3 – WebQuests
From “About BestWebQuests”
BestWebQuests.com springs from the fact that people have been creating “WebQuests” since 1995. Somehow this term has become a buzzword in the world of education. Couple “buzzword” with “time” (as measured in Web years) and you’ve got an exponential number of WebQuests. Or do you?
Many educators have expressed frustration that some “WebQuests”… aren’t. Because time is always in short supply, teachers wanted a place to go where they could know for certain that the WebQuests listed, not only involve some higher order thinking, but require students to “transform” what they have learned.
This is not to say that the only good online learning activity is a true WebQuest. Part of Tom March’s contribution has been the design of an array of learning activities. It just makes good instructional sense, that if we say an activity will prompt transformational thinking (or an affective connection, the attainment of a concept, or acquisition of knowledge, etc.) that we choose the right format to make this more likely.
It should be noted as well that many people refer to all Web-based lessons as “WebQuests.” If it involves the Web and learning, it must be a WebQuest. This is not true. Not every steak’s a filet. Not every Chevrolet’s a Corvette. Not every flower’s a rose. Also not every fruit’s an apple or every guitar’s meant for picking. The point goes back to Socrates: Define your terms. There’s nothing holy about ‘Vettes or Stratocasters (or WebQuests), but when our terms are accurate so are our expectations.
Imagine if a class of students use another teacher’s “WebQuest” and only hang around the lower levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy? Nothing wrong with this if the goal was for students to acquire knowledge. But if the classroom teacher chose a WebQuest because she wanted an activity to help students construct new meaning, then the activity would be a failure.
BestWebQuests.com was initially designed as a site to celebrate the work of thousands of educators. We still plan to do that. It’s just that a couple things have had to happen before that’s a reality. First, we’re sifting (some would say slowly even for a philanthropic undertaking… 
through the online directories of “WebQuests.” We’ve found three main categories of activities. A large minority are not WebQuests at all because their goal is for students to acquire knowledge – usually in a “step-and-fetch-it” manner. Another large minority are killer WebQuests right off the shelf. Over 50% could easily slot into this category with a little extra attention paid to the Group Process / Transformation part of the WebQuest. Typically, students learn a terrific amount as background information or in the roles of experts, but then this knowledge isn’t used to create new meaning or construct knowledge, isn’t transformed or applied to a new situation. And this is the heart of a true WebQuest.
Tom was in the room when WebQuests were born – never claiming to be the “Father of WebQuests,” he sees himself more as the crazy uncle. Lucky enough to be team-teaching with Bernie Dodge in early 1995, Tom then spent three years on a fellowship at San Diego State University. The objective of this stint was to develop Web-based learning activities. Early on, Tom wrote the first WebQuest designed for use outside a SDSU classroom. This was the first version of Searching for China. Since then, Tom has continued to write about, develop his own, and facilitate others in creating WebQuests. His is a distinctive flavor that has evolved since that first hypothesis, “Some Thoughts About WebQuests.”
Definition
“A WebQuest is a scaffolded learning structure that uses links to essential Web resources and an authentic task to motivate students’ investigation of a central, open-ended question, development of individual expertise and participation in a final group process that attempts to transform newly acquired information into a more sophisticated understanding. The best WebQuests do this in a way that inspires students to see richer thematic relationships, facilitates a contribution to the real world of learning and prompts students to reflect on their own metacognitive processes.”
The Learning Power of WebQuests (2003)
Articles & Resources on WebQuests
- Revisiting WebQuests in a Web 2 World (2008)
- What WebQuests Are (Really!)
- BestWebQuests Assessment Matrix
- The 7 Red Flags
Sample WebQuests Written by Tom March
First launched in 2002, this series of activities is designed to help people explore ways to keep our school zones from being Crool Zones. Incorporating all six “Web-and-Flow Formats,” this series illustrates a method for integrating a range of learning activities suited to various learning needs.
Some people think elementary school students should be coloring inside the lines, circling words in a search, or copying sentences from the board. Maybe that’s okay, but we’d rather you figure out what life’s all about. You know, what about this earth we live on and share with all the other peoples, plants and animals? This WebQuest was designed to prompt K-3 students into higher-order thinking.
Searching for China was the first WebQuest ever published for general use. Tom work with Bernie Dodge for three years developing the WebQuest strategy. Searching for China is perhaps the architypal long-term WebQuest. This latest version uses interactive pages to facilitate the production of individual and group reports.
Black History Month Activities
Although incredibly popular each February, the WebQuests, The Tuskegee Tragedy and Little Rock 9, Integration 0?, investigate themes that demand ongoing critical evaluation throughout the year and curriculum.
This WebQuest makes use of multiple perspectives and interactive Web sites to challenge students to make decisions about the national debt. This recently revised site also marks the first appearance of the QuickQuest option.
This WebQuest challenges students to define “terrorism” and to decide whether there is such a thing as a “just act” of terrorism. Student groups compare and contrast such cases as the Black Panthers, Nelson Mandela & the ANC, the Oklahoma Bombing, Eco-Terrorism, the State of Israel, Islamic Fundamentalists, and the US CIA.
Ewe 2: the bioethics of cloning
helping colleague Keith Nuthall apply the case study approach to WebQuests
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