Mid-South Instructional Technology
Conference 1999
Proposal #32

Title: WebQuests: Making the Connections Work!

Name: Betty Reynolds and Paceda Petrone

Aud_Level: Intermediate

Length: 90 minutes

Description: Thousands of dollars are spent each year by private and public schools on technology. As budgets grow increasingly tighter, teachers
are under pressure to demonstrate concretely the effective use of technology and the Internet in their classroom. We are called to justify its expense. Therefore we need appropriate classroom technology activities for our students that will encourage their growth and development within a new learning environment---the World Wide Web.

WebQuests are an effective learning strategy that can challenge your students to do far more than just research. WebQuests provide learning opportunities for cooperative work, to synthesize knowledge, to put multiple sources of data together to discover something new, to define a stance on a compelling issue and to defend it, and to create something new within the limits of the problem.

What is a WebQuest?

A WebQuest, created by Bernie Dodge and Tom March of San Diego University, is an exploratory activity in which some or all of the information to be researched comes from resources on the Internet. WebQuests can be short, fact-finding activities that can supplement a current lesson. WebQuests can be long and complex that require the learner to research a body of knowledge, analyze, evaluate and apply it by creating something that demonstrates a deep understanding of the material learned.

References--Internet

The WebQuest Page created by Bernie Dodge, PhD. April 23, 1997.
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/bdodge/bdodge.html

Immigration Today by Suzanne Hovanesian,
http://students.itec.sfsu.edu/EDT628/shovanes/index. HTM#Immigration Today

San Diego-Biarritz Comparison, by Susanne Hirsch and Janice http://edweb.sdsu.edu/triton/SDBiarritz/rubric.html

Save the Whales by the teachers of Kroc Middle School, San Diego. http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/kroc/whales/WHALES.HTM

Other References

Clark, J. H. (1990). Patterns of Thinking: Integrating Learning Skills in Content Teaching. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Marzano, R. J., Brandt, R.S. Hughes, C.S. Jones, B.F. Presseisen, B.Z. Rankin, S.C. and Suhor, C. (1988). Dimensions of Thinking: A Framework for Curriculum and Instruction. Alexandria VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Marzano, R..J. (1992). A Different Kind of Classroom: Teaching with Dimensions of Learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.


Abstract:
"WebQuests: Making the Connections Work!" is a 90 minute hands-on workshop in which K-12 teachers will learn to use the vast resources available in the World Wide Web to create a cross-curricular project. These projects are more than just simple research. Teachers will design projects that utilize the Internet and World Wide Web to challenge and motivate students to use higher-order thinking skills.

Preferred Track: Track 3

Session Type: Hands-on Workshop

Address:
2020 24th Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37212

Affiliation: St. Bernard Academy, Nashville, TN

Equipment: Depending on the number of registrants, we would like to request a computer lab with enough workstations to accomodate those that register for this workshop. Each workstation needs to have access to the Internet.

Also needed is one main computer with Internet at the front of the room connected to a TV screen for general audience viewing.

We would also need a large TV monitor hooked up to a computer with Internet audience viewing.

Email: mathmave@bellsouth.net

Phone: 615-385-0440

copresenters: Mrs. Paceda Petrone, Technology Coordinator, St. Bernard Academy

Audience: Faculty


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