webquest helping students appreciate the need to learn their multiplication facts

1. Why Do I Need
Multiplication?
and how can I make it fun to learn?
CREDITS AND
TEACHERS
RESOURCE
STEP 3
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2. Introduction
If your like me, you might have asked yourself “WHY?” As you sit on that hard chair
behind your uncomfortable desk staring at your multiplication facts timed worksheet, beads
of sweat may be forming on your forehead, your hands shaking, and as you wait for the go
ahead to start your test, you ask yourself again... Why on earth do I need to learn to multiply
anyway? Are there tricks to learning this stuff? I will never remember these multiplication
facts!
But you can, and it isn’t difficult…it’s all about PRACTICE and ATTITUDE!
Let’s take a look at the world of math and explore some careers that you might be interested
in, think about the ways your life will be better when you know the facts, and find some
CREDITS AND
games that will help you practice and learn. TEACHERS
RESOURCE
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3. TASK
IN THIS WEB QUEST, YOU WILL EXPLORE SOME WEB LINKS
THAT GIVE YOU INFORMATION ABOUT SOME COOL CAREERS
THAT REQUIRE MATH.
YOU WILL WRITE SOME STORIES ABOUT EVERYDAY LIFE THAT
NEED TO BE SOLVED BY USING MULTIPLICATION
YOU WILL CRITIQUE MULTIPLICATION GAMES AND PRODUCE A
TOP TEN LIST OF RECOMMENDED GAMES. YOU WILL
SHOWCASE THIS TOP TEN LIST BY PRODUCING A PODCAST.
YOU WILL POST YOUR REFLECTION OF THIS ASSIGNMENT ON
OUR ONLINE BULLETIN BOARD TO SHARE WITH YOUR
CLASSMATES. CREDITS AND
TEACHERS
RESOURCE
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4. BEFORE YOU BEGIN...
You will be looking around the world wide web and using the work of
others in your search and reporting. Be sure to visit the following links
before you begin your quest as a reminder of your responsibility of
being safe and citing sources properly.
Plagiarism and citing your sources properly:
http://www.2learn.ca/nkh/nkhcrimg.html
Does this website have good information:
http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/vl/www/www25.htm
CREDITS AND
TEACHERS
RESOURCE
STEP 3
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5. PROCESS: STEP 1
WHAT ON EARTH AM I GOING TO DO WITH MATH ANYWAY?
Take a tour of some cool careers by following the links. Find at
least one career that interests you and read about it. In your
journal write the job title and a summary of what that person does,
making sure to use your own words.
http://timathrocks.com/careers.php
http://home.earthlink.net/~stcarr/mathjobs.html
Brainstorm ideas about how we use math in our everyday lives. Think
about some problems you might need to solve in your own life that might
be easier to solve if you know your multiplication facts. In your math
journal write 2 word problems using a real life situation solved by
multiplication. For example: I had three daughters who liked apples.
When I did my weekly shopping I needed to purchase enough apples to give
them each an apple a day. How many apples did I need to buy for the week?
answer: 7 days in a week x 3 daughters= 21 apples
Be sure to write word problems that you might need to solve in your life!
*hint-subjects you might use: pages to read for a book report, sports
scores, cooking, sharing a snack with a few of your friends and so on.
CREDITS AND
TEACHERS
RESOURCE
STEP 3
TITLE INTRODUCTION BEFORE YOU BEGIN TASK PROCEDURE STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 CONT. CONCLUSION

6. PROCESS: STEP 2
Are there any tricks to learning this stuff?
Use the search engine www.askkids.com using this search phrase: “multiplication tricks and
hints” make sure that you read the summary of each link to see if it will really give you
the information you are looking for.
In your math journal, write at least 5 tips or tricks that will help you to learn you
multiplication facts faster. Be sure and summarize using your own words so that you can
share them with others. Include in your summary whether or not this is something that you
would be able to use yourself or already do. Don’t forget to site your sources in order to
prevent plagiarism.
CREDITS AND
TEACHERS
RESOURCE
STEP 3
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7. PROCESS: STEP 3!
WORK TOGETHER WITH YOUR PARTNER TO
DECIDE WHICH GAMES YOU ARE GOING TO
LOOK AT. EACH ONE OF YOU WILL PLAY
THE GAMES INDIVIDUALLY AND RATE
THEM. USE THE EXAMPLE RATING CHART
FROM iLIFE08 NUMBERS, ON THE NEXT
SLIDE. WHEN YOU ARE BOTH DONE, ADD
UP YOUR RATINGS FOR EACH GAME,
TOTAL THAT WITH YOUR PARTNERS
RATING FOR EACH GAME AND PUT THEM
INTO YOUR TOP TEN LIST FROM BEST TO
WORST.
BRAINSTORM IDEAS FOR DELIVERING
YOUR TOP TEN LIST IN A CREATIVE,
FUN WAY AND MAKE A STORYBOARD. BE
SURE TO HAVE THE TEACHER CHECK YOUR
STORYBOARD BEFORE YOU START MAKING
YOUR PODCAST.
