura
Date: April 2009
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WebQuest Design CEP 811 Embedding multimedia in PowerPoint presentations Surfing the Web to access specific information
ďƒ˜ PROCESS Students’ work is divided into 2 parts as indicated below. PART I
Surfing the Web for boxing injuries: Types of injuries, their graveness and consequences, possible medical treatment. Surfing the Web for professional boxers that got seriously injured, creating a chart with their names, type of injury and its graveness. Surfing the Web for death statistics throughout the world and presenting figures on a world map for an easier interpretation.
PART II
Writing a persuasive essay in the form of a letter Creating a PowerPoint presentation Compiling videocasts
Created by: Jean-Claude Aura
Date: April 2009
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WebQuest Design CEP 811 ďƒ˜ RESOURCES http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070502093035.htm http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/70012.php http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/ the-bigquestion-how-dangerous-is-boxing-and-are-doctors-right-to-want-to-ban-it-thetimefinally-come-to-ban-it-763536.html http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=80878 http://parkinsons.hopedigest.com/articles/boxing_gym_spars_with_parkinsons_disease http://www.personal-injury-info.net/boxing-injuries.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080328114523.htm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/medical_notes/363957.stm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/boxingandmma/2994873/Longline-ofinjured-boxers.html http://neurologicalillness.suite101.com/article.cfm/muhammad_alis_fight http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/20/parkinsons-diseasemuhammad-ali http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HED7QYL93ZQ
http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_a_0700.htm http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/41288.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Deaths_due_to_injuries_sustained_in_boxing http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?type=article&article_id=218392913 Created by: Jean-Claude Aura
Date: April 2009
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WebQuest Design CEP 811 WebQuest Elements TITLE (BANNING BOXING) Audience: 9th to 12th graders Subject matter: English Author: Jean-Claude Aura INTRODUCTION One afternoon you come back home from school. You ring the bell, and after a couple of minutes your father opens the door. He has a letter in his hand and he looks very sad. You ask him what the matter is, so he hands you the letter. It was sent to you by Greg, one of your best friends. Here’s what it says.
Dear Raymond I don’t know how to tell you this, but you’d better sit down before you read the rest. Anthony had a boxing match last week, and he was quite battered towards the 4th round, so much so that the referee had to call it off. Anthony was sent to hospital where he spent 5 days in intensive care. That’s why he couldn’t make it to school. I told everyone he was sick, but the truth is he was suffering from a severe brain clot. Unfortunately, the doctors couldn’t do anything about it, and our beloved Anthony passed away this morning around 5 a.m. I hate to be the bearer of such tragic news, but I thought you should know before anyone else does. After all, you and Anthony were best buddies. Your best friend Greg
Created by: Jean-Claude Aura
Date: April 2009
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WebQuest Design CEP 811 Suddenly, you feel you want to throw up. You remember the many times you tried to talk Anthony out of boxing, but he wouldn’t listen. You decide it’s high time boxing got banned. You and your friends take it upon yourselves to address the issue to the Federal Boxing Commission. Your argument consists of convincing the commission that boxing should be banned at all costs. However, you know that boxing is an extremely popular sport with fans all over the world, so your case has to be solid. That’s why you and your friends have to be extremely cautious about how you present your case. Your job is to write a persuasive letter, in the form of an essay, to the commission urging it to ban boxing. Your letter will be supported by a PowerPoint presentation explicitly showing the aftermath of boxing matches.
TASK Group yourselves in threes. Your mission will be divided into 2 parts. In the first part, all 3 of you work collaboratively. In the second part, you work individually. PART I (collaboratively) Search the web for information regarding the amount of brain damage and other injury boxing causes to boxers. Find testimonies of surviving boxers and dead boxers’ grieving family members. Gather statistics of deaths among boxers. Compile your work and get ready for PART II. PART II (individually) S1: write a persuasive letter in the form of an essay to the Federal Boxing Commission in which all the information crucial to the banning of boxing will be presented. S2: Make a PowerPoint presentation that will create a great impact on the Federal Boxing Commission. The presentation will show explicit pictures of wounded boxers, along with notes describing the damage the boxer has undergone. S3: Compile videocasts of surviving boxers’ testimonies and dead boxers’ grieving families.
Created by: Jean-Claude Aura
Date: April 2009
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WebQuest Design CEP 811 ďƒ˜ PROCESS PART I (collaborative work) You will compile as much information about injured boxers.
You will search the Web for the following: 1. different types of boxing injuries 2. injured boxers 3. diseases caused to amateur boxers 4. diseases caused to professional boxers 5. other boxing risks (e.g. no insurance coverage, early retirement) 6. immediate and long-term effects of boxing traumas 7. statistics of dead boxers from around the world 8. testimonies of disabled boxers 9. testimonies of dead boxers’ grieving families Note: You can create a chart with different boxers and the type if injury they suffer from and its consequences.
PART II (individual work) S1:
Analyze the data you and your group collected. Evaluate the data based on their graveness and sort them out as follows: Types of injuries boxers incur and their various effects Examples of severely injured boxers Examples of dead boxers Statistics of dead boxers from around the world
Created by: Jean-Claude Aura
Date: April 2009
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WebQuest Design CEP 811 Your next step is to write a 5-paragraph essay as shown below: o Introduction:
Identify yourself and specify the purpose of the letter.
o Body: Para 1:
Explain the different types of injuries boxers incur, with their short and long-term effects. Make your description powerful. Provide examples of injured boxers with the type of injury they suffer from. Describe how their life has changed as a result of this injury. As for dead boxers, relate how their families have suffered both emotionally and financially. Intensify the impact of your essay by clearly stating the death figures of boxers in countries around the world. Your purpose here will be to exemplify the unnecessary death toll from boxing.
