About+WebQuests

=FROM ZUNAL.COM:=

Professor Bernie Dodge of San Diego State University defines a WebQuest as an inquiry-oriented activity that uses resources on the World Wide Web. WebQuests pull together the most effective instructional practices into one integrated student activity. These Web-based projects use World Wide Web sites to help students develop problem-solving and decision-making skills. WebQuests are interesting and motivating to teachers and students. An effective WebQuest develops critical thinking skills and often includes a cooperative learning component. Students learn as they search for information using the Web, following a prescribed format that focuses on problem solving and authentic assessment. A well-written WebQuest requires students to go beyond simple fact finding. It asks them to analyze a variety of resources and use their creativity and critical-thinking skills to solve a problem. WebQuests help students analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information. There are two kinds of WebQuests, short term and long term. The attributes of a short term WebQuest are:
 * knowledge acquisition and integration
 * making sense of large amounts of information
 * typically completed in one to three class periods.

The attributes of a long term WebQuest are:
 * extending and refining knowledge
 * analyzing a body of knowledge thoroughly and transforming it
 * creating a product that others can respond to
 * typically completed in one week to a month. Elements of a WebQuest WebQuests are different from “scavenger hunts,” a much simpler approach that is as old as the Web itself. In a typical scavenger hunt, students are given a list of items they must find (answers to questions, for example, or instances of data) and are set loose on the Web. WebQuests are much more structured and focus heavily on collaboration.