Gas Prices Webquest

Gas Prices Webquest

Your Quest is to research gasoline prices, compare the cost of gasoline from 10 years ago to today and determine how these higher prices will affect our lives. You will also learn why gas prices are currently rising rapidly and compare the price of gas throughout the world.

Here are some helpful websites:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_Prices Wikipedia has an excellent and up-to-date entry on gas prices in 2004-2005 with links to many related articles.
  
• How Gas Prices Work - You will find a list of historical gas prices here as well as some information on why gas prices are rising.
  
• http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/02/markets/gas_prices/index.htm Today’s CNN/Money magazine article on the current prices.
  
• http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/01/markets/gas_prices/index.htm?cnn=yes Money Magazine article on the current increase in gas prices with an explanation of the pipelines and current prices throughout the U.S.
  
• http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/global_gasprices/ A list of gas prices around the world.
  
• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6948209/ Low down on the rise in current gas and oil prices.
  
• Gas Buddy - Pick any state and learn what gas prices are there, or put in a zip code and find gasoline prices for the cities near that zip code.

Part 1 - Background:
Use the Internet information linked above to research gasoline prices, or find some sites of your own. If you use other websites be sure to write down their addresses for future reference and to turn in to me so I can check them for accuracy. Use Microsoft Word on the computer to type up your ideas and summaries. Read through some of these websites to get a better idea of why gas prices are increasing.

Part 2 – Analysis of Gas Prices
You will be answering the following questions as you develop an understanding on the rise of gasoline prices. These questions are already listed in your Word document on the laptops. Type your responses underneath each question.

1. Research the impact of Hurricane Katrina on gasoline prices. Why did it cause an increase in gas prices? What are some problems that this increase may cause? What are some things that are being done to control costs?
2. Research current gasoline prices across the country. Write a summary on why some states or areas have higher gasoline prices than others. Think about the area's location and population, does that affect their gasoline prices? Include current prices in your explanation.
3. Describe the changes in gasoline prices in the last fifty years.
4. Compare gas prices around the world. Do certain regions have lower prices than others? Which countries have the highest prices and which have the lowest? How does the current prices in the United States compare to the rest of the world?
5. Write down or copy/paste the URL of the websites you take information from so you can quickly go back to it if you need to to prove your point. Keep a list of the websites you visited to hand in.