The Country Without Sports

A Project for West Ranch P.E. Excused Students

Introduction

Sports are very popular in the United States. Many people enjoy participating or being spectators of a wide variety of athletic games. Millions of dollars are spent each year on the players' salaries, tickets and sales of related items. But…what if there were no sports in our country? Do they serve a purpose? Are they worth having?

The Task

You have been brought to a country called "Couchpotatia," that does not know anything about sports. Your job is to teach them how to play the game/sport that your P.E. teacher has assigned.

You must also bring a professional player of that sport with you to demonstrate it. You will provide some biographical information about your chosen athlete.

Afterwards, the people of this country will ask you, "What is the purpose of participating in this sport?" You must explain the health benefits of exercise and any other ideas you might have that would persuade them to participate in this sport.

Your final job will be to create a brochure to provide them a summary of all that you have learned, advertising your sport.

The Process

All work is to be typed, 12 font, double spaced. The amount of steps you must complete depends upon how long you are assigned to the library. Everyone must complete step 4 - the bibliography. MLA format is required. Forms are available at the West Ranch HS Library that will instruct you on writing a bibliography..

One Week

1. Gather information on the history, rules, equipment and strategies of your sport. Write three pages that summarizes this background information so that you could tell the people of "Couchpotatia" all about the new and exciting games they are about to play. Be sure to keep track of your resources for writing your bibliography - see step 4.

STOP HERE - HAVE YOUR PROGRESS CHECKED BY YOUR P.E. TEACHER

1-1 & 1/2 Weeks

2. Write a two page biography on the athlete that you're bringing to demonstrate the sport. Include at least five facts about this athlete. Add a paragraph that explains why you think this person is the best choice for this job.

Two Weeks

3. Write three pages that will persuade "Couchpotatia" to play this sport. Be sure to include the health benefits of exercise such as lowering one's blood pressure and weight. Give them ideas about how to have a healthy diet. Include facts about target heart rate and the food pyramid.

4. Write a bibliography in the proper format, listing at least 3 sources and two different types (for example, 1 book and 2 Internet). Remember, for an Internet resource, you must have the date of the document and the Web address. To find the date of document, check the bottom of the Web page for a "last updated" date. If no date is available, type "unknown" in your bibliography.

STOP HERE - HAVE YOUR PROGRESS CHECKED BY YOUR P.E. TEACHER

Three Weeks

5. Create a brochure to be given to the people that summarizes everything you've learned.

Front Cover
Include the name of the sport/game; add a picture showing your sport or the athlete you chose for the biography.
Back
Put the date, your name, P.E. teacher's name and period.
Inside Flap
Put your persuasive information here about why "Couchpotatia" should participate in this sport.
Brochure Inside
Include the highlights of the rest of your report here. Be sure to include pictures and color to make your brochure interesting.

No separate bibliography is required for the brochure. However, you MUST put the Web address under any photo to give credit to its source. See Mrs. Erickson if you have any questions on citing sources.
http://archive.essdack.org/tool/brochure (Directions on how to make a brochure in Word or Claris Works )

RESOURCES

http://www.everyrule.com/framesets/sportsframes.htm A great alphabetical listing of the rules to many sports and games.

http://www.edgate.com/summergames/inactive/spotlight_sport/index.html#more_sports - Click on the icon for the sport for background information

http://dir.yahoo.com/Recreation/Sports/Athletes/ Index of sports with general information.

http://www.biography.com/index.html Search the index for athlete biographies

http://www.i-run.com/framehtml/calculators/bodymass.html How is your weight? Are you in a healthy range? Take a look at the next two Web sites to see how you could improve.

http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/aha/aha_exerpres_sma.htm Find out what a target heart rate is, and how you can obtain it.

http://www.4woman.gov/faq/diet.htm - A healthy diet is important to keep your body fit. Get some info from the food choices.

http://www.dole5aday.com/Kids/K_Index.html Have some fun with games and healthy recipes at this site.

http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/fit/no_sports.html If the people of "Couchpotatia" are still resistant to starting sports, here are some ideas to get them moving!

