The key idea that distinguishes WebQuests from other Web-based experiences is this: A “WebQuest is built around an engaging and doable task that elicits higher order thinking of some kind. It’s about doing something with information. The thinking can be creative or critical, and involve problem solving, judgment, analysis, or synthesis. The task has to be more than simply answering questions or regurgitating what’s on the screen. Ideally, the task is a scaled down version of something that adults do on the job, outside school walls.”
Bernie Dodge (creator of Webquests.)
Take time to explore the links above.
Task 4
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Why are webquests so popular in education?
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How do they meet constructivist principles?
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Find an engaging webquest you could use in your learning environment and post it below with a comment of how it would fit into a lesson plan or Sequence of Work.
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Are you interested in creating a webquest ?
“Only a few years ago I returned to Uni to invest more money in my education. I spent countless hours in an “ICT- Education” course creating an integrated ESL/Humanities Webquest on rainforests. I am passionate about webquests. My initial enthusiasm waned after 90 hours in the university computer lab in the evenings after teaching rounds. I learnt how to design a website. More importantly, I learnt I was not an IT technician – I was an educator who enjoyed using ICT. I haven’t had time in my teaching life to create a website since. However, technological tools have caught up with my pedagological beliefs. This semester I learnt I can use a blog to create a webquest. Wow! My life can focus on ideas and learning rather than remembering how to check and repair broken links! Goodbye Dreamweaver (Nightmare Weaver) – hello Blogs and Wikis!”
Regards,
Brigid
If you still like creating a website feel free to check out Microsoft Front Page or Dreamweaver
1. Webquests are popular in education because they challenge students with high order thinking activities for example, the tasks given are student centered and measured as analyzing, creating in blooms’ taxonomy levels.
2. Webquests perfectly match constructivists’ theory as they provide a collabritive learning experience where students would work in a group and work in a context under a theme and it motivates students as they are the ones to do all the work and most importantly they activities are setup for students to think.
3. I looooooooooved this webquest its called “Extreme Ostrich Makover” I liked it because when I taught sceince we came across the topic about habitats and how animals adapt to the habitat and if we took this animal to another habitat it might not survive and in order to survive it needs special qualities to help it survive… this webquest fits perfectly with this topic and what I like about it is that they related it to the TV show extreme make over so it is in context. http://www.ldcsb.on.ca/schools/cfe/rpt/RPT_Extreme/student.html
4. I found webquests so useful and I would love to apply some of them in my teaching because they fit perfectly with themes and students interests. My only critisism is that they might need to take time and lots of training students of how to do them. And I think a possible problem would be if students didn’t work together as a group.
1. Why are webquests so popular in education?
Webquest promotes to students’ higher-order thinking basis at higher levels, and use information to solve problems. In addition, Webquest is an ideal feature of the larger class of guided inquiry activities in use today. It slows different ability level of students to work at their own space, either individually or in team, since it is adaptable. Moreover, teachers engage learners by using the power of the Web. Students actively search for, discover and explore information rather than just passively receiving it.
2. How do they meet constructivist principles?
It depends on the teacher, how is she using them. If the teacher is using them as a learning development tool, so the webquest provides scaffold experiences, enabling teachers and students to collaborate within a protected online chat-room environment. Within the webquest, both teachers and students experience problem- based learning activities similar to those they will create for their own students. During the sessions, students co-construct meanings from their webquest experiences. They learn how to work with technologists collaboratively and negotiate for meaning by teacher’s guidance. Thus, this would leverage their learning and lead to more advance.
3. Find an engaging webquest you could use in your learning environment and post it below with a comment of how it would fit into a lesson plan or Sequence of Work.
Loooool gooood for who is having problem in teaching math lessons. Personally, I like this webquest, beacuase it has divided the webquest pages in three levels elementry, middle and high school webquest for math subject. Each page contains interesting theme which would engage learners in math lessons. For example, students have been given a topic animal breakout thy have to do the task Using the knowledge that they have already learned about North Carolina and information they may need to discover, pretend to be in the animal’s skin and escape the zookeepers.
There other interesting task for students and in order to do these tasks they have to to lots of search to find the information.
4. Are you interested in creating a webquest ?
After having a journey around the webquest I am really interested to create one which would help me in future for my students. But I hate using technology because I really get panic when using it, because I do not really have any idea about it. As I some knowledge about how to use technology I would like to use it. My only one criticism would be that, it needs lots of time to learn how to create one and to know how to use it. Also students must be trained to how to register and how to use them, because when the readymade product has been introduced to me and I have been told to work and do my tasks online I really don’t have any idea how to use it and I got panic. But by the time I became good on it and now I don’t really have a problem with it.
1. Why are webquests so popular in education?
Webquest promotes to students’ higher-order thinking basis at higher levels, and use information to solve problems. In addition, Webquest is an ideal feature of the larger class of guided inquiry activities in use today. It alows different ability level of students to work at their own space, either individually or in team, since it is adaptable. Moreover, teachers engage learners by using the power of the Web. Students actively search for, discover and explore information rather than just passively receiving it.
2. How do they meet constructivist principles?
It depends on the teacher, how is she using them. If the teacher is using them as a learning development tool, so the webquest provides scaffold experiences, enabling teachers and students to collaborate within a protected online chat-room environment. Within the webquest, both teachers and students experience problem- based learning activities similar to those they will create for their own students. During the sessions, students co-construct meanings from their webquest experiences. They learn how to work with technologists collaboratively and negotiate for meaning by teacher’s guidance. Thus, this would leverage their learning and lead to more advance.
3. Find an engaging webquest you could use in your learning environment and post it below with a comment of how it would fit into a lesson plan or Sequence of Work.
Loooool gooood for who is having problem in teaching math lessons. Personally, I like this webquest, beacuase it has divided the webquest pages in three levels elementry, middle and high school webquest for math subject. Each page contains interesting theme which would engage learners in math lessons. For example, students have been given a topic animal breakout thy have to do the task Using the knowledge that they have already learned about North Carolina and information they may need to discover, pretend to be in the animal’s skin and escape the zookeepers.
There other interesting task for students and in order to do these tasks they have to to lots of search to find the information.
http://www.wfu.edu/~mccoy/NCTM00/examplesel.html
4. Are you interested in creating a webquest ?
After having a journey around the webquest I am really interested to create one which would help me in future for my students. But I hate using technology because I really get panic when using it, because I do not really have any idea about it. As I some knowledge about how to use technology I would like to use it. My only one criticism would be that, it needs lots of time to learn how to create one and to know how to use it. Also students must be trained to how to register and how to use them, because when the readymade product has been introduced to me and I have been told to work and do my tasks online I really don’t have any idea how to use it and I got panic. But by the time I became good on it and now I don’t really have a problem with it.
1. The importance of the web-quest comes from the fact that a lot of schools nowadays are using the internet to help students interact and share information/resources.
2. It meets the constructivist principles in many ways. First, because constructivist theory views learners as active instead of passives as other theories dose e.g. Behaviorisms. So the tasks and the goals behind the web-quest is influence by this fact by establishing task and activities that involved solving problem and cooperative working. Second, it focuses more in students’ experience of the words, and encourages them to assimilate and accommodate their experiences to construct their new concepts.
3. I found one web-quest that is so useful in teaching Geography, where it provide students with tasks in order to discover about the country they choose and its culture, etc.
http://faculty.goucher.edu/jcampf/aglover/webquest/introduction.htm
4. Honestly, I think I am not going to use web-quest in my classroom
Thank u for ur time>> Have a nice summer