About three years ago, I stumbled across WebQuest.Org. My path to WebQuest has been lost in the chronicles of time, but thank goodness that path was trod.
What is a WebQuest? According to WebQuest.Org, " a WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. WebQuests originated at the San Diego State University Department of Educational Technology in February 1995. Since those beginning days, tens of thousands of teachers have embraced WebQuests as a way to make good use of the internet while engaging their students in the kinds of thinking that the 21st century requires."
WebQuest is a painless way to add variety to my lesson plans. A huge list of shared lesson plans that utilize the Internet, I've used it to find meaningful research projects for all different types of topics.
The last WebQuest we used was Mayan Time Capsule . Students work to put together a time capsule of important artifacts from the Mayan Civilization making sure to include artifacts from different aspects that will be important to future generations' understanding of the culture since an impending air strike is a possibility. Of course, my kids changed the air strike (much too mundane) to a zombie apocalypse. Throughout the process students work on research skills, public speaking, logic, debating skills, writing, as well as discernment. Learning to work together and divide tasks according to strengths and weaknesses was a much appreciated by-product.
As with any shared content website the quality of product varies greatly, but in general the content of this website is excellent. Art, music, business, technology, science, history, English, and life skills are just some of the topics covered by Webquest. Currently the search function seems to be a bit handicapped. Hopefully this is something that will be corrected soon as this is an excellent resource for any educator.
What is a WebQuest? According to WebQuest.Org, " a WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. WebQuests originated at the San Diego State University Department of Educational Technology in February 1995. Since those beginning days, tens of thousands of teachers have embraced WebQuests as a way to make good use of the internet while engaging their students in the kinds of thinking that the 21st century requires."
WebQuest is a painless way to add variety to my lesson plans. A huge list of shared lesson plans that utilize the Internet, I've used it to find meaningful research projects for all different types of topics.
The last WebQuest we used was Mayan Time Capsule . Students work to put together a time capsule of important artifacts from the Mayan Civilization making sure to include artifacts from different aspects that will be important to future generations' understanding of the culture since an impending air strike is a possibility. Of course, my kids changed the air strike (much too mundane) to a zombie apocalypse. Throughout the process students work on research skills, public speaking, logic, debating skills, writing, as well as discernment. Learning to work together and divide tasks according to strengths and weaknesses was a much appreciated by-product.
As with any shared content website the quality of product varies greatly, but in general the content of this website is excellent. Art, music, business, technology, science, history, English, and life skills are just some of the topics covered by Webquest. Currently the search function seems to be a bit handicapped. Hopefully this is something that will be corrected soon as this is an excellent resource for any educator.
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This is VERY cool! I have never heard of it before, but once I played around on their site and checked out your links, I can see what an amazing resource this would be for an independent learner. As my kids get older, I'm always looking for things they can do ON THEIR OWN to take their studies to the next level. So glad you shared! And love that it's FREE. Thanks for linking up with me on Grab & Go Thursday. Can't wait to see what you share next week!
ReplyDeletewow that is interesting. Thank you so much. I'll have to set some time aside and dig into this!
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Webquests look awesome. Thanks for sharing. Always looking for more independent ideas for my kids to do.
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