Webquest: Young Canada Future of Health Care Commission

Student Introduction

A new Royal Commission on health care is travelling the country. This time, the Canadian government is looking for input from teenagers. Your class has been selected to make submissions to the Young Canada Future of Health Care Commission.

Task

Your class is to prepare submissions to the Young Canada Future of Health Care Commission. You will review several submissions made to the last Royal Commission in 2002, select issues that concern you, research their historical background, look at the current status of the issues, select facts, statistics and images to support your point of view, and write and present your submission.

Roles
Working in groups, each team member will assist with the overall task of researching and writing a submission and then presenting it to the class. You will need to decide how to divide up the tasks fairly. For example, research could be divided by assigning a different source (such as this Web resource and the links to other Web sites) to each member; each student could be responsible for writing a section of the submission; one student could be in charge of choosing the format for presentation of the submission, etc.

Student Steps

1. Divide your class into groups of five students.
Find people who share your views on medicare, and will present your standpoint. Alternatively, you can choose to represent a group such as the Canadian Medical Association or the Canadian Nurses Association.

2. Review the Web Resource.
Individually or in pairs, visit the Making Medicare History to familiarize yourselves with its structure and components, including text, images and links.

3. Consult the final report from the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada titled Building on Values - The Future of Health Care in Canada.
As a team, review an overview of the final report at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/hhr-rhs/strateg/romanow-eng.php.  What were some of the findings of the report?  In the Submissions section (found in the Appendices) of the final report, consult the Submissions from Organizations list.  Choose various organizations from the list; each student may select several that are of interest to him or her.

4. Individually, locate and consult the submissions of the chosen organizations.
Use a search engine to try to locate the submissions of your chosen organizations online (for example, the submission of the Canadian Medical Association can be found at http://www.cma.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/3083/la_id/1.htm and the submission for the Canadian Women's Health Network can be found at http://www.cwhn.ca/resources/romanow/index.html).  If you are unable to locate the submission for one organization, try another.

5. As a group, share your findings, discuss criteria for good submissions, and decide on an issue for your submission.
Discuss the submissions that you read. Are there any that are particularly relevant or interesting to the group? What are the qualities of a good submission? As a group write a list of criteria for a good submission. Choose an issue that you would like to focus on for your team’s submission. What evidence and information do you need?

6. Research your issue.
Once you have decided on your issue and point of view, write it down. This is your group’s guiding statement. Now decide what information you need to support your point of view. Historical background, current status, facts and statistics will all be essential.

7. Locate the background information you need to make a convincing submission.
Use the Making Medicare History, as well as other resources. See the Resource Room for suggestions.

8. Write the submission.
Using your team’s criteria, write your submission. Make sure you have a catchy and accurate title and a convincing introduction, a body of text that is well supported with facts, and a conclusion that emphasizes your point of view. As a team, read and re-read your submission out loud. Does it meet your criteria? Rewrite the text until the team is satisfied with it.

9. Decide how to present the submission.
How do you want to present written text? As a PowerPoint presentation? As a Web resource?

10. Present your submission to your class.
Present your submission, and then listen to the presentations of your classmates. Did your classmates’ submissions change your view of medicare?

11. Use the rubric to evaluate your work.

Conclusion

In this Webquest, you had the opportunity to learn about Royal Commissions and their role in the development of medicare. You were also able to read actual submissions to the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada that was presented in 2002. Finally, you had the chance to write your own submission to put forward your team’s point of view.

Evaluation Rubric

Knowledge	Level 1: Beginning 1 point	Level 2: Developing 2 points	Level 3: Accomplished 4 points	Level 4: Exemplary 6 points
Research Skills	Uses few strategies. Takes no notes.	With help, uses some strategies. Takes some notes. Attempts to organize information.	Uses several strategies. Conducts organized research.	Independently conducts organized research using all relevant on-line resources, organizes research findings.
Score:
Technology Skills	Requires assistance to access and use electronic sources of information provided.	Requires some assistance to access and use electronic sources of information provided.	Independently accesses and uses all electronic sources of information provided.	Independently accesses and uses all electronic sources of information provided, accesses extra information, and assists other class members.
Score:
Teamwork	Team unable to agree on issue.	Team agrees on issue but not all members participate in final decision. Members are unsatisfied with process and result.	Team agrees on issue. Unclear if all members are unsatisfied with process and result.	All team members participate in creating issue and submission. All members are clearly satisfied with the process and result.
Score:
Presentation Skills	Reads notes to class. No visual media used.	Uses notes as guideline but does not read them. No visual media used.	Uses presentation outline effectively. Some additional presentation strategies used, such as visual media.	Uses presentation outline effectively. Successfully uses various presentation strategies, such as visual and text media.
Score:
Communications Skills	Rarely communicates with clarity. Rarely uses appropriate vocabulary.	Sometimes communicates with clarity. Sometimes uses appropriate vocabulary.	Usually communicates with clarity. Usually uses appropriate vocabulary.	Consistently communicates with clarity. Consistently uses appropriate vocabulary.
Score:
Problem-solving Skills	Unable to follow steps required to complete Webquest.	Is able to follow steps required to complete Webquest with assistance.	Is able to follow steps required to complete Webquest independently.	Is able to follow steps required to complete Webquest independently, and assists other team members achieve overall objective.
Score:
Application of Skills and Concepts	Shows little understanding of how Web resource could be used.	Shows some understanding of how Web resource could be used.	Shows good understanding of how Web resource could be used.	Shows thorough understanding of how Web resource could be used.
Score:
Total Score	/42