WebQuest - Uncle Ted's Hair Loss

Introduction

Hair loss affects millions of Americans every year. Approximately 35 million men and 21 million women in the United States experience hair loss in their lifetime. Most of this hair loss begins around age 45 with hair being lost around the temples and forehead region first.

Hair is lost for many reasons; family genetics, medications taken, infectious agents such as ring worm, or cosmetic damage such as a burn.

People affected by hair loss have found that their emotional, personal, and professional lives can be impacted. Today more research is taking place than ever before to understand and treat hair loss. As a result the market for hair loss treatments has greatly increased over the past 20 years but the overall question is what works best? Treatments today include natural treatments, over the counter treatments, prescriptions, and surgery. Depending on the person and their medical background, an effective hair loss treatment can vary.

Your Uncle Ted is experiencing hair loss and he is wondering what to do. He knows that hair loss runs in your family but he is curious on what his options are. Your mother is wondering if you have researched hair loss in biology class. Since Uncle Ted tends to utilize “quick fix” solutions to situations your mother is concerned that Uncle Ted might buy the first expensive hair care product that he sees and it will not work.

You decide to take on the challenge and start researching treatment options for your uncle. To start off you do some basic research on Uncle Ted. Since he lives out of state you cannot see him or where his hair loss is. After calling him you know that he is 48 years old, loves being outside, and loves playing with his cat, Buttons. He does not have any major health problems but he is on medication for high cholesterol. He just started experiencing hair loss this year and finds that his head is always itchy. Uncle Ted talks about how the hair loss patches appear to have small red dots but it's probably due to him itching the spots. Since you are not a doctor you decide to start your research with this information because medical history is too in depth for you.

Task

As you work through this WebQuest on Uncle Ted’s Hair Loss you will gain information on hair loss. Because Uncle Ted tends to find “quick fix” solutions to problems he will not know very much about hair. You will need to empower him with knowledge you gain. Investigate how hair grows, the causes of hair loss, why it stops growing, and treatment options. You will want to cover natural methods, over the counter treatments, prescription medication, and surgery options.

Even though you are not a doctor you will present your findings to Uncle Ted:

1) You will draft your explanation of hair growth, the causes of hair loss, and why it stops growing to Uncle Ted for an audio recording (as if you were calling him on the phone).

2) You will draft your explanation of treatment options for a video recording (as if you were podcasting to Uncle Ted).

3) Once you have completed your drafts you will conduct both recordings. Ultimately these recordings will be presented to the class.

4) If you choose to do so, you can send your recordings to family members.

Remember, through all of this you are reminding Uncle Ted that this is your research and he should also visit a doctor.

Process

1) In groups of three, you will evaluate the work needed to be done and will divide the work load between each other. You may want to have each person research one aspect of hair loss for the audio and podcast recording so each you becomes “mini-experts” in one area.

2) You will review the resources listed on the right hand side of this WebQuest to gain information. You may review additional articles within the resource web-sites or through search engines such as Google and LiveSearch. Be sure you are checking the credibility of resources you find (Balding Bobby's personal web-site probably is not a credible source).

3) After reviewing the material decide on the content you will include in your audio recording (5 minutes) and write out the script for the whole group. You will print out this script and turn it in. Don’t forget to cite your sources.

4) You will then determine what content you will include in your podcast (5 minutes). In your group you will need to decide how you want to present this information to Uncle Ted (i.e. send him copies of research findings or have graphs to present during the podcast, etc.).

5) The podcast content will be written out in at least a 350 word document that will be turned in (one per group). Explain treatment options in general, the treatment option you think will work best for uncle Ted, and a detailed explanation of why you feel this way. Don’t forget to cite your sources.

6) If you choose to do so you may send your research findings to family members.

Conclusion

Once you have completed this WebQuest project on hair loss and treatments options you will understand several things.

First you will understand how hair grows in general and the specialization of body cells.

Second, you will understand how hair stops growing due to family genetics and external stimuli such as ringworm.

Third, you will understand the effectiveness of different treatment options and medications.

Fourth, you will gain understanding on how to conduct case study research on one individual’s medical condition.

Fifth, you will gain understanding in audio and podcast recording to apply to future projects.

WebQuest - Uncle Ted's Hair Loss

Introduction

Task

Process

Evaluation

Conclusion

Acknowledgement

Resource Links