by Becky Kjar Manti High School My Computer is Sick!?!? by Becky Kjar Manti High School

Introduction Computers can get “sick.” They sometimes catch a type of “cold”—often referred to as a “virus.” But, something can be done about it. In this medical facility we are going to create four teams of medical specialists to conquer this nuisance called a “virus.”

Class Requirement As part of the introduction to this mission, all teams will view a video found at http://www.howstuffworks.com/virus.htm. The video is called “How Computer Viruses Work.”

Task Our task consists of three parts: Dividing into four groups A medical research team A lab technician team A nurse team A physician team Research Conclusion and recommendation in form of PowerPoint Presentation. Each person on the team should help present.

Process The process to accomplish the task will be for each team member to research one web site (either on the list or you can find your own). Each person in the group will have to do some research. In that way, it isn’t left up to one person—you all have to participate. Upon compiling the information, your group will prepare a PowerPoint presentation to present your findings to the other three medical teams. Each person on your team must research one site and present what was found on that site.

Process (con’t) Medical Research Team—find out what a virus is along with the major types of viruses. Lab Technicians—Explain how a virus infects another computer. Nurses—Explain the symptoms of a virus. Physicians—Issue the “medicine.” How can you make the computer better?

Websites Available for Research http://www.howstuffworks.com/virus.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/basics/virus.mspx http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/~aviva/compsec/virus/whatis.html http://www.ucs.ed.ac.uk/usd/cts/ol/issues/viruses/whatis.html http://www.purplenote.com/mcode/resources.htm Or find your own!

Evaluation Activity Superior 10 pts. Excellent 7-9 pts. Satis-factory Unsatis-factory 0-3 pts. Pts. Earned Participa-tion Each member of the group participated in research. Each member found at least one website to research. All but one member of the team participated. All but one team member found at least one website to research. Most of the members of the team participated in the research. Most team members found at least one unique site to research. Few members of the team participated in the research process. One person did most of the research and preparation. Research At least four web sites were researched. At least three sites were found and researched. Two sites were used for research. One web site was used for research.

Evaluation (con’t) Activity Superior 10 pts. Excellent 7-9 pts. Satis-factory 4-6 pts. Unsatis-factory 0-3 pts. Pts. Earned Story-board Much detail, graphics, titles, colors, fonts, and sizes specified on the storyboard. Storyboard included titles and text for each slide. Few details included. Storyboard information on each slide not complete. Very little or no detail given on storyboard. Slides 15 or more slides used to convey information. 12-15 slides. 9-11 slides. Under 9 slides.

Evaluation (con’t) Activity Superior 10 pts. Excellent 7-9 pts. Satis-factory 4-6 pts. Unsatis-factory 0-3 pts. Pts. Earned Content Content clearly written express-ing ideas and facts from websites. Clearly con-veys message in logical se-quence from reliable sites. Graphics and/or pictures used. Stayed on sub-ject. Reliable websites. Content ad-dresses ideas in a logical sequence. Content appeared factual from reliable resources. Few graphics and/or pictures used. Content writ-ten creates confusion to end user. One or two graphics were used. Web-sites didn’t seem reliable. Lacks facts. No graphics and/or pictures used to illustrate ideas. Web sites didn’t seem reliable.

Evaluation (con’t) Activity Superior 10 pts. Excellent 7-9 pts. Satis-factory 4-6 pts. Unsatis-factory 0-3 pts. Pts. Earned Elements Fonts easy to read and point size appropriate for material. Use of special effects added to presentation (bold, italics, underline). Not too much text on a slide. Background and colors adds to presentation. Most fonts are easy to read and point size mostly appro-priate. Few special effects (bold, italics, underline). Font size too small or too big. Slide content includes too much or too little infor-mation. Difficult to read infor-mation on slide (either too much or too little in-formation on slides). Lay-out not con-sistent. Over-use or under-use of special effects. Poor layout. No special effects (bold, italics, underline). Difficult to read because of too much or too little information on slide. Difficult to follow slides.

Evaluation (con’t) Activity Superior 10 pts. Excellent 7-9 pts. Satis-factory 4-6 pts. Unsatis-factory 0-3 pts. Pts. Earned Citations Sources of infor-mation properly cited. Easy to check sources. Most sources documented and properly cited. Few citations used. Diffi-cult to check sources. Citations not included. Special Effects Adds to overall theme of pre-sentation. En-hances presen-tation. Uses consistent theme and backgrounds. Sounds and animations used on all slides. Sound and animation used on most slides. Theme and backgrounds match on most slides. Some of the effects don’t relate to con-tent. Back-grounds and themes don’t match each slide. Few animations used or too many to dis-tract. No special effects used or don’t relate to content of the slide. No animations or too many causing distraction.

Evaluation (con’t) Activity Superior 10 pts. Excellent 7-9 pts. Satis-factory 4-6 pts. Unsatis-factory 0-3 pts. Pts. Earned Writing Good gram-mar. Not too much or too little on each slide. All spelling, capi-talization, and punctuation correct. Clearly written. Few errors (less than three) in spelling, capitalization, and punc-tuation. Text clearly writ-ten most of the time. Spelling, capitalization, and punc-tuation errors (more than three). Dif-ficult to read. Doesn’t flow. More than five spelling, capi-talization, and punctuation errors. Extremely difficult to follow. Poorly written. Major revisions necessary.

Evaluation (con’t) /100 Activity Superior 10 pts. Excellent 7-9 pts. Satis-factory 4-6 pts. Unsatis-factory 0-3 pts. Pts. Earned Present-ation to Class All team members took part in the presentation. Well prepared. Uses eye contact with group. Confident. Most team members took part in presentation. Prepared. Uses eye contact most of the time. Appears confident most of the time. Most team members took part in presentation. Mostly prepared. Group seems a little confused. Very little eye contact. Appears a little nervous while presenting. Few team members presented information. Lack of preparation. Confusion evident. Extremely ill-prepared. Very nervous. TOTAL POINTS /100

Conclusion Upon completion of this WebQuest, you should better understand what a computer virus is, how it works, and how to get rid of it to better protect your computer.

State Core Requirements Computer Technology Standard 0000-02—Students will develop knowledge of computer basics and use an operating system. Objective 0206—Identify viruses and destructive programs. Understand the importance of vigilance in their detection, prevention, and repair.