Image sources http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/6603/animal.htm and http://www.stanford.edu/group/Urchin/GIFS\c-urchin.gif
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CONTENT The content of the Web Quest activity was initially chosen based on my personal passion for marine biology. I think it will only become more important for our future generations to learn about the variety of sea life and its potential for economic and scientific benefit. Marine biotechnology is a relatively new area of endeavour which made it challenging to find a variety of material on the applications of marine biotechnology. The material available in the links comes mostly from organisations involved in biotechnology research and environmental protection. Also included are links from popular science media (e.g. Scientific American) because these articles are often interesting and light-hearted. The concept of naturally-produced marine chemicals warranted discussion of the extreme variation in physico-chemical factors endured by these animals and the adaptations required for survival. The links to those websites that discuss intertidal organisms are particularly detailed and informative.
As with construction of any lesson plan, I wanted to provide a balanced view of this topic and therefore thought it necessary for students to consider in what ways harmful marine animals affect human health and ecosystem stability. The theme "From Sea Bed to Sick Bed - Heroes and Villains of the Sea" thus attempts to encompass both sides of the story, emphasizing that human health can be both benefited, and compromised by marine biota. By emphasizing the great potential for marine life to benefit human endeavours, it is hoped students be challenged to consider their own contribution to such problems as waterways pollution, over-fishing and other important issues. This could be the scope of another entire Web quest site on its own!
The content of the second activity is linked with the first activity, further focusing on marine phytoplankton and the ocean environment. In order to integrate a software application into this activity I considered it important to find a relevant website with which the students could interact. The Alaskan Science Centre's marine habitat page was an ideal choice as it contained environmental data that could be manipulated in a way that was easy for school students to understand interrelations between water chemistry, ocean topography, marine habitats and food-webs within an ecosystem. Colourful data profiles from the website were copied into the Learning Activity, rather than inserting them as hyperlinks to make it easier for students to follow the graphing instructions for Excel. Having the data to be manipulated readily available within this activity made the Excel exercise the focus of the activity. CREATING THE BOOKMARKED LINKS Search-engines used for developing this website included Google, Excite, HotBot and Lycos. Websites considered to contain both reliable and relevant information were added as "Favourites" within the program Microsoft Internet Explorer. Bookmarked links for Activity 1 were categorised as "Favourites" into folders according to the following hierarchy for Learning Activity 1:
• CLB341 • Assignment 1 • marine biotechnology • applications • bioengineering • bioremediation • drug discovery and development • human health • environmental health • PCR • Human Genome Project • evolutionary biology • disease • animal behaviour • methods • animal culture • genetics • chemical • problems • marine organisms • habitat • reef • open ocean • deep sea • intertidal • adaptation • structural • chemical • marine pests
Individual bookmarked links were easily transposed to the Learning Activity pages. First it was necessary to have both Internet Explorer and FrontPage open simultaneously. When a hyperlink needed to be inserted into FrontPage the `Insert a Hyperlink' command was used. By then locating the relevant link in the Favourites folder within Internet Explorer and double-clicking on this link, the bookmarked site was copied into the required field within FrontPage. DESIGN In designing the Home Page I used bright colours and moving visual media combined with a sea-shell background to set the theme. The use of simple and familiar associations of the sea with everyday life were used to contrast with, and highlight the mystery, beauty and scientific importance of marine environments. The animal `gif' and `jpeg' images used in the banner of the Home Page were linked to all other pages and so carried the theme of marine biology throughout the website. The font (Comic Sans MS) used throughout was chosen for its informal appearance, which I think adds to the appeal of the website. Those pages with introductory (Home Page) or explanatory (Activity Overview, Creating the Web Page) text carried the sea-shell background theme throughout. In contrast, I used a variety of 'vivid colour' background for those pages associated with Activities 1 and 2. The purpose of using vivid colours for these pages specifically was to draw attention to them as major features of the website.
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Copyright © March 2003.Website designed by Bronwyn Atcheson, Student at Queensland University of Technology, Queensland. Email b.atcheson@student.qut.edu.au |
