Hey now, what's the buzz, tell me what's a happenin' what's the buzz tell me what's a happenin'. Or any way, we need your help.
The berries are going away! Feasts won't be the same again! What could be going on? Help us! We have to fix this!
For many of the villages in Alaska, the Blueberry plants and Salmonberry plants, are a source of traditional food that are picked every summer. Many folks make Eskimo Ice-Cream with the berries, or store them between sugar layers in 5 gallon buckets.

For some time now though, many of the most popular berry patches in some of the villages have been producing less and less berries. In fact, many of the traditional berry picking areas are no longer picked and no new berry plants exist around particular areas. Many new grasses and plants have been found to take their place.

What could be happening to the berry patches? Will the berries come back, or are they gone forever? Is there something happening to the tundra? What could cause them to produce less and less berries?

Note: This webquest is part of a larger sleuth unit. The standards and enduring understadings work with this webquest and the larger unit. If you are interested in the larger unit, please contact Christina Hum.

Enduring Understanding

To defend a persuasive conclusion, it must be well supported with accurate information that can be reproduced.

Essential Questions

How and why do you defend a conclusion?
How do you make and determine if a measurement is accurate?
How do you identify common themes or content?
How do you write a persuasive argument?
How do you persuade that your conclusion is accurate?
What are the 6 traits of writing?

Essential Unit Questions

Why would good writing and a well-supported conclusion be important for writing a persuasive argument?
How do we know that scientists’ data is valid or accurate?
Why should we believe a scientist’s theories, such as the interior of the earth or that we live in a galaxy?
Why would we re-produce an experiment or data?