Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice (If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.) -Michigan State Motto
MISSION: MICHIGAN (A Moodle with an included Webquest) An online Social Studies Lesson aimed at Third Grade Students
For access to the Moodle Lesson, you may log in as a guest.
The Moodle is designed so that every assignment is able to be completed wholly online. Students are pretending to be secret agents on a mission to save Michigan's Tourists (a valuable economic resource in the Mitten State) from the dreaded villain Wicked Wis Consin, who is luring them away with his claims that Wisconsin is also a Mitten State. Students participate in various tasks to complete the lesson.
The very first task students are given is to watch this video and make note of three things that are done by a Michigan Kid and report on their reconnaissance (which is defined during their mission briefing.)
The second task the Agents are given is to read two books -from a set list - with an option to contact me regarding another choice (an important inclusion for advanced and struggling readers alike) about Michigan (using EPIC!) and share reviews of the books with their classmates using a forum on the Moodle.
Part of the third task includes the students leaving Moodle and participating in a Webquest (also created by me).
The Webquest leads students to explore parts of the Pure Michigan website and create their own Google Map of places to visit in Michigan. Students can include as many destinations in Michigan as they like, but they must include the State Capital, their hometown, two locations in the Upper Peninsula, two locations in the Lower Peninsula, and one location on an island that is also a part of Michigan. They must include two facts about each location in the description of that place. The Webquest takes students step-by-step through creating the map and submitting it through Moodle.
The Final Mission the Secret Agents are given is to create their own Pure Michigan advertisement. The third graders are given two choices in this endeavor, the simpler, more age-appropriate task is to create a print ad using either a provided location and photo, or one of the locations they researched during the Webquest, and uploading it to the Moodle. The second, more challenging option, is to use all five of their map locations and create a video commercial inspired by the popular Pure Michigan spots.
The Moodle ends with a five question debriefing session in which students write a paragraph about whether or not Wicked Wis Consin has been defeated, state which Mission was their favorite, discuss something they learned about Michigan, reflect on something they learned about themselves during the missions, and give feedback on anything else they would like to say regarding the entire Moodle.