I found a great WebQuest related to "food for thought" called "What Should You Be Eating?" at http://questgarden.com. The goal was for cooperative student groups to create posters about a healthy 5-day menu to post in their cafeteria. The students were required to include 3 meals from the school cafeteria in their 5-day menu, which creates an opportunity for students to reflect on the nutritive value of the school meals.
At the "Quest Garden" site, my search for WebQuests about the history of the first Thanksgiving resulted in 177 examples with helpful information about the grade/ content areas addressed and the reading level of the WebQuest. I plan to use these resources when I create my own WebQuest on this topic.
When creating computer-based resources like the WebQuests and StAIR projects (kiosk-style powerpoints), I need to keep these key steps in mind: building bridges between what students already know and the goals of the WebQuest or StAIR; establishing clear goals for the project; using student-centered learning strategies to gather, evaluate and synthesize new information (i.e. cooperative groups, scaffolding, etc.); selecting the most helpful resources for students; and gathering feedback from students and teachers in order to improve the project.
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The nice thing about QuestGarden is that if you become a member, it's a collaborative community of teachers who can give you critiques and generate ideas for improvement.
ReplyDeleteThe hard thing is that there are so many good resources available, searching for the best resource takes a lot of time :-) It's helpful that it has the Curriculum Grade Level Matrix.
I like the finished product in the WebQuest you mentioned. I think that can really make or break a WebQuest - whether or not the culminating activity is authentic enough.
ReplyDeleteI like your goals for the STAIR and WebQuest: "building bridges between what students already know and the goals, establishing clear goals for the project, using student-centered learning strategies to gather, evaluate and synthesize new information, selecting the most helpful resources for students,and gathering feedback from students and teachers in order to improve the project." all of these are very important to help our students.
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