Dragonboat webquest

THE TASK

粉好吃!

Using the Internet, off-line resources, and a personal inverview using both English and traditional Chinese, discover the fascinating history and traditions behind this fun holiday. The end product of your research and hard work will be a PowerPoint presentation that will be shown to your classmates. In order to achieve this goal, you will be required to work as individuals and as a team to accurately and creatively present your findings. Your language and research skills are being put to the test. Creativity in design and presentation are considerable factors in your evaluations for this assignment.

THE PROCESS

一 In groups of three, divide up research areas into three categories: a) on-line, b) off-line, and c) personal interview. Beginning points for each category can be found under resources , but an important aspect of this assignment is successfully conducting research without the help of the instructor. Beginning sources point you in the right direction, but the bulk of searching out sources will be left up to the individual groups.

a) on-line researcher : find credible websites from academic or cultural organizations detailing information about the Dragon Boat Festival. Stay away from personal webpages, you are looking for accurate facts about the holiday!

b) off-line researcher : you are looking for texts, novels, cultural magazines, and/or journals. Your goal is the same as the on-line researcher. Seeking out multiple sources to verify information used in your presentation is a key aspect of conducting accurate research.

c) personal interviewer : you are charged with seeking out a personal interview on campus with a student or faculty member who is from China or Taiwan. The goal of this activity is to complement the information gathered by your other two teammates. Information obtained from personal interviews will complement the other research and provide a personal look at the festival that websites and texts cannot provide.

二 Once the research and interview(s) have been completed, join forces with the other group members and compile your data. Once you have a general idea of what you would like to do, create a "storyboard" using a notebook to draw up plans for your PowerPoint presentation. This storyboard is a work-in-progress, so use it to brainstorm and form ideas.

三 Finally, create you PowerPoint presentations (in traditional Chinese) using data and images you have found and images created by the group. When describing the who, what , where, when , how and why of the Dragon Boat Festival, creativity and originality are encouraged, as long as your presentation remains accurate. Remember to use endnotes to cite facts or ideas that you have used from other sources. The format of the endnotes is up to the groups, as long as all entries give the same information and are arranged the same. The endnotes page should be the only one that will use English in your presentation.

RESOURCES

Click here to download a free trial version of NJ Star Chinese word processor or here for Twinbridge

On-line Resources :

English: google , yahoo , IUB East Asian Collection , EALC resource page
中文: google , yahoo

Off-line Resources :

IUB Main Library , Chinese Civiliazation: A Sourcebook , Patricia Buckley Ebrey (ed.)

Personal Interview :

EALC , EASC ...these will help you find the people you need!

These should get you started. Once again, finding sources is primarily the responsibility of individual groups, so use the above sources as a starting point!

E VALUATION

	How well have you addressed the following ?	Poor 2 Points	Fair 3 Points	Good 4 Points	Great 5 Points
Research	Have you done your research well? Do the endnotes display a wide range of sources used to complete your assignment? Are the endnotes uniform in information provided and presentation? Do your group's research and endnotes indicate a high degree of cooperation and teamwork?
Creativity	Does the design of your presentation show creativity? Have you used original images and ideas in conjunction with borrowed sources and images? Have you given your presentation an individual style, is it appealing visually as well as informative?
Chinese	Did you use current level Chinese vocabulary, sentence structures, grammar, and patterns in your presentation? Did you use them correctly? Can it be easily read and understood by your classmates?
Organization, Accuracy, and Completeness	Does your group's presentation look organized? Does it naturally flow from one page to the next, or does it appear complicated and difficult to follow? Does it look rushed or limited in its content?
PowerPoint	How well have you used the tools available in PowerPoint software? Have you incorporated audio files or other individualized sections to your presentation to set it apart from the others?

25 Points * 4 = 100 total points for the assignment.

CONCLUSION

Your classmates are now better prepared to understand the Dragon Boat Festival. While they are in China and Taiwan they will indeed benefit from your research, creativity, and teamwork. Don't think that the work is done, though! You can use your improved research skills to learn more about some of the other great festivals, celebrations and special days in Chinese culture.

Mid-autumn Festival 中秋節

Chinese New Year 春節/ 過年/ 新年

Lantern Festival 元宵節

Tomb Sweeping Day 清明節

Chinese Valentine's Day 七夕情人節

and more...