#9 Webquest

The first article, "5 Rules for Writing a Great WebQuest," discusses how these quests are supposed to equate to higher level thinking (like in Bloom's taxonomy). Since students are given the information they are much more likely to focus their time on the content rather than wasting time finding information. In this instance technology is benefiting both the teacher and students because it is structured and ultimately permits higher level thinking. The 5 rules for creating a efficient webquest can be described using the acronym FOCUS. The "F" stands for "finding great sights". This entails quality, accuracy/how current the site is, search engines, and searching deeper within the web. Additionally, the article touches on the effectiveness of backflip and how it allows teachers to stay more organized. The "O" stands for "orchestrating your learner". This deals with different styles for the students, individual work and team work. The "C" means "challenging learners to think". This is basically saying the importance of deeper levels of thinking rather than just what is at the surface level. Webquests permit teachers to guide students, and have them design, create journals, and persuade. The "U" stands for using the medium. This deals with people, conversation, and the media. The "S" stands for "scaffold high expectations." This deals with asking students to step out of their own element and do things they would not necessarily do, transformation and production too. Overall, this article took the acronym FOCUS and outlined how to create a meaningful webquest where the beneficiary will conceptualize and analytically think about any given subject. If remember these 5 steps and there significance I will not waste class or student's time.

The next article, The Student Webquest, discusses webquests and efficient productivity in the classroom. It seems that the reoccurring theme is to link websites that will allow the student to search for answers or assist in whatever assignment is provided (creating a budget or school acres and property). The main point of webquest is to get students thinking, so sometimes the topics are a bit controversial in terms of prejudice/history or human rights as in the discussions about Anne Frank and the Holocaust. The article displays the key elements to a good webquest: introduction, a task, resources, evaluations, and conclusions. Once these elements are incorporated, as the teacher, you might assign different roles to each student or have them work as a team.

The next article, Webquests Sends Students Back in Time, simply took major historical events and in teams researched a topic to enhance their computer and writing/ research skills. Students are thinking at deeper levels and thus are more apt to actually remember what they are learning.

Lastly, Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators, states how webquests are an interaction of resources of the Internet. This article links various examples of webquests.



According to Schrock's article, "an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet." But overall, webquest, if composed correctly, is a useful tool to enhance deeper level thinking by students. It takes a variety of resources (filaments) and the use of students analytical/ thinking skills (mentality).