photos from U.S. E.P.A. website. 2001.

             Two views of the same scene at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
             (The view on the right shows the effect of air pollution on a "bad air day.)
 
 

Air pollution from a smokestack somewhere in the U.S.A
Sierra Club website photo. 2001
 

INTRODUCTION

Air pollution is a problem that is often discussed in the news, and is a topic of concern for many
people.   You may have noticed a brown haze across this city on certain hot, summer days, and
noted to yourself, “Oh, that`s smog.”   “Smog” is another term for urban air pollution.   Many
people have health problems that are either caused or made worse by air pollution.   Certain
types of air pollution affect the greater environment.   For instance, one kind of air pollution
emitted in Ohio affects the Adirondack mountains region of New York state.   Air pollution from
an industrial disaster in Chernobyl, Russia reached around the world in 1986.   Air pollution has
been a serious problem since the beginning of the industrial age.   One particular incident in
London, England in the 1950`s killed hundreds of people and shut down much of the city.   In the
1970`s the United States Environmental Agency was created in part to regulate the air quality of
the United States.
    The goal of this webquest is for you to find out what air pollution is and where  it come from, and then prepare a report on your findings.  There are many web sites available that discuss air pollution, and information on this subject is not hard to find.  You will just need to be accurate and thorough in your report.   Be professional- please check your spelling and grammar.

The assignment:

Using the Internet and the bookmarked links given here, prepare a
PowerPoint presentation on the following subject:

 What is air pollution, and where does it come from?

Make your presentation informative and entertaining.   You must give at cite at least 4 kinds of air
pollution and also explain where each of these kinds of pollution come from.  Two digital pictures
are required in your PowerPoint show.   You must use material from at least 3 different websites,
and you must cite your sources in the slide.  I also want a complete list of your references at the
end of the slide show.  You must have a minimum of 8 slides, and a maximum of 15 slides in your
PowerPoint show.   You can work by yourself, or in groups of 2 or 3.   The project is due Sep.
29.

Grading.   The project is worth 100 points.   15 points will be subtracted for every day the project is late.   You will be graded on your ability to create a presentation by following the guidelines presented above.  Points will be subtracted for not documenting your sources of information, or for not checking spelling and grammar.    Please make the entire slideshow well-organized and to the point.   Don`t put in music or pictures that aren`t relevant; make everything fit together.

"A" work.   Will include all requirements above.   Will show initiative and creativity.   Will show concern for accuracy, and
for citing the sources of information.   Will be in an attractive format with no misspelled words or bad grammar.
"B" work.    Will include most requirements above.   Will show initiative and creativity.   Will show some concern for accuracy, and for citing the sources of information.   Will be in an attractive format with few misspelled words or bad grammar.
"C" work.   Will include most requirements above.   Will show a little initiative and creativity.   Will show some concern for accuracy, and for citing the sources of information.   Will be in the proper format (PowerPoint) with a minimum of misspelled words or bad grammar.
"D" work.   Does not include most project requirements posted above.   Does not cite sources of information.   Has a lot of
misspelled words and bad grammar.
"F" work.   Worse than D- you figure it out!   No one this class should ever end up in this category.

Good luck, and enjoy "surfing the web"!

Student Resources.

The following links will help you get started.   To find more web pages use search engines
like Yahoo, Infoseek, or Altavista.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency .  www.epa.gov/airnow/aqibroch/

                                          more EPA     www.epa.gov/oar/vis/

Air pollution website (made in
     Hong Kong, but very good)           http://hk.geocities.com/xavier114fch/01/01.htm

  Union of Concerned Scientists          http://www.ucsusa.org/vehicles/0health.html
 

Note about Internet information:
The Internet is not well-regulated.   ANYONE can say ANYTHING they want on the Internet without it necessarily being true.
      Evaluate any websites you find yourself carefully.   First, don`t try to read extremely technical websites.   If you don`t understand most of what you are reading, quickly move on to a different web site!   This is not a class in rocket science.
       Evaluate websites on their accountability.  There should be an author or group named that is the responsible person for the information.   Anonymous sites are often unreliable and contain  innaccuracies.    Please look for a recent date on the web pages- this means the information is relatively current.  But it`s okay to use information several years old for this project.
        Look for information put out by respected organizations like famous colleges, respected environmental groups like the Sierra Club, or by the federal government.   Be wary of web pages created by people that are narrow-minded or that stand to make money by presenting a certain view of an issue.

          Clean air somewhere in Switzerland...
 

Information about this Webquest