I have always found that Webquests are useful tools. I was excited to see that I would be able to make one as my final project for this class. I decided to choose a fun project for my final unit in my classroom that revolves around Chicago. I wanted to create a project that involves students researching the building in Chicago themselves, finding out their purpose, their history, and I wanted them to pay attention to what they look like.
My webquest is designed for students to use what they have learned through learning about existing buildings in Chicago to design their own. It involves working together as a team and a little bit of competition.
I really thought this would be a great idea because I know personally I have gone to Chicago many times before and I have not paid attention to the way the buildings are designed. I hope that this webquest will inspire students to slow down in big cities to pay attention to what they look like and to see if they can guess how they were built.
This lesson is designed to include social studies, math, and art. I love when a webquest is designed to cover more than one subject area.
Over all I really enjoyed making this webquest. I especially enjoyed the fact that I used Adobe Dreamweaver to make the webquest. I thought about using a template that I found online that already had the template made for me; however, I enjoyed the fact that I designed it from scratch. I enjoyed looking for different resources to include in the webquest and how to construct the entire adventure.
I also understand now how useful webquests can be for a classroom. It does take quite a bit of work to set up a webquest; however, once it is finished it is something that a student can use so easily, as long as the webquest is set up in a user friendly way. It allows students to use the computer with the Internet and conduct an adventure on their own that results in a common goal that should be learned. I love the fact that students can gain independence by following directions and yet it’s like the teacher is helping them the entire time. Webquests can be adapted to anyone with special needs and can be used for all ages.
I personally enjoyed this experience in all that it has to offer. I hope to make more webquests for the future to inspire my students to think for themselves in the adventure of learning.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Soaring into Webquests
Webquests are amazing tools that can turn a regular lesson into an adventure for students. It can help them to learn more about resources on the computer as they discover their answers for their mission. I love webquests that involve students finding answers and using their imagination. Most webquests get students excited to learn, which makes it an exciting journey!
While on the search for webquests to evaluate, I came upon “Mars…The Next Colony”. It can be found at: http://www.tenafly.k12.nj.us/~teisenberg2/mars/ . This webquest really caught my eye. Not only does it pull the students in to go on a space adventure, but they are also learning about previous explorers who have taken adventures into space. The students first have to choose an explorer that is famous on land. From this the students have to figure out what it means to explore and what drives them to want to do it. From there, students break their group into three roles. Each person has their own role: Mission Commander, Mission Navigator, or Mission Architect/Engineer. Each person answers certain questions to plan their trip safely and constructively. The students then turn the information that they have found into a research report. Once the students are done with that they get to design their own mission patch to wear on their uniform. Along the entire mission the students also keep a journal that summarizes their mission.
This is a great lesson that involves a research paper; however, it makes it fun for the students! I can see students forgetting that they are writing a research paper. This is the way all lessons should be set up.
Keeping with the space theme, I found another webquest named “Galaxy Quest”. It can be found at: http://www.geocities.com/msbrail/webquest.html . It is still a good webquest for students to complete a well put together project about the solar system. Students are broken up into teams and each team is assigned a planet. The students then design a logo for their team, then research their planet, find out certain facts about their planet that the teacher has specifically asked, and then they create a postcard and a brochure. This is a great project for students to discover the planets.
I like that both webquests had rubrics and questions that pointed students in the right direction as to what they needed to find out to make the lesson meaningful. Lessons should always have direction towards a common goal.
While on the search for webquests to evaluate, I came upon “Mars…The Next Colony”. It can be found at: http://www.tenafly.k12.nj.us/~teisenberg2/mars/ . This webquest really caught my eye. Not only does it pull the students in to go on a space adventure, but they are also learning about previous explorers who have taken adventures into space. The students first have to choose an explorer that is famous on land. From this the students have to figure out what it means to explore and what drives them to want to do it. From there, students break their group into three roles. Each person has their own role: Mission Commander, Mission Navigator, or Mission Architect/Engineer. Each person answers certain questions to plan their trip safely and constructively. The students then turn the information that they have found into a research report. Once the students are done with that they get to design their own mission patch to wear on their uniform. Along the entire mission the students also keep a journal that summarizes their mission.
This is a great lesson that involves a research paper; however, it makes it fun for the students! I can see students forgetting that they are writing a research paper. This is the way all lessons should be set up.
Keeping with the space theme, I found another webquest named “Galaxy Quest”. It can be found at: http://www.geocities.com/msbrail/webquest.html . It is still a good webquest for students to complete a well put together project about the solar system. Students are broken up into teams and each team is assigned a planet. The students then design a logo for their team, then research their planet, find out certain facts about their planet that the teacher has specifically asked, and then they create a postcard and a brochure. This is a great project for students to discover the planets.
I like that both webquests had rubrics and questions that pointed students in the right direction as to what they needed to find out to make the lesson meaningful. Lessons should always have direction towards a common goal.
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