USING KEYNOTE, BUILD YOUR PODCAST
AND SPIFFY IT UP USING SPECIAL CREDITS AND
EFFECTS, VIDEO AND AUDIO. WHEN IT TEACHERS
IS COMPLETE, PUBLISH IT USING RESOURCE
iTUNES.
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8. PROCESS: STEP 3 continued...
example rating document
OPEN ILIFE AND GET A BLANK PAGE. SET UP THE DOCUMENT
WITH THE CRITERIA YOU ARE RATING FOR EACH WEBSITE.
CLICK ON THE LINKS TO THE PAGES WITH COLLECTIONS OF Did the
graphics and
game open Draw you in? come back? Did you learn?
GAMES. TYPE IN THE TITLE OF THE GAME AND IN THE BOX anmimation
quickly
BELOW THE TITLE COPY AND PASTE THE WEB LINK. PLAY THE
GAME AND RATE IT ON A SCORE OF 1 TO 10 (1 BEING THE
LOWEST AND 10 THE HIGHEST)FOR EACH CATEGORY:
Mad Math
10 8 9 5 8
http:// older played it
madmath.org
quick graphics twice
better games a little
Did the game open quickly? Multiply
My Way 5 10 10 8 10
www.mmw.org slow very good yes most likely yes
Were the graphics and animations colorful and exciting?
Did the game draw you in?
Would you come back to this game?
Do you think that this game will help you learn?
CREDITS AND
TEACHERS
Be sure to write a short comment about what you liked or disliked RESOURCE
about this game.
STEP 3
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9. CONCLUSION
By the time you finish this web quest you will have a new
appreciation for what multiplication can do for your life ,
now and in the future. You will have found some tricks to help
you learn the facts and finally you have found some great
games that you can use to have fun while you practice. After
all, practice and attitude are the keys to learning your facts
and remembering them. GREAT JOB! Can you solve the problem
below?
I HAVE 12 STUDENTS WHO LOVE TO USE THE COMPUTER.
UNFORTUNATELY, I ONLY HAVE 4 COMPUTERS FOR THE WHOLE CLASS.
WE NEED TO FINISH OUR WEB QUEST IN FIVE CLASS PERIODS AND EACH
SESSION IS 45 MINUTES LONG. HOW MANY STUDENTS WILL HAVE TO
WORK ON ONE COMPUTER? HOW MANY MINUTES DO WE HAVE TO WORK ON
THIS WEB QUEST, ALTOGETHER?
CREDITS AND
TEACHERS
RESOURCE
STEP 3
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10. EVALUATION
BEGINNING DEVELOPING ACCOMPLISHED EXEMPLARY
OBJECTIVES
1 2 3 4
SCORE
JOB TITLE,
SUMMARY IN OWN
JOB TITLE, NO JOB TITLE, BRIEF JOB TITLE, SUMMARY
COOL CAREERS SUMMARY SUMMARY USING OWN WORDS
WORDS WITH
EXTRA
INFORMATION
OUTSTANDING
2 STORIES,
INCOMPLETE 2 WORD STORIES, WORDS STORIES
INCOMPLETE WORD
STORIES, LACK OF COMPLETE SHOWING SHOWING
MATH STORIES FOCUS ON TASK,
PROBLEMS OR
UNDERSTANDING OF COMPLETE
MULTIPLE
SLOPPY WORK TASK. UNDERSTANDING
SPELLING ERRORS
OF TASK
WORKED WELL
WORKED WELL WITH WITH PARTNER
DIFFICULTY SLOPPY WORK,
TOP TEN GAMES ON WORKING WITH SHOWS NO
PARTNER, SHOWS PRODUCED AN
UNDERSTANDING EXCELLENT
PODCAST PARTNER, NO CREATIVITY WITH
THROUGH PODCAST, PODCAST
PODCAST PODCAST
NEAT WORK SHOWING
CREATIVITY
ABLE TO MAKE
NO REFLECTIONS TWO OR THREE GOOD FOUR OR MORE
REFLECTIONS,
OR TOO BRIEF TO POINTS, POINTS, SHOWS
REFLECTIONS CHECK FOR TRUE
UNABLE TO
UNDERSTANDING IS EXCELLENT
UNDERSTAND
UNDERSTANDING
COMPLETE LESSON
CLEAR UNDERSTANDING CREDITS AND
TEACHERS
RESOURCE
STEP 3
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11. CREDITS and
TEACHERS PAGE
This webquest was inspired by a fourth grade student who dove under his desk and had tears streaming down
his face because he didn’t feel that he would ever learn his multiplication facts. I completely understood, I
struggled too. I told him I would work hard at finding a way to teach him. The biggest obstacle to learning is
practice and attitude. Taking the lighter side with the game review will hopefully motivate him to learn!
I ran across a wealth of sites dedicated to math resources. The following links are the sites I chose to use for the
creation of this webquest:
http://www.2learn.ca/nkh/nkhcrimg.html
http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/vl/www/www25.htm
http://timathrocks.com/careers.php
http://home.earthlink.net/~stcarr/mathjobs.html
www.askkids.com
http://www.school-clipart.com/_
ww.hellasmultimedia.com
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