To be honest, I did not know anything about WebQuests until professors introduced QuestGarden to the class. After exploring QuestGaren, I was really impressed with tons of well-designed, thought-provoking and creative WebQuests, which can undoubtedly help our students deepen the understanding of what they have learned, develop research skills and critical thinking. Generally speaking, each WebQuest has six parts: introduction, task, process, resources, evaluation and conclusion.
In the part of introduction, teachers provide the description of the project students are going to finish. In the part of procss, teachers list the necessary procedures students need to go through in order to finish the project. I think this part is very important, because the list of procedures could guide students and enables them to be on the right track. The third part is resources, where teachers provide students with the websites they might use in the process of doing research. These websites are examined by teachers, therefore, the value of which for the project is guaranteed. Students only need to browse the websites recommended by teachers, and much time that might be spent in searching for information will be saved as a result. In the part of evaluation, teachers usually post a detailed rubric, which helps students to assess their work during the whole process. Overall, WebQuests can stimulate students' creativity and critical thinking. In the meanwhile, what they have done with the project are guided by teachers.
In addition, although it will take a lot of efforts to create WebQuests, teachers can use the WebQuest each year for different students after creating a WebQuest at WebGarden.One of my friend, who is teaching history in China, told me that he and his colleagues had started to use WebQuests to teach. Students really learned a lot in the process of doing WebQuests. I believe that more and more students will benefit WebQuests.
No comments:
Post a Comment