Introduction | Task | Information Resources | Process | Evaluation and Support | Conclusions

Introduction

Before you proceed, you need to know that this course is designed to utilize the WebQuest concept as a strategy for introducing inquiry into the k-12 curriculum. This site will guide you through your WebQuest project. Your first task is to look through a WebQuest designed for adult learners: What would Dewey Do?

As graduate students, you have learned to integrate a number of tools and strategies into the k-12 curriculum. You have also become aware of the crucial role that staff development plays in the process of curricular change and innovation. This course will extend the integration process by introducing and utilizing problem-solving strategies in a WebQuest format. You will have about two months to complete this long-term WebQuest. It must be uploaded no later than the second week in August. Note that long-term WebQuests for k-12 students take between one to four weeks to complete.

In reality, you are much more than graduate students. You have become producers of knowledge in a highly demanding learning environment. You are often asked about technology and how to integrate it with content-area standards, and you have responded by presenting many projects that stand up well in staff development and conference contexts. The WebQuest project will provide further resources for your students and faculties as you continue to refine and reform pedagogy for the 21st century.

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Task

You are a member of an educational think tank consisting of 2 to 5 members. Your task is to enhance an aspect of the k-12 learning environment by developing an inquiry-based learning activity. In this activity, your students must be presented with a problem to investigate that will require locating information on the Internet, using that information and presenting their findings in a multimedia or web-based format. The WebQuest you create should take your students one to four weeks to complete.

Below are some examples of tasks k-12 teachers have created.

• Finding the burial mask of King Tutankhamen (6th grade)
• What would you do if the animals break out of the zoo? (4th grade)
• What can the statistics tell us about the Titanic? (Secondary)
• Being a member of a UN research team to seek out the causes of world hunger (Everyone needs to see this site!)

The interaction among individuals in the groups you create may lead to responses beyond those produced by one person in a single project. The understanding and interpretation of contexts as well as data is considered extremely important in a successful WebQuest.

In building your WebQuest, examine approaches that enhance your students' learning experiences by supporting their use of tools and Internet resources. Provide collaborative activities that help produce compelling learning environments by expanding the boundaries of the classroom into the community.

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Information Resources

Links about WebQuest structure:

What are WebQuests?

• WebQuests about WebQuests (Secondary)
• WebQuests about WebQuests (Elementary)

Scaffolding

• Thinking Visually with WebQuests

In the link above, you should visit the links to visual and text-based scaffolds.

• Reception Scaffolds: Making sense
  • The link to the reception scaffold for the Egyptologist interview is particularly meaningful.
• Transformation Scaffolds: Manipulating
  • The King Tut transformation scaffold illustrates the inductive process.
  • Comparing Chinese immigrants to Irish immigrants requires scaffolding.
  • Examine other scaffolds. You will note the Advance Organizer strategy modified by technology.
• Production Scaffolds: Presenting
  • The Tide Pool scaffold illustrates this concept well.

Published articles about using WebQuests

• WebQuests in the Middle School Curriculum: Promoting Technological Literacy in the Classroom
  • by Kenneth Lee Watson of the University of Virginia
• The Student WebQuest
  • by Maurine Brown Yoder

Articles about technology and learning

• Why Technology?

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Process

1) As experienced educators, you have developed meaningful activities for your students thousands of times. The process for this task should be similar to the procedure you would use when creating any curricular experience. Begin by selecting your colleague(s). Then, use either the table scaffold or the diagram scaffold to brainstorm and record areas of common curricular interest for this project.

• Brainstorming scaffolds (pdf)
  • table scaffold (9Kb)
  • diagram scaffold (46Kb)

Note: Your students may experience a similar collaborative process. There are many scaffolding ideas for your students provided in WebQuest examples. Below is a scaffold example for adult learners. See the examples in the links above for further clarification.

• scaffold example for adult learners

2) Examine the areas of common interest you and your colleagues have determined.

• Develop an project area of focus that addresses your collective needs.
• Determine objectives, standards, tools, teaching strategies, and references. You may want to use the Area of Focus scaffold provided below to record your project components.
• Examine the strengths each of you has and consider defining roles for each person in your group.

• Common interest scaffolds (pdf)
  • Area of Focus (7Kb)
  • roles (8Kb)

3) Locate Internet resources that will provide you with the URLs necessary to enhance the learning of your students.

• Discuss with your colleagues how the Internet resources you have located will assist your students in completing the problem-solving task you have set.
• Review these Internet sites together and provide feedback.

4) Build the website collaboratively.

• At least one of your colleagues will need to be a webmaster or webmistress. Not all of you need to be experts in this area. In fact, it is a good idea to respect the roles you and your colleagues considered above.

5) Build the scaffolds for meaningful learning.

• Reception Scaffolds: Making sense
  • How do you want your students to work?
  • How do you want them to evaluate the Internet resources they use?
  • How do you want them to evaluate their performance within their groups?
• Transformation Scaffolds: Manipulating
  • Which tools will you have your students use as they use the information from the Internet?
  • Will you need to teach your students to use spreadsheets, databases, word processors and presentation tools?
• Production Scaffolds: Presenting

6) Present your product.

• Your WebQuest must be uploaded by early March.
• This will be done in the final face-to-face for iMET students.
• How will you have your own students present?

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Evaluation and Support

• Scaffolds
  • Bernie Dodge provides a scaffold for WebQuest lesson information design. (LID)
  • Building Blocks of a WebQuest
  • WebQuest Templates
• Rubrics
  • Evaluating a classmates article
  • Action Research Rubric
• Forms on the web.
  • Forms.com allows you to make the forms and conduct surveys polls you may need for information gathering.
  • Zoomerang allows you to make surveys for data collection.

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Conclusions

• Consider a whole class discussion following the final presentations. Encourage all students to reflect upon the learning experience.
• Ask students to evaluate their learning within the collaborative process. Consider discussing with your students the needs of society in terms of collaborative problem solving.
• Further, consider using the WebQuest you create as an action research project for your iMET Portfolio.

Thanks to Bernie Dodge for creating the WebQuest strategy with all its support materials.

Thanks also to Rob Freeman for creating the excellent Powerpoint Tutorial.

WebQuests: Ancient Civilizations

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