Use WebQuests to Motivate Your Students

Use WebQuests to Motivate Your Students

Class is over, but your students won’t leave the room. Why not? They’re involved in a WebQuest, and they want to visit “just one more site” to discover the information they need to complete their quest.

A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information used by learners comes from resources available on the Internet. WebQuests originated in 1995, and since that time students across the country have been on a variety of quests to accomplish such diverse tasks as balancing the national debt, saving a rain forest, or creating a Medieval festival.

Some of the advantages of WebQuests include:

• Engage learners by using the power of the Web. Students actively search for and discover information rather than just passively receiving it.
• Allow students to work at their own pace, either individually or in teams.
• Is adaptable for students of all ability levels.
• Encourage deep exploration of a topic rather than a general overview.
• Teach students to be creative researchers rather than simply information surfers.

WebQuests consist of a challenging task, scenario, or problem to solve that requires students to synthesize information from many different sources. Often one or more students take on a particular role, task, or perspective to master. They become the “experts” and share what they learn with others. Follow the TIPS below to find out how you can MOTIVATE YOUR STUDENTS BY USING WEBQUESTS.

Motivate your students by including all of the critical attributes of a WebQuest

• Introduction — Provide an engaging first statement that sets the stage for the entire Webquest. Use your creativity to immediately “hook” students. Include the essential or guiding question around which the WebQuest revolves and provide necessary background information. (Note: the essential question and background information may also be listed as separate elements of your quest, or they may be included as part of the Task.)
• Task — Describe the end result of the work students will do. It may be a performance, a multimedia presentation, or some other type of product. You may have everyone complete the same task, such as creating a PowerPoint presentation, or you may offer your students a variety of tasks from which to choose.
• Process — Clearly describe the step-by-step process students will go through to accomplish the task and define any roles they will be playing. You may also want to give students advice and guidance about how to approach each of the individual steps of the process. Taking the time to carefully explain the process up front will head off many potential problems and help to avoid frustration and confusion.
• Information Sources— Identify the online and offline resources students may use. It’s common to embed links to Internet resources in the WebQuest itself. However, you may choose to provide a list of resources in a separate document. All students may not use all of the resources, especially if students play different roles.
• Evaluation — Measure student results periodically during the WebQuest as well as at the end. Ongoing feedback will help keep students motivated and on target with their research. There are many rubrics available online or you may create your own.
• Conclusion — Make a final statement that brings closure to the WebQuest and gives students an opportunity to reflect on what they’ve learned. Many quests conclude by encouraging students to extend their learning.

See how all of these attributes are addressed in a WebQuest entitled “Who’s Footing the Bill?” available at the Knowledge Network Explorer Web site: http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/democracy/debtquest.html

Crocco, M. S., & Cramer, J. (2005). Women, webquests, and controversial issues in the social studies. Social Education, 69(3), 143.

Guerrero, S., Walker, N., & Dugdale, S. (2004). Technology in support of middle grade mathematics: What have we learned? Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 23(1), 5-20.

VanFossen, P. J. (2004) Using webquests to scaffold higher order thinking. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 16(4), 13-16.

Source: The above tips are based on PLS's graduate course Merging Educational Goals and Interactive Multimedia Projects® Online. For more information see "Related Graduate Course" to the right.

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