Introduction

If tomorrow you got up and while getting ready for school you heard on the radio or TV that a terrorist group had attacked with a biological weapon, what would you do? How does somebody attack with 'biologicals'? What does that mean?

Even more important; What are you going to do about it? Where do you turn for information? Who's in charge? Why would someone do this? When is the event over?

This quest is to help you answer these questions.

Weapons of Mass Destruction are often grouped together or misrepresented as a single threat. Can you define the differences between radiological, chemical, and biological weapons? What are the different responses to each type of weapon?

This WebQuest can be used either by a teacher in a classroom or by individuals who want to learn more about what they can and should do to protect their families. This is a worthwhile exercise because if you can prepare your family to respond to these three types of events, you will also be preparing for disasters such as earthquakes, floods, blackouts, and naturally occurring epidemics like SARS. This WebQuest is written assuming a classroom delivery. You may adapt it to fit your needs.

What you will do in this exercise is break into groups of 4 and create what your group feels is an essential response plan for families. Then you will create awareness presentations for adults and children that will introduce your plan to different groups.

There will be four roles that need to be assigned, one to each member of the group. Two will be adults asked to speak at different functions, one will be a high school student, and one will be a teacher's assistant for an elementary school teacher.

When finished, you should at least have a better idea of what you can and should be doing to prepare your family to be safe in an emergency. In addition, you should have a better idea of who to listen to, what information to look for, and where to find good information. Our typical sources of information such as TV may not be available to us, or may in fact be misinformed themselves, so the more you know in advance, the better you will be at making the best decisions in an emergency.

The Quest

Prepare your family to respond to a terrorist attack.

Your task is to learn about the different kinds of terrorist threats, define them, differentiate them, and then teach others about how to respond to each one.

There will be four presentations from your group. One that would be given at a PTA meeting or an equivalent parents organization by one of the adults. One that would be given by a teenager at a school assembly for students. Another is a presentation by the other adult that could be given at any civic gathering such as a Kiwanis Club, Rotary Club or similar meeting. Finally the teacher's assistant will help create a class project for elementary school students. Through children we hope to raise awareness among parents and others to the need for preparedness.

The Process and Resources

In this WebQuest you will be working as a group to research and discuss the issues surrounding today's terrorist threats. Define each threat and how the response to each is different. You will then create a plan for a family to use to prepare for any event. Individually you will focus on the delivery of the plan to the assigned target audiences.

Be sure to discuss as a group what the messages will be in each of the four presentations so they do not contradict each other. You can mention typical threats such as bombings, kidnapping, and assassination as background, but the presentations should focus on chemical, biological, and radiological weapons which are also known as 'non-conventional' weapons.

Phase 1 - Background: Something for Everyone

Start by reviewing these two government sites. You probably will find information that is relevant to everyone in your group. Write down questions that come to mind as you go through these sites. You will probably find the answers in subsequent searches.

• Department of Homeland Security - The US government's preparedness site
• Red Cross Disaster Services - Information on a variety of topics all of which will be helpful for this quest.

Phase 2 - Looking Deeper from Different Perspectives

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Each person in the group of 4 will assume one of the roles as described in the Quest above. The roles are 2 adults, one high school student, and one teacher's assistant.

2. Look at the web sites suggested for your area of interest. You may also search for information on your own. Just don't get lost. There is a lot of interesting data on this topic, but remember, you do need to condense this into a presentation later. If you print out the files, underline the passages that you feel are the most important. If you look at the files on the computer, copy sections you feel are important by dragging the mouse across the passage and copying / pasting it into a word processor or other writing software.

3. Remember to write down or copy/paste the URL of the file you take the passage from so you can quickly go back to it if you need to to prove your point.

4. Get the group together to discuss what each person has discovered. Write your Family Response Plan.

5. Then compile what you've learned into one main set of messages. These messages should be the basis for each of the four presentations that the individual members will prepare. The group should review each of the presentations to make sure everyone is delivering the same message.

Parents of Students

Find information that would help you make a Powerpoint presentation to other parents at a PTA meeting at your child's school. The topic will be : 'I Can Sleep Better Now Because I Know What to Do.'

