In this web-quest you will
 search different energy sources;
 estimate their advantages and
disadvantages;
 consider other people’s opinions
 evaluate this information.
 What do you know about energy
sources?
 What type of heating do you have at
home?
 Where does electricity come from?
 What kind of transport do you use to get
to the University?
 What are the problems in energy
security? What are their solutions?
What do you know about different
types of energy sources?
Click on the links below to find the answers to
the question.
You might also use
online dictionaries,
online concordance
online thesaurus
http://www.bbc.co.uk/climate/adaptation/wind_power.
shtml
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,46522,
00.html
http://www.nppd.com/about-us/power-plantsfacilities/wind-generation/
How does wind generate the energy?
What do some people not like about the turbines?
Why are wind turbines being built in Antarctica?
 http://electric-power-plant.blogspot.ru/2010/03/hydropower-plant.html
 http://www1.eere.energy.gov/water/hydro_plant_types.ht
ml
 http://www1.eere.energy.gov/water/research.html
 Who was the first to have used the power of water?
 What are the types of hydro power plants?
 What are the targets of the Water Power Program?
 What kind of industries use the river power?
 http://www.oilcrisis.com/overview.htm
 http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/ANWR/
 http://www.anwr.org/Video/Senator-Stevens-ConfrontsCongress-for-Blocking-Oil-Exploration.php
 http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/peril_
oil_pollution.html
 http://www.whitehouse.gov/share/two-very-importantlines?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_conte
nt=email260-graphic&utm_campaign=energy
 http://www.gulfoilandgas.com/webpro1/Projects/default.a
sp?nid=RU
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiHghN7_46U
What are some hazards of oil use?
What are the advantages of its use?
COAL
http://www.fossil.energy.gov/education/energylessons/
coal/coal_history.html
http://www.planetark.com/enviro-news/item/70383
http://www.planetark.com/enviro-news/item/70380
http://www.nppd.com/about-us/power-plants-facilities/
 What was coal originally?
 When and where did coal start to be used on a big
scale?
 What measures are being taken to prevent coal
combustion impact on the environment?
GAS
http://www.nppd.com/about-us/power-plants-facilities/
http://www.fossil.energy.gov/education/energylessons/
gas/gas_history.html
http://rt.com/business/iran-russia-gas-oil-projects-029/
http://www.planetark.com/enviro-news/item/70385
http://www.gulfoilandgas.com/webpro1/Projects/defaul
t.asp?nid=RU
What was gas used as a fuel for in the 1800s?
 When were most gas pipelines built?
 What are the problems in energy security? What are
their solutions?
NUCLEAR POWER
http://www.bbc.co.uk/climate/adaptation/nuclear_power.shtml
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-OS/Russia--Nuclear-Power/
http://www.planetark.com/enviro-news/item/70392
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-GN/Japan/
http://www.nppd.com/about-us/power-plants-facilities/coopernuclear-station/
 What is the total capacity of Russian, Britain nuclear power
plants?
 What are the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear power?
SOLAR POWER
http://www.bbc.co.uk/climate/adaptation/solar_power.
shtml
http://www.planetark.com/enviro-news/item/70389
 When did solar power first start to become popular?
 What countries efficiently use solar power?
TASKS
 Pretend you are members of the
international team designing a power plant
for your country.
1. Choose your country from the list: Russia, Great
Britain, the USA, Australia, Sweden, Germany,
China, Venezuela, Japan
2. Decide your criteria to design a
power plant:
•
Renewability: how long will this source be around?
•
Cost: is the source financially possible?
•
Aesthetics: how will it look?
•
Performance: will it produce enough energy?
•
Safety: can anyone get hurt?
•
Impact: on wildlife, on the environment, on people.
After you have chosen your points, put them in the
order of importance for you.
3. Interview your group mates or
family members based on the above
criteria.
 Which one do they think is the best?
 Which one is the worst?
