Extremophile Web Quest
An Internet Web Quest on deep sea vents

 


Task

Your team has been assigned to assist in the task of developing the new Hydrothermal Vents and Cold Seep Displays at Sea World. You will use the links provided to become experts on your roles. By completing this Web Quest, you should achieve the following goals: 1) develop an interest in the study of deep sea vents and cold seep; 2) use the power of the Internet for advanced exploration; 3) learn details about key aspects of deep sea vents and cold seeps; 5) formulate and support information based on your role; and 6) work with teammates to create a combined action plan.
Your final product will be a multimedia presentation of your groups findings
Don't scrimp on the details, take good notes and remember to site your sources with the proper bibliographic format.


Process

You will be working together as a group exploring web sites that your teacher has selected. You should start with some of the pages that are 'Background Information'. Each group member has their own Task to complete. Your Team Goal is to research information that you think should be used for displays to educate the public about Deep sea vents and Cold Seeps. You will create a multimedia presentation to give to the Board of Directors of Sea World so that they will be able to evaluate if your research is the best choice to educate the public about these unique habitats and their animals.
Remember that you will be evaluated on your knowledge, your visual aides and your work. No Group Grade. Effort should be evident. Sloppy, unprofessional and poorly planned work will be graded appropriately as will neat, professional, high quality work.

Phase 1 - Background Information
These sites are important because they will provide basic information about the topic as a whole. Everyone should explore these sites as well as the sites listed with all the jobs.

·         Extreme 2004

·         Cold seeps benthc ecology

·         What is the Lost city vent area.

·         Visions 2005 web pages

·         United nations report on bioprospecting of genetic resources of the deep sea bed

·         MOR dike intrusion and formation of lava pillars.

·         Dive Game

·         Shrunken head video

·         Journey to the sea bottom quiz/board game

·         Plate Boundary matching and flash cards

·         Time management tips

·         Cold seeps of the Gulf

·         Cold seep and vent information

·         Cold seeps of the Gulf

·         Cold seep and vent information

·         Animals of the cold seep

·         Cold seep Definition

·         Seeps and Vents Whitman college

·         Seep life information

·         Complete Vent Site

·         Tools and research vessels

·         Simple explanations of Vents, animals, conditions, etc.

·         2001 USA Today Article

·         Some history of vent exploration.

·         Vent creatures

·         Vent and seep info. college level

·         Tubeworms

·         pompeii worm on a radio show

·         Vent exploration

·         Interactive depth and pressure demos.

·         Life above boiling

·         interactive Vent site

·         Ice worm size, temp, etc.

·         Deep sea corals

·         diversity of deep sea corals

·         technology / tools for exploration

·         Magazine (in pdf) for grades 4-6 about hydrothermal vents

·         Ancient and modern vent info. natural history museum

·         Strange Lost City Vents- A Different type of hydrothermal vent.

·         Why Study hydrothermal vents?

·         Lost City : vent chemistry, geology, biology - a different type of vent

·         VENTS AND SEEPS SHORT AND SWEET


Phase 2 - Roles
These roles were chosen because they each define the most important elements of Sea World design. Each of you has been assigned a particular role with links and instructions below. Here are the general instructions for all of you. Please see your specific instructions and questions below.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.One member from each Web Quest team will explore one of the roles below, then you will combine your information to create the Deep Display Presentation.

2. Read through the files designated for your job. They are a start for your research but the background sites are where you can find more. Record notes which help you do your task following the IIM format.

3.  After researching and evaluation the sites necessary for your role, you’ll need to write about your findings.  You need to answer all the questions you are assigned with NOTE FACTS in your own words in a Word document.  Insert graphics at the end of your document. 

4. Remember to include the URL of the page you take information from so you can return to it and use it as a citation. You need the address of all the information you use as well as any pictures that you use.

Habitat engineer:

·         ROPOS Dive Simulation

·         How smokers form.

·         Vent locations map

·         Metric conversions

Your job is to think about the actual tanks where the animals will be kept. You can not create an actual hydrothermal vent so what are the conditions (temps, pressures, chemicals, etc.) that you will need to create? How many tanks will be needed and how will they be different from each other? What aspects of the deep will you highlight in your display and why? Will you group animals by locations, by habits, by trophic (feeding) levels? How big will it be? Be prepared to justify why you made your choices. You will have to consult with the biologist to coordinate what animals will be on display and what their needs will be. You will need to keep the ed. specialists up to date on your plans so they can do their jobs.

Biologist:

·         Vent animal Pictures

·         Vent animal information

·         Animal Pictures

·         Anatomy of a tubeworm

·         deep ocean vent animals

·         Cold seep food web info. for Barkley Canyon

It's all about the animals. Which ones will you chose and why? How will you keep them alive, what are their needs? Can they all get along? You will have to work with the habitat engineers to determine how many tanks and who will live in each one. Will you need tanks behind the scenes to raise food animals? You want to educate the public so think about that when you chose how the animals are grouped and what you can teach the public with the animals. Talk to the habitat engineers to agree on an organizational theme. Talk to the education people to keep them informed so they can plan the educational displays to meet your design.

Education specialist #1 teen and adult ed.:

·         Office of naval research

·         Lessons on Chemosynthesis and deep sea benthos

·         Lost City : vent chemistry, geology, biology - a different type of vent Chemosynthesis

·         Vent basics with quiz

·         ALVIN Adventure based information on all things vent related.

·         Vent Dive game

·         Cute bioluminescence song

 

You must generate the list of information and how you will get it across. Think of all the zoos and museums which you've been to and how do they get you to understand the information in a fun way. Without you and the other ed. specialist the new wing is just floors, walls and tanks with unidentified things in it. Don't forget the details like signs for the tanks to say who is in each tank, signs explaining how vents work, why we have cold seeps, what is chemosynthesis, what are the different types of Bacteria and Why is it important to study vent and seep environments.  Generate scripts associated with each tank.

 

Historian/Exploration ed. specialist:

·         Woods hole dive and discover site

·         ROPOS ROV

·         Whole site about the abyss, life, tools and technology

·         ALVIN home site

·         ALVIN II

·         ALVIN Pilots

·         Pressure

·         Trieste

·         Aboard Alvin

·         technology / tools for exploration

Your part of the deep sea habitat display should inform the public about how we explore these places. What type of tools and equipment are used? What are they like? Who owns them and who uses them? When were the vents and seeps discovered, where and by whom? What is the history of ocean exploration? What is the future of ocean exploration? Talk to the other ed. specialists so that the displays have good variety and are not just a lot of the same type of displays or information.


Conclusion – Multimedia Presentation
You have all learned about different parts of deep sea vents, cold seeps and ocean exploration. Now group members come back to the larger Web Quest team with expertise gained by searching from one perspective. You must all now complete the Task as a group. Use information, pictures, facts video clips, etc. from the web sites you explored to be part of your team's multimedia presentation. Your team wants to win the contract to assist in creating the new Sea World displays.