Teaching with Webquests

September 20th Early dismissal

Kevin Jamieson

Who the heck am I?• I currently teach:

– Biology I

– Foundations of Biology

Why should you be taking advice from a newbie?

• I have many things to learn, but I have unique perspectives

• I enjoy using technology to facilitate student learning

What is a web-quest?• A web-quest is supposed to involve

setting up a website, giving the students a URL and letting them rip

• Students are usually expected to answer questions from several websites linked to the site

Webquests are valuable• Students enjoy doing them

• Students will do more work on computers than with more conventional methods

• Students tend to read more when material is web-based

If you’re still not convinced...• Very high percentage of completion

• Computer literacy is an essential part of day to day life in professional America, and many of our students don’t have computers

But, computers are the devil!

• True, computers are fallible, and a handout will never crash on a student halfway through an interactive website that had a mile-long URL...

• However, there are few things that I can do that make my students jump out of their seats like giving them a web-quest.

Backup plan• Always have a go-to plan.

–Worksheets or bookwork are good ideas.

–Useful in case the websites take less time to get through than you expected

Webquest design• Tips:

–Single page, double-sided

–Limit them to ~ 3 websites

–There are exceptions to the rule

How many days of computer use should I sign up for ?

• One day for experienced users

–In this way, I do not feel like I am tying up the ERC too much, but I am taking full advantage of webquests

What about students that need more time?

• If a student runs out of time, consider writing them a pass to get them out of a study hall or a lunch period

• Remember, as your students get used to the pacing of the work, they will learn the proper pace for a webquest

But why can’t I just print the material off of the ‘net?

• If you’re JUST using sites that are mainly text, you do not need to do a web-quest

• Seek out at least one or two sites that have some level of student interactivity

Examples• Rock cycle/Erosion webquest• http://www.classzone

.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/investigations/es0602/es0602page02.cfm

• Cell Biology Web-quest• http://www.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/

anisamples/nonmajorsbiology/organelles.html

More good sitesEmerging scientific issues web-quest

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/coming/

Webquest Usage