A WebQuest for 10th – 12th Grade
(Medical Therapeutics)
Designed by
Darlene McLeish, RN
mcleishd@wcschools.com
Introduction | Task
| Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits
Broadly speaking, any
health-related practice that does not have scientific evidence to prove its safety
and efficacy is termed Alternative Medicine. This includes any or all medical therapies (treatments) not
traditionally practiced, taught, or reported about in Western (allopathic)
medicine. People use them to
aide relaxation, and to maintain or improve overall health. No matter what the
problem is, alternative medicine addresses the whole person—body, mind, and
spirit—not just symptoms. It is
wholistic health.
The terms alternative,
complementary, nontraditional, and unorthodox are used interchangeably in
medicine and the media. Some practitioners make a distinction however. They use the term alternative for
methods of treatment used in lieu of conventional therapies, i.e. acupuncture
instead of analgesics for pain.
The term complementary is then used for those practices used in
combination with conventional therapy, i.e. meditation in addition to drug
therapy for pain.
In
this webquest you will assume the role of a newly diagnosed patient with an
assigned disease/condition. You
are desperate to find a way to improve your quantity and/or quality of life. In
order to accomplish this, you must research the allopathic treatment
options. With everything being
offered in health care nowadays, you will not want to stop there. You will also
want to research four alternative health care practices. After so doing, you will need to
analyze each of your treatment options, choosing the one(s) you feel will
accomplish your goal in life, to live long and happily!
Pretending
now you have this disease/condition, which treatment or treatments will you
choose for yourself and why? Compile your information, citing your decision and
reason(s) for it in a two-page report.
You will then share this with your class on the assigned date.
The process you
will need to go by to accomplish this task follows.
You will be assigned a disease or condition...
1. Research information
about your disease or condition.
Identify its cause, signs/symptoms, traditional (allopathic)
treatment(s), and prognosis—the effect on one’s quality/quantity of life.
2. Make notes as you
research so you can go back later to think things through, analyzing the best
option. Use the following sites or
others to gather your information.
MEDICAL
DICTIONARY OF DISEASES
3. Now research and collect information on four
alternative medicine treatments that might be helpful.
4. Analyze the pros and cons of all of these options,
traditional and alternative. Use
the following sites or others to gather your information.
ALTERNATIVE—COMPLEMENTARY
INFO RESOURCE
ALTERNATIVE
RESOURCES/LINKS & ORGANIZATIONS
ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES FOR SPECIFIC
CONDITIONS
ALTERNATIVE/COMPLEMENTARY
MEDICINE ARTICLES & LINKS
5. Now it is time to make your decision. Write your two-page report, remembering
to supply evidence and support for your decision.
6. Present your case assessment report to class on
assigned date.
|
|
|
CATEGORY |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
|
Oral Presentation |
Interesting, well-rehearsed with smooth delivery that
holds audience attention. |
Relatively interesting, rehearsed with a fairly
smooth delivery that usually holds audience attention. |
Delivery not smooth, but able to able to hold
audience attention most of the time. |
Delivery not smooth and audience attention lost. |
|
Content |
Covers topic in-depth with details and examples.
Subject knowledge is excellent. |
Includes essential knowledge about the topic. Subject
knowledge appears to be good. |
Includes essential information about the topic but
there are 1-2 factual errors. |
Content is minimal OR there are several factual
errors. |
|
Organization |
Content is well organized using headings or bulleted
lists to group related material. |
Uses headings or bulleted lists to organize, but the
overall organization of topics appears flawed. |
Content is logically organized for the most part. |
There was no clear or logical organizational
structure, just lots of facts. |
|
Mechanics |
No misspellings or grammatical errors. |
Three or fewer misspellings and/or mechanical errors.
|
Four misspellings and/or grammatical errors. |
More than 4 errors in spelling or grammar. |
When faced with
a life changing disease/condition, the choice of treatment is of utmost
importance. As you have
discovered, one’s quantity of life may be affected as well as his quality of
life. It is because of this that
one owes it to herself to be an informed consumer.
Words of thanks must go out to Diane Bennett, Technology Coach at Mt.
Juliet High School.
Based on a template from The WebQuest Page