WEBQUESTS

http://annegaspar.weebly.com/professional-development-resources.html

Here’s my webpage today’s powerpoint

information on web quests resources

WHAT IS A WEBQUEST?

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand."

— Confucius

A WebQuest is a specific web-based tool for learning.

This means it is a classroom-based lesson in which most or all of the information that students explore and evaluate comes from the World Wide Web.

Beyond that, WebQuests:

• can be as short as a single class period or as long as a UNIT project

• usually (though not always) involve group work, where students divide the work and assign specific roles in which to complete the web quest

• are built around resources that are preselected by the teacher. Students spend their time USING information, not LOOKING for it.

• there are lots of lessons online created by teachers around the world

webquests

Students are given a link to the web quest

created by the teacher.

They are given a task and follow a process

the teacher creates the web quest providing a task and specific procedures,

gives students websites to search for information, and

the teacher is just the facilitator

Why Webquests? Student’s don’t “google” for information, then regurgitate it

onto a paper or presentation.

Webquests give students a task, then students are allowed to use some imagination and problem-solving skills

Answers must be discovered

Students are allowed to explore in a guided, meaningful manner, not just “google it”

Students must use communication, group work, problem solving, and critical/creative thinking skills

Students can explore topics and find their own information

Students must do more than memorize information

one that guides students

has a creative end project

provides students with links to help them answer questions

designed to allow the teacher to be a facilitator, rather then the “dispenser” of knowledge

it all starts with a WELL-PLANNED web quest

WebQuests were designed to promote high-level thinking, develop problem-solving skills, and provide an means for

integrating technology into the curriculum.

the 6 parts of the web quest include:

• The Introduction - helps students identify with the lesson and captures their interest.

• The Task describes the activity's end product.

• The Process explains strategies students should use to complete the task.

• The Resources are the Web sites students will use to complete the task.

• The Evaluation measures the results of the activity.

• The Conclusion sums up the activity and encourages students to reflect on its process and results.

what does a web quest look like? what are the parts of a webquest?

http://tommarch.com/webquests/croolzone/intro.htm

Let’s take a look at a web quest

http://drb.lifestreamcenter.net/Lessons/mice-men/index.htm

http://www.teacherweb.com/AK/Appleton/WebQuest/index.aspx

great examples of web quests - broken down by parts of a web quest

http://createwebquest.com/webquest/webquest-about-webquests

Let’s do a webQuest!

http://www.weebly.com/weebly/main.phpalso on my website:

Let’s get started!

How do we begin?

Uncovering the Question / Task

The Introduction

The Question / Task serves to focus your entire WebQuest and helps students engage in higher-order thinking.

The Quest(ion) makes students look beyond the facts to how things relate, what is the truth, how good or right something is.

In writing your own Question / Task Statement, it will be helpful to think about what gets listed in the higher levels of thinking like Bloom's Taxonomy like analysis and synthesis. Also consider such things as:

- analyzing and classifying the main parts of a topic - using these main parts as criteria from which to evaluate examples of the topic

- analyzing perspectives and opinions through comparison / contrast

- using an understanding of people's opinions to make a persuasive argument

- analyzing how things change through cause & effect and If/Then statements

- using if/then statements to problem solving new situations

Propose a question for your students

What is the Emancipation Proclamation?

What are the parts of the circulatory system and what is

it’s function?

How many whole notes are in each

bar?

How can you evaluate the impact the signing of the emancipation

proclamation had on the estates of southern slave owners?

What is the most important part of the circulatory system? Why? Give

evidence to support.

Why do you think this composer may have chosen to use whole notes at the end of each bar in this song?

Elaborate on your reason.

While WebQuests can be applied to a wide range of topics, they aren't equally appropriate for everything. You wouldn't use a WebQuest to teach the times table, the chemical symbols in the top two lines of the periodic table, or the state flags of New England. In other words, don't use WebQuests to teach factual pieces of information. Even if you could locate Web pages that cover those topics, the WebQuest format isn't designed for mastering raw facts.

The best use of the WebQuest format is for topics that are less well-defined -- tasks that invite creativity and problems with several possible solutions. They can address open-ended questions like:

• What should be done to protect America's coral reefs?

• What kinds of people were most likely to survive the sinking of the Titanic? Why?

• What was it like to live during the American Gold Rush?

• What would Mark Twain think about the lives that children live today?

