By Ms. Gersh

Christopher Columbus High School

Spring 2005

 

 

 

 

Every year, millions of innocent people are dying of AIDS.  One such person was Ryan White, a young boy who had hemophilia.  He contracted the HIV virus.  Due to his disease, Ryan experienced prejudice among his classmates and community.  However, Ryan did not allow negativity to get in his way.  He was an inspiration for thousands of people to overcome their own fears about AIDS.

 

 

You have recently returned from another great summer vacation, now ready to enter your junior year of high school.  You enter your ESL class, where you meet up with your old friends, while seeing many new faces in your class.  Excited to meet the new students, your teacher asks each student to introduce themselves.  When it is a new student’s turn to introduce herself, you are shocked and nervous to hear that this student has AIDS.  You ask yourself, “Why is she in this school?”  and “What if I get AIDS from her?”  Like many other students in the class, you are worried that her disease might soon become your disease.

 

After learning about your new classmate, you are curious about what AIDS really is.  To help better understand this disease, your teacher has asked you to become a reporter on AIDS.  As a reporter, you will research different websites to help to answer questions about the history of AIDS, how people get AIDS and how AIDS can be prevented.

 

By doing this research, you will be able to help educate others in your community about AIDS and how to prevent themselves from contracting this deadly disease.

 

Your research team will be producing a report on AIDS, where you will discuss the history of AIDS, how one contracts AIDS, and AIDS awareness and prevention, with a special focus on teenagers.  Using the TIPS Public Policy Analyst, you will also be able to develop convincing arguments for the use of specific policies.  Each group member’s report will be a minimum of two type-written pages. You will use the Internet resources to help research information for your report.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You will complete the following as an AIDS researcher:

 

1.  You will work in groups of four to complete all tasks and worksheets.

2.  You will work in groups to create and hand out survey questionnaires on AIDS awareness to 5 different people (per researcher) and gather the information from the completed surveys.

3.  You will create graphs from information gathered from the surveys.

4.  You will write a 2 page report on your research of AIDS.(Each group member will write a report.)

  Your report will include:

a.  the history of AIDS

b. how a person gets AIDS

c. information on different countries with people living with AIDS 

d. how AIDS can be prevented through awareness and education  

e. possible solutions to stop the spread of this deadly disease

 

5.  You will submit a journal, writing about your daily experiences while completing the WebQuest project.

 

Use the 6-step Public Policy format to help with your research.  In your groups, complete the handouts to collect information for each step.

 

Age	# of Cumulative AIDS Cases
Under 13:	9,300
Ages 13 to 14:	839
Ages 15 to 24:	35,460
Ages 25 to 34:	301,278
Ages 35 to 44:	347,860
Ages 45 to 54:	138,386
Ages 55 to 64:	40,584
Ages 65 or older:	12,868

1. What is the problem?                                               

      Define the social problem-Worksheet #1

2.   Where is the evidence?

       Gather evidence - Worksheet #2

3.   What are the causes?

          Identify causes- Worksheet #3  

4.   What is the existing policy?

         Evaluate a policy – Worksheet #4

 

   5.What policies can you create to correct the problem?

        Develop solutions – Worksheet #5

6.What is the best policy to correct the problem?

 Select best solution – Worksheet #6

 

 

 

 

 

http://aidshistory.nih.gov/first_encounters/index.html

The first encounter of AIDS

http://cdc.gov/hiv/pubs/faqs.htm#symptom

Important facts about AIDS

http://whatudo.org/whatudo?page=learn-01-11-26

Number of people living with AIDS

http://library.thinkquest.org/J003087F/interest.htm

Information on AIDS and the prevention of AIDS

http://whatudo.org/whatudo?page=learn-01-11-06

Is there a cure for AIDS?

http://pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec02/aids.htm 

The effects of AIDS throughout the world 

http://library.thinkquest.org/J003087F/photo.htm

AIDS: How it kills people 

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5411881/site/newsweek

Living with AIDS in Africa

http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/graphing/

Create a graph from survey results 

http://hostos.cuny.edu/homepages/lesnick/aids/page16.htm

AIDS Questionnaire

http://hostos.cuny.edu/homepages/lesnick/aids/page17.htm

Reduce the Risk of getting AIDS

 

 

 

 

Your work will be graded according to the following rubric:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

	4	3	2	1
REPORT	Accurate information.   Shows an excellent grasp of the issue.   Successfully presents multiple strategies and/or resources available.	Accurate, specific information.   Shows a strong grasp of the issue.   Discusses more than one successful strategy and/or useful resources	General Information. Uses one specific strategy and/or resource.   Has limited understanding of issue.	Inaccurate Information.
	No errors of grammar/punctuation.	Few minor errors of grammar/punctuation.	Has errors of grammar/punctuation that do not affect comprehension.	Serious errors that affect comprehension.
FORMAT	PPA Format followed exactly.	PPA Format followed generally.	PPA Format is followed inconsistently.	Little evidence of PPA Format.
GRAPH	Information clearly used from surveys.   Successfully created a chart from survey information gathered.	Some information used from surveys.   Some directions followed to complete chart.	Little information used from survey.   Directions not followed to complete chart.	Little evidence of survey information gathered.
JOURNAL	Completes all journal entries.   Gives detailed entries on daily project experiences.	Missing one journal entry.   Gives information in entries about daily project experiences.	Missing two to three journal entries.   Lacks information about daily project experiences.	Missing three or more journal entries. Gives no information about daily project experiences.

 

 

 

 

 

English Language Arts

 

1.    Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction.

2.      Students will use oral and written language for effective social communication with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people and their views.

 

Social Studies

 

 

1.Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From this WebQuest, you should have learned the history of the AIDS virus and how a person gets this deadly disease.  In addition, you should have learned the importance of AIDS prevention, and how a person can avoid contracting AIDS.  With the knowledge you now have about AIDS, go out and educate your family, friends and community in order to help protect people from getting such a deadly disease.