Helping students develop and expand upon critical thinking skills is a goal every teacher shares. Using technology that captures your students attention is a great resource in achieving this goal!
WebQuests can serve to develop such skills using the internet. As a teacher you can guide the students to relevant search engines and helpful websites where they can read and gather information related to their assignment. After they have gathered the basic information, students have the ability to think creatively about ways to share what they've learned using online resources.
Putting together a class blog where students post updates to projects and comment on each others work shows their ability to understand and analyze information while picking up new perspectives from classmates.
Consider following up the WebQuest with interactive presentations using PowerPoint and interesting links and videos students may have found online. With a longer WebQuest and older students, the class may even be able to create and upload videos of their own onto the web that creatively display what they've discovered along the way.
These quests can be reused in following years. If you plan to reuse a WebQuest make sure to check links, update information, and take into account areas that went well or needed some additional attention during the previous quest. Your students may not thank you for the working links and relevant updated application of the WebQuest but they will undoubtedly point out bad links or dated info and commentary.
Kate,
ReplyDeleteI liked that you used the phrase "resource" for technology. I think that sometimes people get afraid of everything that is out there and forget how wonderful and helpful technology can be. The term "resource" makes it seem safe and positive. Thanks! :)
I'm glad you brought up the need to check links and update information if you're going to be reusing WebQuests. I've experienced classes in college in which the professors had lists of websites for us to explore and many of them were no longer existent! So it's something that has to be checked up on every once in a while. :)
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