Discovery Quest is an oral question-of-the-month activity that allows students to learn public speaking, independent research, and report writing skills. Students should prepare to participate once a month. Each student is assigned a student number at the beginning of the year. Your child’s student number corresponds with the order in which they will present each month. Please check the calendar page for monthly due dates.

Look below to find a list of “quests” or research topics for this month. Each student should use books, magazines, reference books, family member interviews, or research tools such as the Internet to learn about the topic. If a student would like to give a presentation on a topic not listed below, students may research a topic of their choice, but they must get it pre-approved by Ms. Rafuse.

Students will present a 2-5 minute speech to our class in order to receive an oral communication grade. Acceptable participation means that they DO NOT READ their information, but they TELL us what they have learned. Students may use note cards, notes, bring pictures, posters they’ve made, or visual aid items.  The students in the audience will also be receiving a grade on their active listening skills. 

Students will also electronically submit a written report, including an MLA formatted bibliography, due the day their speech is given.  The report itself should contain the same content as their speech so no additional research is required.  It should be turned in on a flash drive, disk, or via email.

This activity should be a fun way to study something that is interesting to the student. Students should look through the Discovery Quest topic options, and select the most interesting to study. If none of the topics are of interest, plan to present on an approved topic of their choice.