• Schools and Terrorism - A Supplement to the National Advisory Committee on Children and Terrorism Recommendations to the Secretary
• The Department of Education - Emergency Planning for America's Schools
• American Academy of Pediatrics - A very good set of resources for parents
• Helping Your Children Cope with the News of Reported Terrorist Attacks - An article on the Dr. Spock web site by Laura Jana, M.D., F.A.A.P.
• Bioterrorism: Talking with Kids About Threats They Can't See - From the NYU Child Study Center that focuses on Child Mental Health
• Helping Children and Adolescents Cope with Violence and Disasters - From the National Institute of Mental Health
• In the EVENT of BIOTERRORISM: - From the Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases which is good resource for information for non terrorist events too.
• Dealing With a Terrorist Tragedy - Parents - See the parents articles from the Nemours Foundation

Fellow Students

You are the president of the Student Council and are supposed to present a 10 minute presentation on what students should do in the event of a terrorist event while at school. Limit your presentation to responses to chemical, biological and radiological attacks. Bombings, snipers and other 'conventional' threats are certainly things that need to be addressed in schools today, but that are not the focus of this exercise.

Don't forget to look at the links under the other 'roles'. A lot of the information you need may be there.

• NACCHO - National Association of County and City Health Officials
• Dealing With a Terrorist Tragedy - Teens - See the teens articles from the Nemours Foundation

Elementary School Teacher's Assistant

Working with the classroom teacher you will plan and direct a class project where students are to create an 8 page book in which they will draw, on 6 separate inside pages, a picture or illustration that depicts six things grown-ups should do to make kids feel safe from terrorism.

In addition the WebQuest team member will create a single page report on this project to send home with the students. The children should be encouraged to share their book and the report with their parents or guardians to increase awareness and participation by adults in preparedness efforts.

• Homeland Security Web sites that might be of interest to KIDS! - A collection of good sites for kids to learn about what they can do to protect themselves and their families.
• FEMA for Kids - Federal Emergency Management Agency site for kids.
• Dealing With a Terrorist Tragedy - Kids - See the kids articles from the Nemours Foundation

General Public

There are many different government, health, and community agencies working to prepare to respond to biological, chemical, and radiological threats.

The other person in the adult role should prepare a Powerpoint presentation to give to a civic group such as the Kiwanis Club that explains how the different agencies in your area are supposed to work together to counter any threat. Remember this should provide information for the audience to protect their families. Your presentation should help reduce panic and anxiety by clearly stating which agency is in charge in the different types of events, what role each agency has, and what individuals should do on their own.

Also include some information on how preparing for biological terrorism helps to prepare us for responding to naturally occurring outbreaks such as SARS.

• Center for the Study of Bioterrorism - A good collection of clinical and background information
• The CDC - Latest updates for keeping self informed
• Emerging Infectious Diseases - Information about new and emerging diseases like SARS
• FEMA: Are You Ready? - A guide for citizens to prepare for disasters.
• Why do they hate us? - An article from Newsweek Magazine October 15, 2001

Phase 3 - Debating, Discussing, and Reaching Consensus

Collectively you should have reached a consensus as to what is essential for every family's preparedness plan. As individuals you have been searching for information that you need to create your presentations. Hopefully you have been helped by others in your group if they found something you may need for your project or vise versa.

This phase should run concurrently with the previous phase as you need to get to this point in order to prepare your four presentations. Your presentations should all have a consistent message which means everyone in the group should review each of the presentations. Even the kids picture book should be reviewed by all to make sure the right message is getting home.

Now for the moment of truth. Give your presentations to your class. Or depending upon the age and confidence of the WebQuest group, give your presentations to the intended audiences. Because of this subject matter you should have little difficulty finding a group that will listen to you. Just remember to be prepared to answer questions surrounding the topics you presented. If you don't know the answer to a question, do not guess. Simply say 'I don't know' and refer to your sources.

Phase 4 - Real World Feedback

From this experience you have learned a lot about getting prepared for possible terrorist attacks with non-conventional weapons. In addition you should also feel better about being prepared for a natural occurring outbreak if one should happen.

It would be good to know what you have learned. Create a letter that tells the key messages your group decided to deliver in your presentations.

1. Begin your letter with a statement of who you are and why you are writing this letter.

2. Include your Family Response Plan and key messages. Make sure to title your page and mention this WebQuest for Terrorism Responses for Families.

3. Each of the role players should identify what their contributions were to the group's messages. Have each one mention what they found was most important to their target audience.

4. Take the time to proofread your letter, format it correctly and then send it to the address below. While you are at it, send a copy to your teacher as the center may not be able to get back with you.

Your Contact is: Center for the Study of Bioterrorism WebQuest e-mail - Center for the Study of Bioterrorism Home

Conclusion

So tomorrow if you hear on the news that a terrorist attack had occurred, you should feel confident that you know what to do. Obviously this is a quest that we hope we never have to make for real. Hopefully now you are better prepared.

One of the benefits of completing this project is that you should have a better awareness of agencies such as FEMA, Public Health, Homeland Security, and many others. You may even be inspired to pursue a career or help in one of these areas.

We hope this has been an enjoyable WebQuest for you and that you continue to learn how to beat terrorism, live without fear.