The Love Canal Debate:

A WebQuest

Developed by

Caroline Davis, Donna Kennedy, Marcia Phillips, Shelly Sawyer & Debbie Taylor, School District 3, Spartansburg County, SC

Revised by Ann Sheffield, Norwood High School, Norwood, MA

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Overview

A WebQuest is a way of doing guided research on the Internet.  In this project you will do research about what happened in the “Love Canal” neighborhood of Niagara Falls, New York.  You will write a five paragraph essay, with a Works Cited page (bibliography) based on your research.  Then you will be put in groups to prepare and make a small oral presentation.  

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Introduction

The Love Canal neighborhood (in the city of Niagara Falls, NY) used to be the site for chemical dumping in the 1940′s and 1950′s.  The chemicals were covered up and forgotten about and a neighborhood and elementary school was built on the land.  In the 1970′s people in that neighborhood realized that cancer seemed to be much more common in their neighborhood than you would expect, especially cancer in children.  It was very hard at that time to prove that the chemicals caused the cancer and to get the company that had dumped chemicals there to take responsibility.  Eventually the government got involved and President Carter declared the area a “disaster area” which gave the area federal money to do the clean up.  This was the first of many areas of the country which the government declared “disaster areas” due to pollution.  

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Your Task

Pretend a developer wants to build 150 new houses on this land in 2010.  This has renewed the debate about whether or not this land is safe to live on.  Everyone with an opinion is writing a letter to the editor of the local paper to argue about whether or not the area should be developed. You will be assigned one of the following roles to portray

  1. the MAYOR of the city of Niagara Falls (wants the development and thinks the area  is safe)
  2. an ENVIRONMENTALIST (against the development because does not think that the area is safe)
  3. a CITIZEN of the area who WANTS the development (and thinks the area is safe).
  4. a CITIZEN of the area who is AGAINST the development (and thinks the area is not safe).

After your research you must pretend you are that character and write a “letter to the editor” of the Niagara Gazette (newspaper) arguing your position.  More details about this letter are given in the next section.  

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Evaluation

Your letter should follow the format of a 5-paragraph essay but will also include the formalities of letter.  It will then also have a page titled “Works Cited” (formerly called Bibliography).  You will be graded based on the following rubric:

4 points each

Overall

  • Paper is typed and double spaced.
  • Spelling, grammar and punctuation show effort and proofreading.
  • Shows a good understanding and appreciation of the issues.
  • Minimum of 3 sources are used

    • Format

  • Starts “Dear Editor:” and ends with “Sincerely,” and then your name

    • Paragraph 1

  • Clearly states who you are pretending to be (your role).
  • Clearly states your position on whether or not the houses should be built.

    • Paragraph 2

  • Make one good argument to support your point of view.
  • Give evidence/fact/quote from your research to support your argument.
  • Give credit properly (last name) to the source of your evidence/fact/quote.

    • Paragraph 3

  • Make another good argument to support your point of view.
  • Give evidence/fact/quote from your research to support your argument.
  • Give credit properly (last name) to the source of your evidence/fact/quote.

    • Paragraph 4

  • Make another good argument to support your point of view.
  • Give evidence/fact/quote from your research to support your argument.
  • Give credit properly (last name) to the source of your evidence/fact/quote.

    • Paragraph 5

  • Clearly state your point of view/what you want to happen.
  • Above counts double.

    • Works Cited page

    (see example http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/legacylib/mlahcc.html and then go down to where it says “Web Pages”.

  • Heading (Works Cited) is not underlined, bold or in quotes.
  • References are in alphabetical order (and not numbered).
  • References have the first line not indented but all the rest are indented.
  • Dates are in the format 15 Mar 2008.
  • URL has appropriate brackets (<>) around it and it NOT underlined.
  • All necessary information is included.
  • Punctuation and capitalization are correct.

    • =100 points

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    Timeline

    Day 1: In computer lab

    Research your topic and take notes by cutting and pasting into a Microsoft Word document.  You may print a maximum of 3 pages!!! Be sure to get all the information necessary for your Works Consulted page.

    • Author of article or page
    • Title of article or page
    • Date that page was last updated if available (look at bottom of page).
    • Exact URL

    Homework: Work on writing your paper.  If you need to go back to any websites you will have to do that at home or on your own.

     

    Day 2: In classroom

    You will be put into like groups to work on your Works Cited pages because most students have not really done this before.  Your teacher will give you a template to use at that time.  Make sure you bring all your information with you.

    Homework:  Complete the rough draft of your paper.  The Works Cited page must be typed and the rest should be typed but does not have to be.

    Day 3: In classroom

    Rough draft of paper due. You will have a chance to proofread each other’s rough drafts and compare your draft against the evaluation rubric. We will then get into new groups to prepare an oral presentation based on your research.  We may have time to start the oral presentations.

    Homework:  Finish the final draft of your paper.

    Day 4: In classroom

    Paper due.  We will do the oral presentations, or what is left of them, today.

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    Research

    Use ONLY these sites to research your topic.

    Any Role:

    Citizen  Pro (Wants):

     

    Citizen Against:

    Mayor:

     

    Environmentalist:

     

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    Conclusion

    We will conclude this project with some brief oral presentations which we will do all the preparation for during  class.  I will put you into groups of 4 (one who was mayor, one environmentalist, one citizen pro and one citizen con) and give you a question to think about and answer together.  Do not worry about this part until you are finished with the rest of the project.  If you want to peek ahead to see the question scroll down.

    Imagine yourself in the following situation. 

    You are thirty years old.  You have been offered your “dream job” (think  a college coach, a newscaster on TV, a computer game designer, the assistant to a famous fashion designer, etc.) but you would have to move to the Love Canal area with your family.  You have a spouse, a three year old, and plan to have another child.  Your spouse would be able to get a job comparable to the one he/she has currently.  You would be able to buy a house for half the price a house costs in this town.  Groceries and other expenses cost less there too.

    As a group you are going to decide whether you would take the job or not.  You will make a group presentation to the class where you state your decision and back it up with facts.  The presentation should last between 5-10 minutes and everyone should talk. 

    January 3, 2008 at 5:23 pm Leave a comment

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