• How do other democracies deal with social problems like crime, and what, if anything, can the U.S. learn from them

What kind of topics / questions lend themselves to web quests?

Let’s get started! Here’s a PRE-WRITING exercise if you feel

you need to organize your WEBQUEST

http://tommarch.com/webquests/help/prewrite.html

sign up for free account… to create your web quest

http://zunal.com

also examples on this site to get you inspired! so borrow an idea and re-spin an

already finished web quest!

another site :http://www.createwebquest.com

sign up for free account… to create your web quest

MORE EXAMPLES http://createwebquest.com/view-webquests

first of all, if you have an idea and a question / introduction / task

go to: here you register for an account and get started

If you are looking for an already made web quest that you can “tweek” or that you can make your own,

go to

http://zunal.com

http://zunal.com

webquests

https://sites.google.com/site/mrspexplorationwebquest/teacher-

page/samr-model

20

process explained:

http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=281845my web quest for Spanish class: vamos a viajar!

creating a web search for students

thinking through linking

internet scavenger hunts - web search *different than a web quest*

You can link your students to different websites to see and read information specific to your lesson, then make

your own web search questions

this could be a great pre-lesson activity for students to discover and view pictures and information before

studying a lesson

Internet scavenger hunts students practice problem solving

students improve their reading and comprehension skills students learn how to search the Internet

Scavenger hunts have quickly become one of the most popular tools for teaching students how to access and use the resources and information available on the

Internet.

• Online scavenger hunts are easy to create and the resulting interactive searches

are both fun and informative for students.

• The hunts can be geared to virtually any curriculum area, simultaneously providing students with technological and subject matter knowledge.

• Online scavenger hunts can be used as a whole class activity, as a team activity, or as a means of providing individual students with review or challenge activities.

• Scavenger hunts can be as simple or involved as desired. Younger students may be provided with only a few questions, along with the links or

URLs necessary for finding the answers, while older students may be given only a broad topic and asked to find their own sources for obtaining necessary information.

how about students make the scavenger hunts? individually or in partners

Give them a topic, guidelines, and have them find the websites and ask the “important” questions!

prepare an internet scavenger hunt to be used with a substitute teacher to intro a lesson

or get further information on a lesson that has been started by you

internet scavenger hunts - web search *different than a web quest*

Let’s look at an examplehttp://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/hunt/images/hunt078-download.pdf

http://gasparspanish.weebly.com/la-quincentildeera.html

internet scavenger hunt I created to discover and view a cultural Hispanic tradition: la quinceñera

http://gasparspanish.weebly.com/la-quincentildeera.html

I just posted it to my website and posted it on google classroom where students access the activity and

return it to me for a grade

follow the link below for web searches that are already made —printable, including answer keys

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/scavenger_hunt.shtml#anytime

SURVEY SOME SCAVENGER HUNTS Below is a sampling of Internet scavenger hunts that have appeared on the pages of Education World during the past year: • The Ants Go Marching...Into Your Lesson Plans! Why not capitalize on students' fascination with

insects? Education World offers a scavenger hunt, with questions for students in all grades (and an "Ant-swer" Key, of course!) Every teacher should have "ants in your plans!" Included: Fun activities to extend ants into your language arts curriculum.

• Celebrate the Century: Search the Web for U.S. History of the 1930s Search the Web to learn more about the stories behind the recent issue of 15 stamps commemorating the people, places, events, and trends of the 1930s. Explore Web sites related to the Empire State Building, Superman, the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Monopoly board game, and more! (Note: This file might take a minute or two to load, because images of each of the new stamps are included in the article.)

• Animals of the World: An Internet Scavenger Hunt! Where in the world do some animals live? Celebrate National Zoo and Aquarium Month by sending your students on an Internet scavenger hunt! They'll learn about the natural habitats of ten of the world's animals -- including some animals they've never heard of! Two versions! One for beginners and one for experienced surfers.

• A Black History Treasure Hunt! Send students on a Black History scavenger hunt! Students can learn about famous black Americans while polishing their Internet surfing skills. Four different "hunts" -- for students of all ages!

• Track the Meteor Storm Online! To help students understand the causes and effects of meteors and meteor showers, we've created three scavenger hunts -- for elementary, middle, and high school students. Each scavenger hunt also includes several cross-curricular activities that can be used to extend the lesson.