Introduction 
Did you ever have an upset stomach after eating something that made you feel like crawling up in a ball?  Although an acidic stomach is necessary for good health, excessive stomach acidity can produce the discomforts commonly called "acid indigestion" and "heartburn."  Have no fear, antacids are here!  These helpful products relieve the discomfort of excess stomach acid, which can include the pain of ulcers.  It's time to put your thinking caps on because you are a chemist from a pharmaceutical company trying to persuade the general community why your antacid is the best choice.

The Big Question?
Why is your antacid the best choice to eliminate pain due to excessive stomach acid?

You will be in groups of 4 people per group.  Each person will be responsible for researching information about one particular aspect of the antacid, a list will be provided for you.  The roles will be to find important information such as effectiveness, safety, cost, efficiency, etc. will be researched about this antacid and presented to the class via a poster presentation to "the community," which is your classmates.  The presentation of your final product will include a proposal for why your antacid is the best one possible.  Evidence and research are needed to support your proposal to "the community."

1. First, you will be assigned an antacid to research with 3 other students in your group.
2. As a team, you will designate a person for 1 of the 4 research roles.  This must be done quickly so there is enough time to complete the entire process.
3. Start researching your assigned role.  Use the resources provided to you, plus any additional information you find.
4. You may use the note-taking organizer for collecting research.  You will only have approximately 25-30 minutes to research your topic.
5. For the last 15 minutes of the period, rejoin with your group to summarize your findings and start preparing the presentation while working on your poster.
6. Each group will also have to write 1 question to be asked to one other group during tomorrow's presentation.  There will only be time for 1 question to be asked during each group's presentation.  Hint: Make sure the question your group plans to ask is general and not specific to any antacid because you might not have the chance to ask your question to that group specifically.

 

General information:equation, cost, main ingredients, etc.	Safety: side effects, warnings, and any other pertinent/relevant information
Effectiveness: uses, results/how it works, and any other pertinent info.	Process of indigestion & treatment:any information relating to indigestion

General resources for all antacids: 
general info.
Maalox resources:
overview
additional info.
price
Alka-Seltzer resources:
facts about indigestion
treatment
price
Mylanta resources:
overview
precautions & side effects
price
Tums resources:
Calcium carbonate info.
additional calcium carbonate info.
price
equation

You will each receive two grades for this activity: one will be based on the research and any other relevant information that you turn into me, and the second will be your group grade from the poster presentations.  The poster presentation grade is worth 20 points.  It is important that you learn to work well with your group members because your grade depends on how well your group presents as a whole.  Each person's performance during the presentation will be evaluated and everyone in the group will be assigned the same grade.  It will be obvious to me who has made an effort and who did not devote their effort or time to this project.  This will be apparent when I collect the individual research from each of you.

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Accuracy of information	Only 1 of the 4 categories were presented accurately.	Only 2 of the 4 categories were presented accurately.	3 of the 4 categories were accurate with only a few errors or misconceptions.	All of the group members presented the information with 100% accuracy.
Pacing of presentation	All of the group members were rushing through the material. The time limit of 8 minutes was surpassed.	Most of the group members were rushing through the material in order to finish on time. The time limit of 8 minutes was barely surpassed.	The group members were pacing the material well, with only a few instances of rushing. The time limit of 8 minutes was accomplished.	The entire group illustrated perfect pacing through the material without rushing through it. All of the information was presented thoroughly within the 8 minutes.
"Think on your feet"	During the 2 minute Question & Answer session, neither of the group members were able to express an answer to "the community."	During the 2 minute Question & Answer session, some of the group members were hesitant but still able to respond in some way to "the community."	During the 2 minute Question & Answer session, most of the group members were confident in responding to "the community."	During the 2 minute Question & Answer session, all of the group members gave a confident response to "the community."
Creativity/Eye-catching	There was not much effort put into the poster nor was the presentation of the information creative.	There was some attempt made when creating the poster, but there is room for improvement on both the poster and creativity in the presentation.	The presentation was creative and the poster was eye-catching to an extent.	The presentation was a phenomenal example of creativity and the poster was unique and much effort was dedicated to this end product.
Organization	The presentation completely lacked organization.	An attempt was made to organize the material, but there is room for improvement.	The presentation was organized well.	The organization of the material was perfect.  Thorough planning was apparent.

At the end of this activity, you will have learned many interesting ideas about some common antacids such as their safety, effectiveness, and the process and treatment of indigestion.  This information is beneficial not only in our chemistry classroom, but also in our everyday lives.  Next time you go to the grocery store, which antacid will you buy?  Perhaps you are interested in finding out the efficiency of these common antacids.  Well sure enough, this can be done via an antacid efficiency lab experiment.

http://school.discovery.com/clipart/category/stud5.html

I would like to thank Debra Schabes and Professor Rachel Ragland for their help and formatting advice on this webquest.