A quest to save Machu Picchu

Photo Credit: Angus McIntyre (angus@aegypt.demon.co.uk)

Purpose of Webquest: To research the Incan Civilization, Machu Picchu in particular, using the Internet. It is designed for high school Spanish students. The final product is a persuasive presentation using PowerPoint.

Introduction:

You are sitting among the llamas and the orchids at 10,000 feet about the valley floor. Your view is endless and the air couldn't be cleaner. You've just arrived by train (4 hours) with a long hike that followed to get where you are. You are at the Gate of the Sun - a holy place left by the Incas nearly 500 years ago in the hidden ruins of Machu Picchu. Surrounding you are labyrinths of arches and gigantic rocks which seem to be of ritualistic symbols. You can't hear a sound except the breeze blowing through the green, jungle fauna.
Then, suddenly, a man wearing a suspicious smile, saunters up carrying a briefcase and wearing an old, cheesy hat. It's obvious by his Kenneth Cole loafers and his unnecessary sport coat that he doesn't belong in this majestic location. He reaches into his coat pocket and withdraws a card. "Sunter Construction" He proceeds to explain that you are the lucky travelers who get to help.

"Help with what?" you ask.

"Planning. Planning for the hotel and skycab we're planning to build up here. We want to provide easy access so the masses can come visit. Of course, it means we'll have to tear down a couple of the remains, but it'll be worth it in the end."

Task:

You and your group will have two weeks to organize a presentation in protest of the commercial zoning being proposed to develop in and around Machu Picchu. You must be well informed and well prepared in order to convince this greedy bunch of developers (the class and myself) that what they are planning should not happen. Your presentation will be in the form of a Power Point presentation in order to appeal to their intellects and should, therefore, include photographs as well as ample data.
HINTS TO A GOOD PRESENTATION:

1. Although you are using Power Point, you should still dress to impress and carry yourself as a professional. Remember first impressions carry a lot of weight.
2. Be sure everyone is equally involved in the presentation so they realize all of you feel passionately about the subject.

3. Your point of view (opinion) on the matter should be evident from the beginning. Once your opinion has been given, the arguments should be facts, not opinions. When doing research, you will have to differentiate between fact and opinion. Many websites are simply personal statements which may sound good, but are not, indeed, facts.

4. Be as thorough about important information as possible without using irrelevant or redundant arguments (e.g. details, facts, reasons, examples and descriptions) appropriate to the audience and purpose.

5. Include graphics to strengthen your presentation but do not overuse. Find effective ways to use them.

6. Remember the 6 by 6 rule we learned when doing Power Point. Too many words or bullets can become distracting.

7. Create an organizational structure that includes an effective beginning, middle or end.

Process:

1. Divide into groups of 4. Within the group, I will allow you to divide up the research as you deem fit.
2. Each individual will be responsible to turn in a journal of his own paraphrased notes summarizing main points. *I know the difference between encyclopedia or scholarly words and your own. If you printout information, I want this print out with your annotations and the summary which follows. You should have at least 2 printouts per person. Be sure to document your resources for notes you took off the Internet without a printout.

2. Begin gathering material. The areas to be researched are:

a. Location and map of Machuu Picchu.
b. Dynamics of the surrounding area and of Machuu Pichu itself such as the terrain, climate, altitude, trail to get there, etc.

c. History of Machuu Picchu as an Incan ruin - what purpose it served.

d. Architecture and building materials.

e. In order to truly understand Machuu Picchu, you must understand the Incan way of life. This includes:

History

Government

Agriculture/Economy

Religion and Sacrifices

Fall of the Incan Empire

3. Once each group member has raw material, you must bring the group together to begin organization. From this point, you'll need cooperative group work assignments. At the end of each day, you'll record what exactly you did to perform your role in your journal.

a. Chairman - This person's assignment is to maintain order within the group and keep discussion on topic. This person should oversee that each person participates equally and keep records.
b. Material collector - This person will retrieve necessary materials, keep all the materials/notes, and be sure everything is put away each day.

c. Preparer - This person will be in charge making the PowerPoint presentation.

d. Presenter - This person will have to run the final PowerPoint presentation and, therefore, should work closely with the preparer.

**Everyone will help create the PowerPoint presentation. Decisions will be made jointly, yet only one person will be at the computer.

4. Prepare PowerPoint presentation using template provided in computer lab. Everyone in the group will participate in the decision making. It is more important to get the information in there before making it look great.

5. Give PowerPoint presentation to class. The class will act as the committee and decide if you have provided convincing arguments to save Machu Picchu.

Resources:

On line

1.Cuzco - Capital of the Incas and Machuu Picchu http://www.educationplanet.com/search/redirect?id=30404&mfcount=20&mfkw=Inca A personal account of a trip through Cuzco and Machuu Pichu with photographs.

2. Machu Picchu - How they kept the secrets. http://www.gorp.com/gorp/location/latamer/peru/machu.htm An article by Gary Ziegler, an Incan expert, of Adventure Specialists giving some history fo Machhuu Picchu.

3. Machu Picchu http://www.travelx.com/machu.html A brief description of Machuu Pichuu with story of discovery.

4. The High Mummies http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/peru/mummies/high1.html A documentary by NOVA addressing the mummies found in the Andes and some information about the Incan sacrifices.