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/ent/A0819062.html - Brief description of folk dancing.

http://www.heritagedance.com/HISTORY/am_folk.html - History of American Square Dancing

http://www.op97.k12.il.us/instruct/IArts/Prairie/dance.html - Definitions of types of folk dancing.

http://www.squaredancecd.com/sdance.htm - How to square dance. Click on the left tool bar for specific moves.

BOOKS

Go to the 700 section of the library to find books on the rules and specific sports. The biography section is also helpful when choosing your athlete. Try the "World Book Encyclopedia" for the history of the sport. The 600 section has books on the benefits of exercise to your health.

RUBRIC

P.E. Web Quest	Below Basic 0-1 point	Beginning 2 points	Developing 3 points	Accomplished 4 points	Exemplary 5 points	Score
Sport Info.	Includes only 1 of the 4 required elements: history, rules equipment and strategy	Contains 2 of the elements	Contains 3 of the elements	Contains all 4 elements.	Contains all 4 elements in a clearly organized way. Extra interesting facts are added
Biography	Incomplete -less than 3 facts	Contains 3 facts about the person - did not include why selected	Contains 4 facts about the person - not clear why selected	Contains 5 facts about the person and the paragraph of why selected	More than 5 facts given about person - includes clear paragraph of why selected
Persuasion/ Health info.	Incomplete - does not persuade one to practice the sport or include enough information	Does not include either the health benefits, diet recommendations or the persuasive paragraph	Includes health benefits and diet recommendations; and a persuasive paragraph, but information is disorganized	Includes health benefits of the sport, diet recommendations and a persuasive paragraph	Offers clear points as to health benefits of sport & diet recommendations; convinces why it should be practiced
Brochure	Incomplete or did not follow directions	Does not contain all elements	Contains all elements and adds graphics	Contains all elements, graphics and is organized	Contains all elements in organized, clear and visually appealing way
Mechanics/ Grammar	Contains 5 or more errors; no bibliography	Contains 4 errors and less than 3 sources in poorly formatted bibliography.	Contains 3 errors and less than 3 sources in bibliography.	Contains 1-2 errors and 3 sources in bibliography.	Contains no errors and more than 3 sources in well formatted bibliography.
					Total Score:

Grading Scale:

23-25 = A
20-22 = B
17-19 = C
14-16 = D
0 -13 = Fail

CONCLUSION

After studying your sport and healthy lifestyles, you should have a clear idea as to the importance of your P.E. class. Through exercise, a well balanced diet, and the avoidance drugs, you will find the way to a happy and healthy life.

TEACHER SECTION

Students are expected to have at least a week of class time in order to complete this project. Components could be added or subtracted as time allows. For example, the brochure or biography section could be eliminated. Or if a student is excused from P.E. for only a few days, then the teacher may only want one component covered.

Information literacy standards required in order to complete this assignment: students are gathering information, synthesizing it, using persuasive skills and justifying their position.

P.E. Standards -

Identify the impact of such factors as nutrition, relaxation, stress, and substance abuse on the body's ability to participate in physical activity.
Students will work in cooperative groups and describe in writing the benefits of exercise related to a healthy lifestyle and physical, emotional and social well-being.
Students are asked to estimate their own maximal heart rates (220 minus age) ...and determine their target heart rates by computing 70 percent and 85 percent of their maximal heart rates.
The student will understand the interrelationship between history and culture and games, sports, play, and dance.
Student will be able to understand and apply more advanced movement and game strategies.
Students will be observed playing within the rules of a game as a cooperative group.

CREDITS

http://www.users.ties.k12.mn.us/~xrayo/webq.html Thanks to Ximena Rayo for ideas on Web sites and gifs.

http://school.discovery.com/clipart/category/sprt01.html provided clip art

http://www.clipartguide.com/clipart_misc/misc_page11.html provided clip art

http://www.sports-photos.com/ provided photos

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/webquest.html - Bernie Dodge's site on how to do WebQuests

adapted for use

By Laura Erickson for West Ranch High School