Webquest

Critical Thinking Wiki

**WEBQUEST** By: Jennifer Wagner A webquest is an online tool for learning. 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. Teachers select resources for their students to use instead of the students looking for it on their own. media type="youtube" key="dV7mrOImUUc" height="315" width="420"
 * What is a WebQuest? **

1. **Introduction (the hook):** This provides background information, motivational scenarios, and goals for the students. It is important to relate to students' interests, ideas, past experiences, or future goals to get them interested in learning. 2. **Task (the focus):** This describes what the students will accomplish. This should be appealing, important, and fun for the students because it drives all of the learning activities. 3. **Process (the steps):** This describes the steps the students must follow in order to accomplish their tasks. 4. **Evaluation (the rubric)**: This describes specific standards on how the students will be assessed. Each standard should be fair, clear, consistent, and specific to the tasks set. 5. **Conclusion (the closure and reflection):** Here, the students finish their WebQuest journey by reflecting and summarizing what they have learned. This could also be where teachers have their students suggest ways of doing things differently to improve the lesson. 6. **Teacher Page:** This is where teachers can put information to help other teachers with the WebQuest. It might include things like target learners, standards, notes for teaching the unit, and possibly examples of student work.
 * What are the Essential Parts of a WebQuest? **

**Benefits of WebQuests:** 1. The students can go anywhere in the World. 2. The students can work at their own pace. 3. Students can explore selected areas in more depth. 4. It is ideal for classes which combine students of different ability levels. 5. They offer different, more dynamic approach to teaching the value of research. 6. They increase the comfort level of student using the Internet for learning activities.

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How to Design a WebQuest:

1. Become familiear with the resources available on-line in their own content area. 2. Organize one's knowledge of what is out there. 3. Identify topics that fit in with their curriculum and for which there are appropriate materials on-line. 4. Create a WebQuest by using this free website: [], or another website that allows you to make a WebQuest.

[|http://webquest.sdsu.edu/about_webquests.html] [|http://www1.teachersfirst.com/summer/webquest/quest-b.shtml] [|http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/buildingblocks/p-index.htm] [|http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/]