Using Web Quests in the classroom

Integrating the Internet into the Curriculum

Using WebQuests in Your Classroom

A quiet revolution is taking place on the Internet. K-12

educators and university professors around the world are

working together to develop new, innovative ways to

bring the Internet into their curriculum, and then sharing

their successful implementations with others via the World

Wide Web.

In the summer of 1995, Bernie Dodge, a professor of educational technology at

San Diego State University, developed an innovative approach to using the

Internet as an integral part of teaching any subject at any grade level. He wrote a

brief, three-page summary of his new idea, and promptly posted it to the World

Wide Web.

Since that summer day, hundreds of wired K-12 educators have visited Dodge's

WebQuest Home Page, studied his unique approach, and adopted it for use in

their classrooms. Indeed, the word "WebQuest" has quickly become one of the

hottest educational technology buzzwords, both online and in the real world.

This tutorial, based with permission on Dodge's groundbreaking work, introduces

you to this exciting Internet innovation, and provides you with links to hands-on

examples of how this technique is being implemented in elementary and secondary

schools around the world. We've also included a simple template to help you

make WebQuests of your own for use in your classroom right away!

A new teaching paradigm

Think of WebQuests as a new kind of Web-centered classroom Internet project

-- much like the Internet Hunts mentioned in the Creating Successful Internet

Projects tutorial. In essence, a WebQuest is a learning activity in which some or all

of the information that students interact with comes from sites on the Internet.

WebQuests can focus either on a single topic, or can be multidisciplinary. There

are two types of WebQuests: short-term and long-term.

In a short-term WebQuest, the instructional goal is simply knowledge acquisition

and integration. Each student obtains and processes a significant amount of new

information from the Web and in-school materials and makes sense of it usually by

creating Web pages. Short term WebQuests are designed to be completed in one

to three class periods.

In a long-term WebQuest, the instructional goal increases one level, challenging

students to extend and refine the knowledge they find online and in the real world.

Each student deeply analyzes a body of knowledge, integrates it into their

knowledge base, and demonstrates their understanding by presenting it to the class

in the form of Web pages. Long-term WebQuests can take between one week

and one month to complete.

WebQuest components

Successful WebQuests always include six main components:

A clear introductory paragraph which sets the stage for the activity and

provides some background information.

A central task that is concrete and interesting.

A set of information sources needed to complete the task. All of the

knowledge sources, both from online and real world sources, should be

given to the students in the form of a WebQuest handout. These pointers to

information are vital and ensure that your students are centered on the task

at hand.

A description of the entire process the students should go through in

accomplishing the task.

Guidance on how to organize the information acquired. This can take the

form of guiding questions, or directions to complete organizational

frameworks such as timelines, concept maps, etc., ultimately resulting in the

creation of new Web pages to demonstrate their understanding.

A conclusion that brings closure to the WebQuest reminds the students

about what they've learned, and encourages them to extend the experience

into other domains.

The end result of a WebQuest is publishing the results of your students' thinking

processes on the Internet in the form of Web pages. This online publishing serves

three purposes:

It focuses the learners on a tangible and hi-tech task.

It gives them a receptive, sympathetic audience to create for.

It opens up the possibility of getting feedback from that distant audience if

you include a return email address on the Web material.

Getting started with WebQuests

Your first step in creating a WebQuest of your own should be to review a few

examples of successful ones. You'll discover how easy it is to create your own!

Searching for China: A Full WebQuest

Look Who's Footing the Bill: DebtQuest

The Planet Earth Expedition: A WebQuest

Then & Now: Discovering the Past

Artist Self-Portraits

Globe Theatre WebQuest

Investigating Archaeotype

Your First Paycheck WebQuest

Submarines: Where are they now?

The WebQuest Home Page

Next, print out and use the WebQuest template found below and begin to

brainstorm your own WebQuests. Bernie Dodge has also created something he

calls a "Non-WebQuest" to help you get organized to create your first WebQuest

activity. Click here to get your creative juices flowing!

WebQuest Template: Idea Sheet

Based with permission on a WebQuest Lesson Template created by Bernie

Dodge.

WebQuest Title:

_________________________________________________________

Description:

_________________________________________________________

Write a short paragraph here to introduce the WebQuest to your

students. If there is a role or scenario involved, such as "You are

a detective trying to identify something," then here is where

you'll set the stage. If there's no motivational introduction like

that, use this section to provide a short advance organizer or

overview.

Task:

_________________________________________________________

Describe clearly what the end result of the learners' activities

will be. The task could be a series of questions that must be

answered; a summary to be created; a problem to be solved; a

position to be formulated and defended; or anything that

requires the learners to process and transform the information

they gather.

Resources:

_________________________________________________________

Use this space to direct students to the Web sites or the physical

resources in the classroom that will be available for them to use

to accomplish the task. When listing the online sites involved, be

sure to write a description of each site.

Process:

_________________________________________________________

What steps should the learners take to accomplish the task? List

the process here.

Learning Advice:

_________________________________________________________

Here you can provide some guidance on how to organize the

information gathered. This advice could include suggestions to

use flow-charts, summary tables, concept maps, or to create

Web pages out of the information with links to the original

sources. The advice could also take the form of a checklist of

questions to analyze the information with, or things to notice or

think about.

Conclusion:

_________________________________________________________

Write a couple of sentences here that summarize what they will

have accomplished or learned by completing this WebQuest. You

might also include some rhetorical questions that encourage

them to extend their thinking into other content areas.

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