What are WebQuests?

"...inquiry-oriented activities in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet." - Bernie Dodge (SDSU)

Instructional and Cognitive Practices Supported by WebQuests

critical thinking	schema theory
cooperative learning	scaffolding
authentic assessment	novice/expert models
technology integration	constructivism

Uses Bloom's Taxonomy as instructional practice - often copied, always used, Bloom's Taxonomy is used effectively to provide "an old twist to a new media"

Other Attributes of WebQuests

  Based on self-discovery

  Learners work at their own pace, either individually or in teams

  Learners explore topics in more depth

  Creates a comfort level for both learner and teacher

  Pedagogically sound practice

Short Term WebQuests

  intended to completed over a one to three lesson timeframe

  the Instructional Goal is knowledge acquisition and integration

  learner deals with a significant amount of information and makes sense of it

Long Term WebQuests

  intended to be completed over one week to one month

  the instructional goal is extending and refining knowledge

  learner analyzes a body of knowledge, transforms it, demonstrates understanding

  thinking skills include:

comparing, classifying, inducing, deducing, an analysing errors, constructing support, abstraction, analyzing perspectives.

Teacher Expectations

  familiar with resources (online. cdrom and text) in your content area

  organize resources into categories (databases, reference materials, etc.)

  identify topics that fits in with the curriculum