Innovative approaches

WEBQUESTS

Culinary Travel http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=306349

The impact of the Internet and the World Wide Web on popular culture is not hard to measure nowadays. Innovative teaching is necessary for the present and future of education to help learners reach their full potential. Due to modern world demands, a teacher cannot live without modern approaches and present-day gadgets.

A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented project format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. It’s a super learning tool of capturing students’ imagination and allowing them to explore new things in a guided, meaningful manner. Since those beginning days, tens of thousands of teachers have embraced WebQuests as a way to make good use of the Internet while engaging their students in the kinds of thinking that the 21st century requires.

Communication, group work, problem solving, critical and creative thinking skills are becoming far more important in today’s world than making students memorize predetermined content. WebQuests allow students to explore issues and find their own answers.

A real WebQuest …

•  is wrapped around a doable and interesting task;
•  requires higher level of thinking, not simply summarizing, includes synthesis, analysis, problem-solving, creativity and judgment;
• makes good use of the web (of course, books and other media can be used within a WebQuest, but if the web isn't at the heart of the lesson, it's not a WebQuest);
• isn't a research report or a step-by-step science or math procedure (having learners simply distilling web sites and making a presentation about them isn't enough);
• isn't just a series of web-based experiences (having learners go look at this page, then go play this game, then go here and turn your name into hieroglyphs doesn't require higher level thinking skills and so, by definition, isn't a WebQuest).

Every WebQuest has basic components:

• Introduction. This is an overview (often a simple one) of what is to come. It orients students and captures their interest.
• Task. This page details the assignment that is to come. Tasks are often comprised of numbered lists of items that must be accomplished to complete the quest. This section describes activities and the product.
• Process. The Process is the meat of the quest — it is here that students work together, develop plans of action, and find ways to solve the presented problem. It also explains strategies students should use to complete the task.  A number of resources is included too.
• Evaluation. The evaluation phase measures the results of the activity. It is a carefully designed chart listing goals for the quest and the standards by which performance will be measured. Rubrics are highly annotated “grades” with extensive annotation detailing many aspects of the project.
• Conclusion sums up the activity and encourages students to reflect on its process and results. This is a brief summary, usually congratulatory in tone that wraps up the project.
• Teacher Page. Instructors are provided with their own subsection of the WebQuest site with instructions for each of the above sections. Teachers who develop WebQuests often fill this section with information to help other educators adapt the quest to their own class.

http://questgarden.com/search/
http://webquest.org/index-create.php
http://zunal.com/index.php


What is the history of St Patrick’s Day, and who was he? Find the answers in this webquest, and learn about how 17th March is celebrated around the world.
http://www.onestopenglish.com/teenagers/topic-based-materials/festivals/festivals-webquests/webquest-st-patricks-day-history-and-traditions/550903.article?utm_source=FB-macmillaneducation&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=StPatricksDay1603