The link http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/index_sub3.html guided me towards WebQuest , “an inquiry-oriented online tool for learning” .
After being introduced to PBL , this tool provides the technology-enhanced cooperative and collaborative way of putting it into practice . Most or all of the information that students explore and evaluate comes from the World Wide Web, it usually involves group work, and it can be as short as a single class period or as long as a month-long unit. Students have to learn how to learn, and learn how to work with each other. The teacher, as a designer, builds the base of resources which is used by students to complete the task.
WebQuest has been designed to help students develop their high order thinking skills : , critical thinking , problem solving ,analysis skills, and their decision making skills. Anyway , it is a tool that requires a certain level of reading ability and it can’t be used with beginners . In the same time it cannot be helpful to teach factual pieces of information .By using multimedia, WebQuests also help with multiple intelligence work, addressing to all of them.
The same guide showed me the logical steps in creating a WebQuest :
1WebQuest introduction - related to students' interests, ideas, past experiences, or future goals
2 The task - a formal description of what students will have accomplished by the end of the WebQuest. Here I found the phrase : “Built into a good WebQuest is the notion of scaffolding”. “Scaffolding is an instructional technique whereby the teacher models the desired learning strategy or task, then gradually shifts responsibility to the students. How teachers interact with students as they complete a task is important to the students' ability to perform the activity.” ( http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr1scaf.htm). Under these circumstances the teacher gains another role : model or guide .
We can also give an example of a finished project –this allows them to assess and calibrate their own efforts as they begin work on the project.
3. Process –a description of the steps learners should go through in accomplishing the task, with links embedded in each step.
I enjoyed the ideas of kids doing portfolio pieces based on the work that they were doing on the WebQuests.The ABC book seemed another interesting outcome of another WebQuest .The children wrote a summary of what the book Island of the Blue Dolphins was about. And then they took every letter of the alphabet and found something interesting from the book that related to Island of the Blue Dolphins and wrote an ABC book.
4.Resources
5.Evaluation - rubric -clear goals, matching assessments to specific tasks, and involving the learners in the process of evaluation.It can be very helpful to point out three types of student examples: exemplary, acceptable, and unacceptable. The range between exemplary and acceptable work may be great and will spur the students to strive for excellence, while the demonstration of what constitutes unacceptable work will set clear minimum standards for all to achieve. The goal is for all students to have a good experience of the project.
6. Conclusion-this step allows for reflection by the students and summation by the teacher. Setting aside time for discussion of possible extensions and applications of the lesson honours the constructivist principle: "We learn by doing - but we learn even better by talking about what we did." During the concluding section of a WebQuest, you can encourage your students to suggest ways of doing things differently to improve the lesson.
The last step was visiting some examples of WebQuests at http://webquest.org/search/index.php . “Since 2005, over 20,000 WebQuests have been created on the site. QuestGarden members can download WebQuests created by other teachers and adjust them to meet their specific needs. Though there is a wide range of quality, QuestGarden WebQuests tend to be more up to date and complete than WebQuests found elsewhere.”
Because students love learning about animals I visited http://questgarden.com/106/55/4/100712164312/ -“ Which pet should we get ?”, developed by Michal Remer, McGill and http://questgarden.com/01/41/2/050911225028/t-index.htm - “Alphabet zoo “, by Debi Lindberg, Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary.
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ReplyDeleteHi Cami,
ReplyDeleteIn your post you highlight some very important aspects of WebQuests and Project-based learning in general. Most notably, you mention ideas around higher order thinking as well as constructivism.
I agree that it is important that we keep in mind that WebQuests are intended to encourage students to use high order thinking skills. It is a good idea for teachers to think of Bloom Taxonomy when creating any project-based learning activities, including WebQuests. As students navigate learning activities, we want them to build on their existing skills and strive towards higher order tasks.
Constructivist theory helps remind us that students construct their understanding of the world around them through their experiences. Project-based learning, and WebQuests, represents a technique teachers can use to create educative experiences. Such experiences can help guide students toward constructing insights and realizations on topics that are relevant to their lives. As teachers we help create opportunities for experiences that allow students to develop their own understandings of the world. As students' experiences become more plentiful in terms of quantity and quality, their understandings expand and deepen. It is this deepening of knowledge (going beyond just remembering facts and being able to connect ideas and create new ideas) that is a sign of students achieving higher levels of cognitive processing.
Thank you for your Week 5 blog post.
Regards,
Stephen