Para 2:
Para 3:
o Conclusion:
S2:
State your resent for boxing by demonstrating its potential influence on turning young people into violent citizens. Emphasize the fact that these citizens will become handicapped and a burden on society. Include a couple more dramatic consequences of your own.
You are to create a 20-slide PowerPoint presentation that will accompany the letter. Each slide will show: A picture of a severely injured boxer S1 mentioned in the letter, accompanied by a caption describing the current boxer’s state and his state in the aftermath of the boxing match. Create a powerful dramatic image that would bring tears to the eyes of your audience. Create one slide with a recording of a bloody boxing match, and embed your comments as to the atrocity of the savage beast-like entertainment. NOTE: You will also be responsible for representing the death figures on a world map for an easier interpretation of the data.
Created by: Jean-Claude Aura
Date: April 2009
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WebQuest Design CEP 811 S3:
Prepare 2 sets of videocasts: The first set will show the testimony of boxers crippled for life. Here, be ready to explain in more detail than shown in the podcast how the injured boxer’s life has changed and what impact this change will have on society. The second set will show the testimony of dead boxers’ families. Here, be ready to explain how the dead boxer’s family will suffer both emotionally (loss of a dear one) and financially (family’s reliance on boxing income) and the consequences of such a tragic change.
RESOURCES Use the following resources to help you find the information you need in order to complete your WebQuest. A. Injuries http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070502093035.htm http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/thebigquestion-how-dangerous-is-boxing-and-are-doctors-right-to-want-to-ban-it-thetimefinally-come-to-ban-it-763536.html http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/70012.php http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=80878 http://parkinsons.hopedigest.com/articles/boxing_gym_spars_with_parkinsons_disease http://www.personal-injury-info.net/boxing-injuries.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080328114523.htm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/medical_notes/363957.stm
Created by: Jean-Claude Aura
Date: April 2009
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WebQuest Design CEP 811 B. Injured boxers http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/boxingandmma/2994873/Long-lineofinjured-boxers.html http://neurologicalillness.suite101.com/article.cfm/muhammad_alis_fight http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/20/parkinsons-disease-muhammadali http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HED7QYL93ZQ http://english.freemap.jp/blankmap/
C. Statistics on boxing death reports http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_a_0700.htm http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/41288.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Deaths_due_to_injuries_sustained_in_boxing http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?type=article&article_id=218392913
ďƒ˜ EVALUATION You will be evaluated in each of the 2 different parts. In part 1, you will be evaluated collaboratively on: Your ability to analyze the different types of injuries boxers incur Your ability to categorize the information in a table (or chart) Your ability to identify injured boxers and their injuries The relevance of the podcasts In part 2, you will be evaluated individually on: S1:
- The persuasiveness of your essay - Your adherence to the rules of essay writing - Your creativity (especially in the conclusion where you have to add a couple more consequences.
Created by: Jean-Claude Aura
Date: April 2009
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WebQuest Design CEP 811 S2:
- Your ability to use PowerPoint to present your information persuasively - Your choice of pictures and their relevance to the topic - your choice of the match embedded and its relevance - The persuasiveness of both your captions and comments on the embedded match - The clarity of the world map representation of the death figures
S3:
- Your choice of podcasts and their relevance - Your comments on the podcasts - Your persuasive impact on your audience
ďƒ˜ RUBRIC
General Presentation
Persuasiveness
4 Very good use of formatting, charts and tables.
3 Format inconsistent in some places. Charts and tables could be used better.
2 Format inconsistent. Charts and tables confusing.
Individual work Fully persuasive. Could be more Message persuasive in conveyed in full. some places.
Content
All points required are completely developed.
Team Work
Excellent ability to coordinate with others.
Created by: Jean-Claude Aura
Lack of evidence Weakens persuasion. Inconsistent tone. Some points Some main could be more points are developed. missing and/or some points are irrelevant. Slight tendency Mostly to rely on others dependent on and/or unable others to to accept complete work advice/criticism. and/or unable to clearly communicate with others. Date: April 2009
1 No evidence of formatting. Most information represented without charts or tables. Almost no sign of evidence to support your case. Most main points are missing and/or most points are irrelevant. No evidence of teamwork.
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WebQuest Design CEP 811 Technology
Excellent use of technology (MS Office, search engines, podcasts)
Language
Completely intelligible and error free.
Minor glitches with technology (few broken links, lack of advanced features of MS Office, …) Minor mistakes in spelling, grammar and syntax, but meaning not affected.
Very basic use of technology. The work could have been better on paper.
Technology fails at almost every trial.
Mistakes in spelling, grammar and syntax are obvious, and/or message can be followed but with difficulty.
Mistakes in spelling, grammar and vocabulary impede comprehension. Mostly unintelligible.
CONCLUSION In this WebQuest you learnt how to persuade an authority figure that boxing is nothing but a useless sport that calls for unnecessary violence. You wrote a persuasive letter in favor of banning boxing, you created a visual presentation of your case (PowerPoint) and an audiovisual heartrending testimony of several victims (Videocast). You did a great job. Now that your mission is over, can you think of another sport that needs to be addressed in the same way as boxing? How about bungee jumping? No? Then, maybe rugby? Well, whatever you choose, I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. CREDITS 1. Science Daily 2. The Independent newspaper 3. MedicineNet.com 4. Medical News TODAY 5. PARKINSON’S hope DIGEST 6. Personal Injury 7. BBC NEWS 8. Telegraph.co.uk 9. Suite 101.com 10. guardian.co.uk 11. You Tube 12. ejmas.com 13. wikipedia 14. Sciencentral.com 15. english.freemap.jp Created by: Jean-Claude Aura
Date: April 2009
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