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$.05 Your Opinion Sells May 4, 1999 |
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by John Lindholm
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Introduction | Task | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion | Teacher Notes |
Introduction.
The words spoken in August by your principal echo hauntingly through your head: "I’ll leave it up to you… Just make sure the student body benefits from your decision." She also gave you her "it’s in your hands and on your head" look. That day in August you and your co-editor of the school newspaper decided to end the 60-year tradition of free weekly newspapers and charge five cents per copy. For this to benefit the students you would buy the school a new computer system for the exclusive use of the newspaper. You figured that $1000 would probably do it, $100 per month for the ten-month school year. But it is now Halloween and you have only earned $72.45. Other students have told you that they don’t feel like a part of the paper and hence have no reason to buy it. Your decision is to get the student body and the community involved in your newspaper by asking their opinion on important topics.In other words, you will be adding public opinion polls to your newspaper to attempt to drum up interest and increase sales. You've always noticed how people perk up and pay attention when the President's approval ratings are shown on television. People always say, "That's our opinion? Nobody ever asked me." People always take interest when some sort of public opinion poll is involved. It seems like a great idea.
You realize you have no other choice…
To avoid the wrath of your principal and the demise of your school's newspaper, you will do the following:
Any problem-solving situation can be made easier using Polya's four-step method: Understand the problem, create a plan, carry out the plan, and reflect. If you have gotten this far in the webquest, I would assume that you understand the problem. If not, please go back and reread the introduction and task sections. Also, ask me if you need further explanation. You will complete the "create a plan," "carry out the plan," and "reflection" portions of the webquest as a team going through each section of the Process together. While you are capable of carrying out the process alone, I think working together on each step will enable you to produce a quality product while adhering to the three-week deadline. (Your article and polling information are due in three weeks).
To summarize, in three weeks you will hand in:
**Before you start the Process portion of the webquest, be sure to read the desired outcomes in the rubric. These are the things I will be looking for when I grade your final products. Click here to go to the
Evaluation section of the webquest.
As a duo, assume these different roles in the order they are listed. This will ensure that you are successful during this webquest. Click on the link to receive additional information about each role
(other places to visit to "jumpstart" your poll or article)
Math Resources
Language Arts Resources
Search Engines
Print Media
You will be graded on the poll questions and data you hand in as well as the newspaper article you create.
Click here to see how your products will be graded.
Conclusion (a reflection of what you’ve learned)
Congratulations on completing your public opinion poll and newspaper article. This was no small task by any standard. Take a moment right now to reflect upon the different steps you followed to create your finished product and take pride in what you have accomplished. From this webquest you have gained an appreciation and an understanding of how public opinion polls work and how newspaper articles are put together. Use this knowledge in the future when you see the results of a poll on television or in the print media to be sure that you are not led to believe something that is not true. I'm sure you will be empowered by the knowledge you now possess.
I believe this webquest is appropriate for students no lower than a pre-algebra level and right up through any study of statistics in high school. At the different levels your expectations would certainly be different. This webquest begins to satisfy Pennsylvania State standard 2.6.11A.
Also, I wanted to share a few thoughts I had while creating this webquest. When I first envisioned the public opinion poll, I pictured students going door-to-door talking to people, gathering information. But, having thought it through fully, I would discourage this for two reasons. First, discourteous neighbors might hurt the students' motivation as they work through the project. Second, the safety of our children. Although the possibility is slim, it would be terrible if something happened to one of our students while working on this project.
Task
Process
Other Resources 
Evaluation