Teachers are always on the lookout for new ways to help their students learn and the
idea of using the web to help do this is becoming more popular. One great way
to use the web for learning is through the use of WebQuests. If you don’t know
what a WebQuest is, then this is a website you won’t want to miss!
The six important parts of a WebQuest.
How to create your own WebQuest:
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Key parts
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The design process
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Example of how to develop a WebQuest
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Rubric to evaluate your WebQuest
Good
examples of WebQuests to use with your students.
Additional resources and
further information.
A WebQuest is a widely used web-based activity that can be
created and used within a classroom. It
is something that Bernie Dodge and Tom March have been working on since early
1995 and according to Bernie Dodge, “A WebQuest is an
inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by
learners is drawn from the web. WebQuests are designed to use learners’ time well, to focus
on using information rather than on looking for it, and to support
learners’ thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.” WebQuests are a
great learning tool in part because of the constructivist approach that they
use to help students learn. The teacher
designs and creates the WebQuest, but the students
are the ones who decide what they will do with it and how far they will go
based on their own ability levels. The
same information is presented to all of the students, but what each one gets
out of it may be very different because they are each learning the information
and thinking about it in a different way.
The following quote by Confucius is a good reminder as to why we should
encourage children to construct their own knowledge and to learn things by
doing it, not just by teachers telling them how to do it:
“ I hear and I forget. I see and I Remember. I do and I understand.”
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WebQuests allow students use their imagination and problem-solving skills to find
solutions instead of spitting back information just to do a paper and get a
grade.
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They allow students to work
together, communicate, solve problems, think critically and use their
imagination, things much more important than simply memorizing information.
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With WebQuests
the students can explore issues in a guided way by using the resources the
teacher has found so that their time is spent learning about the topic and not
searching for information about it.
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Since WebQuests
can be created by the teacher, it is more specific to the needs of the students
in the class. Students with special
needs can be given certain jobs so they can be successful and feel like part of
the group, while advanced students can go further and explore more in-depth.
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Students can work independently
and/or with groups allowing the teacher to observe and act as a facilitator
instead of just the one who gives the information that is to be learned.
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Technology is an area of learning
that is growing more and more every day and teachers should continue to learn
about different ways to integrate technology into their lessons, activities,
and classroom. WebQuests
are just one of the many ways in which this can be done, but they are a good
way to use technology in a hands-on, constructive way.
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Since technology will always be
around, using WebQuests may be beneficial because
they require using the computer and Internet to learn about numerous
topics. Knowing how to use these types
of things will be helpful to students as they grow up in a world surrounded by
technology.