It seems that the best way to find the perfect webquest is to create one. Here is a website with an easy to follow guide.
http://webquest.org/index-resources.php
Webquests are outstanding, as the promote many qualities of the In This We Believe ideals. It is challenging and empowering for students to be a dynamic and active part of what they are learning. It invovles technology and is therefor relevant. It is a very active form of learning and should show students that you value them (as you are reaching out with material that should appeal to them).
This follows the This We Believe ideal of being developmentally responsive, as it should stimulate a student's natural curiousity. It also challenges a student; even more apt, it challenges a student to be self empowered - both key attributes to This We Believe. The material itself is challenging and a student must be motivated to follow its course; this very process empowers the student, as they are in control of, and taking an active role in, their own lesson. It is an active and purposeful education, as students progressively witness and establish relationships between topics; they personally interrelate the information.
I recently did a technology presentation for a different class and learned a lot about WebQuests. Using them in our classrooms is an excellent way to make sure we cover the multiple intelligences and to reach all levels of Bloom's Taxonomy - especially the higher order thinking skills. From introducing concepts to having our students synthesize information and form independent judgments, WebQuests provide a means of comprehensive lesson plans to make sure we cover what our students need to know to advance to the next level - and more importantly to help them develop the critical thinking skills that they will use for the rest of their lives.
ReplyDeleteEducating ourselves on technology such as WebQuests is one more way we provide our students with curriculum that is challenging, exploratory, integrative and relevant, while covering the multiple learning approaches, (This We Believe - under the Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment characteristics).
good point on the multiple intelligences; it should help students of all learning styles. I love dynamic instruction - it brings education to life and makes it relevant. These are kids that have grown up believing that some random item in an Xbox 360 game is incredibly relevant to their lives - education needs to be introduced as being part of a world that kids recognize as worthwhile. Webquests provide this; they also give the students a chance to develop their critical thinking skills. THis is the most important thing that students need to learn - they need to learn how to think indepedently. We need to give them a knowledge base to work from and the skills to analytically make decisions.
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