4. Search on the Internet (URLs given) to find the
opinion of a public person, government, or other
interested parties
5.List at least 2-3 advantages and disadvantages for
each energy source.
6. Report your results to your
team members at the roundtable talk
Which source is the best for your
country?
Give reasons why, providing information
you have collected from this project.
7. Write a survey for the journal
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What source of energy have you chosen?
How is it generated?
What is its industrial and every day application?
What are its advantages and disadvantages?
Does it affect the environment? How?
Use the active vocabulary of Unit 3 (p. 46)
Self-evaluation:
 What did you learn in this web-quest?
 What did you like most of all about it?
 What would you like to change or improve?
Your feedback at: sunnymood77@hotmail.com would
be greatly appreciated!
TEACHING NOTES & EVALUATION
Refer to this evaluation form when evaluating
students' work
below standard
Survey
standard
6-7
(4/3; 3/4;3\3)
disorganised and clearly written,
difficult to follow; logically organised,
little data, few
including a
conclusions;
representative range
intrusive errors of of facts and some
vocabulary and conclusions; but
grammatical and
grammar
lexical mistakes
impede overall
intelligibility
above standard
8 -9
(5/4; 4/5; 4/4)
outstanding
10 (5/5)
carefully planned engaging, original and well
and checked
organised text, consisting
text, including of introduction, data
introduction; a (extensive) and conclusion.
good range of No errors of grammar or
data, and
vocabulary; consistent and
conclusions;
appropriate style;
logically linked illustrative diagrams or
and accurate in charts might also be
terms of
included
grammar and
lexis; good rage
of vocabulary
displayed but
some mistakes
Report
below standard
standard
2
3
report is
confused and/or
short and/or
difficult to
follow, poorly
researched
and/or minimally
exemplified;
intrusive errors
of vocabulary
and grammar
and/or large
chunks copied
directly from
websites
above standard
4
outstanding
5
report is basic report is
report is exceptionally
but sufficient to thorough and
well argued,
present main
clearly laid out, demonstrating original,
arguments;
with arguments often committed,
divided into clear convincingly
thinking based on
sections and
made on the
thorough research,
generally easy to basis of well
expressing a range of
follow; research researched data; points of view but
not exhaustive research has
reaching clearly
but sufficient
gone beyond the articulated and
and mainly
most obvious
accurately expressed
original;
sources and
conclusions
grammatical and there is ample
lexical mistakes evidence of
do not impede original thinking
overall
and writing; high
level of accuracy
intelligibility
and a broad
lexical range
2
Presentation
presentation
simply read
aloud; not easy
to follow, poorly
illustrated,
and/or underrehearsed; work
not well
distributed
between group
members; little
apparent liaison
or collaboration
3
4
presentation
well organised
organised into presentation,
stages, clearly with clear and
illustrated and detailed
sufficiently
rationale,
detailed to give a showing
general idea;
evidence of
evidence of
thorough
rehearsal and
research and
sufficient group rehearsal;
collaboration, attractively
even if workload illustrated; work
not evenly
well codistributed;
ordinated and
some reading
evenly
aloud, but some distributed;
improvised
some reading
aloud, but some
“telling”
improvised
“telling”
5
presentation
painstakingly
researched but
presented in an
engaging, even
entertaining, way;
technically impressive,
well resourced; even
distribution of work,
each contribution
harmoniously linked to
make a coherent whole;
report delivered with
notes but not read
aloud; questions
handled effectively and
spontaneously
CONCLUSION
 This Web-Quest has introduced learners to the concept of
alternative energy sources, and of how to use World Wide Web
English-language resources critically in order to become better
informed about the repercussions of using current energy
sources.
 They have had to collaborate (in a group course) to design and
present an original list of advantages and disadvantages of
energy sources, along with an investigative report justifying
their decisions. This has required the synthesis and organization
of data in an original way.
 They have also had to work individually to report on a survey.
Finally they have had to engage self-appraisal skills in order to
evaluate their progress and participation in the tasks.