5. The Lost Empire http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/peru/worlds/index.html A great article about the flourishing and conquest of the Incan empire. Be sure to hit the continue button at the bottom of each page. This article is 3 pages long.

6. The Sacrificial Ceremony http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/peru/worlds/sacrifice1.html More information about the sacrifices and 2 specific stories.

7. Machu Picchu http://ifip.com/Machupijchu1.htm Incredible library of 40 photographs of Machuu Picchu taken by Louis H. Albert. The photographs are accompanied by words from Inca Atahuallpa's answer to Fray Wicente Valverde, taken from Spanish documents of the Indian Archives in Seville.

8. Encyclopaedia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/6/0,5716,81376,00.html Article An article telling of Hiram Bingham's discovery of Machu Picchu.

9. Machu Picchu - A photo gallery http://www.geocities.com/archaeogeo/machu.html Each photo is accompanied by a description of what it is and its symbolism.

10. Investigating the Inca Empire http://www.sscf.ucsb.edu/~ogburn/ A UCSB PhD student's research including history, achievements, geography and the conquest of the Incas.

11. Encyclopeadia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/0/0,5716,43190+1+42237,00.html General information about the Incas.

12. Empire of the Incas http://search.britannica.com/frm_redir.jsp?query="inca"&redir=http://brill.acomp.usf.edu/~snelson1/inca.htm More detailed basics about the Incas written by Steve Nelson.

In that funny paper form - books

(what are those?)

1. TO be determined later when I can get to my media center and see what's actually available.

2. TO be determined later when I can get to my media center and see what's actually available.

3. TO be determined later when I can get to my media center and see what's actually available.

Video

1. Check out and watch the "South America" video in the media center.

Living, breathing contacts - the human kind

1. These contacts may be done through e-mail, chat rooms or interviews.

a. You can find the person yourself by navigating through chat rooms such as travel or Spanish ones. You can also contact one of the people whose website you visited and see if it's okay to ask them questions.
b. Matt Bednorz

2. You'll need to determine what questions to ask based on what information you need for your presentation.

Evaluation

You will be graded by your peers as well as by yours truly. I will use the following rubric for whole group.

Rubric

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4
Group Work	The majority of the work was done by only or or two people rather than all. Arguing was present and not each person fulfilled his role.	Each person contributed to the research but still unbalanced. Most performed role. No arguing, but little collaboration.	Each person contributed equally to research and presentation. Each person performed role. Some collaboration.	Great dynamics as a group. The efforts toward collaboration were great. Good chemistry. Respect towards each other. All equal work.
Presentation itself - Presenters	Presentation didn't seem important. No effort towards appearance, no eye contact, could not be heard clearly.	Neat appearance, attempts at eye contact, could be heard some only of the time.	Nice appearance, some eye contact, audible voices most of the time.	Nice appearance, level of confidence very obvious, Consistent eye contact. Clear, loud voices, enthusiasm
Power Point	Graphic quality is too simple or garish, little or no focus, difficult to follow, needs more effort.	Graphic quality is adequate but not particularly pleasing, loses focus at times, easy to follow only some of the time.	Good graphic quality, followed 6 by 6 rule, attempts at creativity, few errors, easy to follow	Excellent use of graphics, well balanced, very easy to follow, no confusing areas, ran smoothly, creative, aesthetically pleasing.
Strength of Argument	Elementary word choice, no clear opinion toward topic, inadequate data, no apparent feelings toward topic.	Word choice is basic, arguments lose focus, little feeling toward argument, ineffective or insubstantial data.	Good word choice, good data and strong arguments, few irrelevancies, focused.	Very convincing, excellent diction, valid and effective data to support argument, obviously passionate towards topic.
Information	Insubstantial research, areas of plagiarism, poor effort.	Missing vital information, unbalanced details, many redundancies or irrelevancies. Not thoroughly researched.	Sufficiently covers arguments, balanced details, a few redundancies or irrelevancies. Well researched.	Thoroughly covers each argument, well balanced details, no redundancies or irrelevancies. Very well researched

Conclusion:

Congratulations! You have saved a great and beautiful historical site. I hope that through the concerted efforts of your group you have learned more about the Incas, the Internet and your group members. I imagine that after this project you have become aware of the cultural differences between what we consider society and what the Inca's considered society. I also hope you have become more accepting of different beliefs as well as practices. Please answer the following questions individually:

1. What are some of the major differences between the Incan government and ours?
2. What are some of the Incan practices you agreed with and why?

3. What are some of the Incan practices you didn't agree with and why?

4. Which part of this assignment did you most enjoy and which part did you least enjoy?

5. What new research technique did you learn during this assignment?

6. What do you think of using the Internet as a learning tool?

7. How do you like creating as well as observing PowerPoint presentations? What do you think is the effectiveness?

8. How well did your group work together?

9. What improvements or changes would you recommend for this assignment?

Extension:

Imagine that it is 2500 and the American way of life as we know it no longer exists. If researchers were to excavate an amazing site anywhere in the United States, what would they uncover? Where is this site and why is it significant? What do you think they would find and what would it say about our culture and civilization?