Problem Based Learning

WebQuests

WebQuests

Since it was first developed in1995 by Bernie Dodge with Tom March, the Web Quest model has been incorporated into hundreds of education courses and staff development efforts around the globe (Dodge, 1995). A WebQuest, according to http://edweb.sdsu.edu/ webquest/overview.htm, 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 looking for it, and to support learners? thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. WebQuests are appealing because they provide structure and guidance both for students and for teachers. The stated ideal of engaging higher-level thinking skills?though making good use of limited computer access?seems to resonate with many educators.

According to Johnson and Johnson (2000), the critical attributes of a successful cooperative learning environment include the following

:

? Positive interdependence: Learners perceive that they cannot succeed without each other.

? Pro-motive interaction (preferably face to-face): Students help teach and applaud each other as they wrestle with authentic work.

? Individual and group accountability: The group is held accountable for completing the task, and each individual is held accountable for his or her part in the process.

? Interpersonal and small group skills: Most children (and many adults) need to be taught how to work together.

? Group processing: Conversation about how to improve the group?s effectiveness is deliberately built into the process.[i]

In my classes I am using the Internet and Web Quests or a form of a Web based learning tools on a more frequent basis to supplement text book and power point presentations One site that I use to assess sixth, seventh, and eighth grade knowledge of computer skills and terms is http://www.ncwiseowl.org/ . I am using this site to provide Internet research instead of other sites such as Goggle. This is a safe environment for students to do research in and it cuts down on the occurrences of students going some where they should be.

I use this site in a number of ways. I will have the students use the Grolier Multimedia site, http://go.grolier.com/, to look up terms and definitions as we enter each new subject area. Using this technique the students find the terms and start a word document to store their finding for future reference. I also use the Jukebox site, http://www.ncwiseowl.org/Kscope/Hovercraft/Jukebox/, to support the Standard Course of Study for seventh grade technology students. This site is broken down into the modules that are in the Standard Course of Study module by module.

I will split the class room into teams and I use the projects or Web Quests on this site to support Positive interdependence, Pro-motive interaction, group accountability, Interpersonal and small group skill, and Group processing skills that the author of this article points out above. The students enjoy the different Web Quests, projects, terms matching, and concentration modules that this offers and the benefit is they are not only learning the subject material but are also learning social skills. .

We can not replace the traditional book learning approach but as we are being driven to standardized testing Web Quests give the student a chance to experience environments they would normally not have access to and it gives the student a chance to use a medium they enjoy learning with.

Posted at 02:56PM Nov 29, 2006 by LASKIN, RICHARD in General  |  Comments[3]