Resources

Part 1: What is a WebQuest?
“Constructivist lesson format wrapped around a doable and interesting task that is a scaled-down version of something adults do. A lesson in which most of the material comes from the web, the resources are preselected by the teacher, and often students take on roles while going through a WebQuest. But the critical attribute of a WebQuest is that the task involves higher-order (level) thinking. It involves making information known, transforming it into some new form.” ~ B. Dodge (2009)

Part 2: A Variation of the WebQuest model for reflection and conceptual change

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The STAR.Legacy model involves the following steps: 
  • Generate ideas
  • Explore multiple perspectives
  • Research and Revise
  • Test Your Mettle
  • Go Public
  • Look ahead and think back

Model and Image from Schwartz et al. (1999)

Find more information on Schwartz et al. here: 
/uploads/6/5/4/5/6545064/star_legacy_model.pdfweeblylink_new_window

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Model from D. Young & B. Wilson (2002) - Download the Article here: 
/uploads/6/5/4/5/6545064/8-webquests_for_reflection_and_conceptual_change.doc

“Three pages are added to the site to increase support for reflection and conceptual change: Teacher Page, What Do You Think? and Share and Compare. The Teacher Page presents the learning objectives for the site and suggestions for appropriate use. The Teacher Page also  presents the four-stage model. As part of the What Do You Know? activity, students brainstorm together to pool their initial knowledge about their site. In the Share and Compare page, students submit their research questions and are prompted to review and compare questions from other teams. Once the teams have contributed questions, the whole class, working under the teacher’s direction, can decide how to use the questions as they physically visit the geographic sites.”  ~ D. Young & B. Wilson (2002)

What Do You Think? “Once students have been introduced to the Task in Step 2 of the WebQuest, they should be given a chance to propose possible solutions to the problem based on their current knowledge and understandings. What Do You Think? requires team members to pool their initial knowledge concerning the topic of research, and to present that knowledge as a basis for inquiry.”  ~ D. Young & B. Wilson (2002)

Share and Compare “The Conclusion step of most WebQuests often seems to be an afterthought rather than an essential component. We believe that this step should allow students to take an active role in assessing their conceptual growth throughout the course of the WebQuest experience. This could be easily done by comparing and contrasting the final team solution to the problem or task with their initial attempts at problem solving articulated in the new “What do you think?” step that we have added earlier. Share and Compare provides a structure for the public sharing of research findings, then feeding those findings into further inquiry questions.  Public sharing of findings allows all students in the class to experience the solutions offered by each of the teams. This opens up opportunities for large-group analysis of the solutions and further opportunities for conceptual development. Active sharing will also allow the teacher to help link the understandings and knowledge that students gain from the WebQuest experience to the rest of the curriculum for the course. This linkage back to the curriculum is an oft-neglected aspect of WebQuest use.” ~ D. Young & B. Wilson (2002)

Part 3: An Example of a WebQuest lesson using the Variation & Weebly

Escape Bougainville Island: http://escapebougainville.weebly.com/
Break Out at Rolling Hills: http://pliggsmoodles.weebly.com/  

Part 4: How to create WebQuest lessons using Weebly

  1. Go to http://www.weebly.com and create an account.  Login and click on “Create a Site”
  2. Name your site, e.g. “Creating WebQuests for Reflection with Web 2.0”
  3. Choose Your Website Domain. If you do not have access to your own server to the school server space, select “Use a Subdomain of Weebly.com,” and enter a name for your URL (HINT: no spaces allowed). Remember this name: http://______________________.weebly.com
  4. Change Your Theme. On the top of the page, select “Design” – and select an appropriate theme. I recommend using a theme with a menubar in the left column.  
  5. Add Pages. Select “Pages” – and rename the home page Introduction. Create new Pages by clicking on “New Page” and changing the name. Add a new page for Task, What do you think? (GOTO STEP#6), Process, Resources, Evaluation, Share and Compare (GOTO STEP#6).
  6. When you add in a What do you think? and Share and Compare page, use one of the following two methods: (1) Make a new blog (not page) and create an entry that asks for responses in the form of comments (NOTE: Everyone will be able to see entries) OR (2) Make a regular page and add a “Contact Form” under “Elements – More” (NOTE: Only the teacher will be able to see entries)
  7. Add Content. Select “Elements,” choose the correct page from the menu bar (on the page) and then add content elements for each page. Steps 8-12 provide example content.
  8. Add Images. Click and drag a “Picture” element in Weebly to the design page and click on the picture box.  Upload an image. Once it appears, click once on the element and you can change the border colors, alignment, cropping, transparency, and margins (under “advanced”).
  9. Embedding YouTube Videos. 2 ways: (1) From “Multimedia,” add a YouTube Video element on your page.  Click once on the new window, and change the YouTube Video URL. OR (2) From “Basic,” add a Custom HTML element on your page. Paste in the embed code from a YouTube video page.
  10. Embedding Other Media: From “Basic,” add a Custom HTML element on your page.  Paste in the embed code from an outside (e.g. RSS Feeds or Google Calendars): (1) RSS FEEDS: Go to http://www.rssinclude.com/ and using an RSS feed, generate your RSS Box.  If you forget how to get the RSS feed from a blog, ask a friend for help.  Click on the INCLUDE tab to copy the embed code.  Paste the code into the custom HTML element. OR (2) GOOGLE CALENDARS: Go to http://calendar.google.com and create a new calendar and make it public.  After it is created, go to settings (top right of page) and click on the calendar tab.  Click on the name of your new calendar.  Under embed this calendar, click on Customize the color….  Make the width 300 and the height 300.  Copy the new html code that is generated, it should start with “<iframe src…”, and paste it inside the custom HTML box in Weebly. (3) CHAT WINDOW: Embed a chat box on your site!  Go to http://chat.zoho.com and sign in with your Google account (or create an account).  Click on “Shoutbox.” Add a name, chat title, and click on “Generate Code for Embed Chat.” Paste this code into a custom HTML element. (4) LIBRARY DATABASE: Go to http://reports.zoho.com, sign in with your Google account (or create an account) and select “Create Blank Database.” Enter a Name and Description.  Next, select “Enter Data Right Away” and double click on a column heading or in a data cell to change the text.  Possible column headings include: Book Title, Student, Date Checked Out, Due Date, Available. After filling in the data, save the table.  Then select, “Publish – Embed in Website/Blog.” Make sure you click on “To Access this View/Table Without Login.” This will make your page public (not private).  Paste the embed code into a custom HTML element.
  11. Change the Banner Image (Optional): If you selected a theme with a banner image, you can change the banner image by clicking once on it, and uploading another image.   HINT: try to keep the dimensions the same (e.g. approximately 770 px width by 140 px height)

Additional Resources

1. PETE&C 2011 Session Handout 
/uploads/6/5/4/5/6545064/petec2011_webquests.pdfweeblylink_new_window
2. PETE&C 2011 Presentation Diagrams: 
/uploads/6/5/4/5/6545064/petec2011_webquestsdiagrams.pdfweeblylink_new_window