Making a WebQuest

http://www.plainfield.k12.in.us/hschool/webq/webq2/webles~1.htm

Introduction

Bernie Dodge of San Diego State University developed the idea of WebQuests to teach students how to effectively use the Internet for research. A WebQuest is defined as "an inquiry oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet."

A lifelong skill is to be able to find, critically read, and summarize information. In this way, one can determine what is useful or applicable to one's life. Therefore, an important goal for students is to learn how to find & evaluate information. Students must be able to collect other's ideas and develop a reaction, summary, or synthesis of the knowledge.

The Task Down to Resources
The purpose of this WebQuest is to assist teachers while they create WebQuests for their students.

Familiarize yourself with several WebQuests
Search & gather web sites and databases to be used for your lesson topic
Construct your WebQuest using Netscape Editor
Print out your WebQuest & post it on the school server to use with your students

The Process
This section gives concrete steps to accomplish the task goals.

1. Look at some WebQuests posted by Bernie Dodge.
Jackie Carrigan's teachers and students have WebQuests for good examples.
2. Use the resource links below to search for sites to fit with your lesson topic.
3. Use the Netscape Editor to make a WebQuest.
4. Type your name & date at the bottom of the page. Give credit to resources that require it.
5. Print out the WebQuest and take your disk to your web master to post on the server.

Resources

General Topic Sites	Art and Language Arts Sites
Science Sites	Social Studies Sites
Graphics: A-1 Icon Archive Animation Factory Barry's Clip Art Server The Clip Art Connection Free Clipart	Search Engines for Kids: Ask Jeeves for Kids KidsClick Yahooligans

Evaluation
This section gives the criteria for grading the project. To set up your own rubric, start a new page & make a link to this section.

Use the following rubric from Bernie Dodge to evaluate your WebQuest.

Conclusion
Whew! Now you are ready to teach this lesson to your students.
You can always revise the WebQuest when you see what works and what does not.
You can congratulate yourself for giving your students research practice on the Internet!

For more ideas about WebQuests, refer to Bernie Dodge, Tom March, or Jackie Carrigan.

Last updated April 1999.
Based on training materials written by Bernie Dodge.
Denise Brinker, Plainfield Community School Corporation, Plainfield, IN.