WebQuest


 * Directions:** //As per your dossier, you will be responsible for compiling the information below about your inquiry strategy. Next week, you will provide a 5-7 minute overview of your strategy for the class.//

** Name and Description of your strategy (mention any variations of your strategy as well): **

I have been charged with investigating The WebQuest. The WebQuest emerged from San Diego State University in 1995 as a way to make use of the vast amount of information available online. Webquests supports inquiry-based learning. A webquest is essentially a project which asks a question of the students, provides them with resources to data, and requires a project in which students analyzes, synthesize, and reflect on the information culled from online sources. Closely related in the Web inquiry Project. As opposed to the Webquest, the WebInquiry is much more open-ended. From a hook, students design and ask their own questions, find and analyze their own data. For many students the webquest provides scaffolding that is much needed, but ultimately the WebInquiry best facilitates independent learning.

** Inquiry Process associated with your strategy: **

In a webquest the teacher begins the process by asking the relevant, initial questions. The students may create or discover other questions as the move through the process, but the search begins with the teacher’s questions.

** Description of the Product or Products resulting from the inquiry process associated with your strategy: **

Many of the webquests I found required students to create journals, diaries, magazines, newspapers, new endings, letters to presidents, and documentaries. I particularly like the projects that had end products that were not diaries or new endings. I believe we, as English teachers, overdo these projects. These projects could be assigned without a webquest. In particular, I was impressed by a webquest which had students interviewing activists and making a documentary as part of //To Kill a Mockingbird//.

** Descriptions of Examples and Links to examples when possible (when you include a link to an example, provide a brief annotation / description of the example -- not just a link): **

This webquest explores life in the U.S. between 1880- 1920. It is actually a social studies unit, but I think you might be able to use it as part of __Cheaper by the Dozen__, Sherlock Holmes, or other books or authors from this time period. Students explore the issues of the time and create a magazine as part of cooperative groups. The magazine must include pictures, articles, and political cartoons. I think it might also be fun to ad advertisements. [] This webquest serves as a starting point for Tom Sawyer. Students work as a group to create a scrap book for the St. Louis Historical Society. It is meant to be completed before reading the book. [] This WebQuest is an alternative to the typical pre-reading activities that rarely entertain and rarely inform. Students will learn about the historical period in which Twain wrote (and in which Huck "lived") and will review the various reactions to the novel over time. The lesson also exposes students to the idea of censorship and hopes to tie in outside knowledge about rights and freedom and thought. Students will be better prepared to handle the seemingly-offensive language and themes in the book and (should!) gain appreciation for their own right to think and read and explore as they see fit. The students form an opinion about the book and prepare to defend that opinion in a debate. [] Students will study __The Giver__, __The Lorax__, and __Yertle the Turtle__ … under the Marxist lens. Students explore social groups and ladders and consider the consequences for each group. They then apply the thinking to the Gulf Oil Spill. As a final project they write a letter to President Obama advocating for the student’s chosen social group. [] Reflecting upon the inequalities in __To Kill a Mockingbird__, students will consider inequalities in today’s world. They will make a documentary about the inequality, interviewing at least one activist involved in the effort. []

** Resources consulted related to your strategy: ** Casey, M. (2000). //Technology Challenge Grants Triton and Pattern Projects.// Retrieved Sep. 15, 2010, from San Diego City Schools, San Diego, CA. Web site: []. Dodge, B., & Molebash, P. (2003). Kickstarting inquiry with webquests and web inquiry projects. //Social Education//, //3//(67), 158-161. Dodge, B. (2007). //WebQuest.Org.// Retrieved Sep. 15, 2010, from San Diego State University Department of Educational Technology, San Diego, CA. Web site: []. ** 1-2 additional inquiry-based learning strategies you like (name and describe briefly): **

I like the multigenre research project. I like that the final products can be so diverse. I would also like to learn more about research using google earth. It has great potential for use with literature, especially older works or foreign works.