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Introduction
(Performance Task )
Your district superintendent has just announced that the jurisdiction is looking for a science teacher who has exceptional skills in science instruction and is highly knowledgeable and skilled regarding the integration of ICT outcomes into their teaching-learning activities. There is a significant need for the district to advance student experience in inquiry-based learning in their science classes and particularly to engage students’ critical thinking (higher-order thinking) skills in these courses. You have been nominated by your principal as the ideal candidate to share with other science teachers an exemplar of inquiry-based learning using web-based resources. Your superintendent has heard about
WebQuests and thinks this may be the best vehicle to address this need.
Your task is to develop an exemplar WebQuest to share with your professional colleagues. You will select a specific grade level and science unit from the
Alberta Science Programs of Study and create a Web Quest (web-based student activity) that matches particular unit SLOs and the curriculum emphasis for that unit. You will also provide for the superintendent an the answer to his question,
“Can you show me a great WebQuest and tell me why it is a best method for teaching a given concept?” The WebQuest you produce will be posted for other science teachers in the district to use as an exemplar for creating excellent science-focused WebQuests.
The detailed description, standard, and criteria for this task are clearly defined by the PS II ED 3601 “Web Quest” Assignment as published in the ED 3601
Assignment Package .
Unfortunately, your leader has mistakenly assumed that because you are well-versed in using information technologies in your classes, and especially the Internet, that you are also well-versed in building WebQuests. This is, regrettably, not true
:-(
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But, luckily, you’ve located the this WebQuest, which teaches you about WebQuests!!
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Process
Step 1.
Your first task is to gain an understanding of what is a WebQuest. While you know that it is a type of inquiry-based learning, you also want to know what is the design process in building a Webquest.
Step 2.
You also want to know about the various types of WebQuests, since you must identify the type of WebQuest that you are building. This information is available at A taxonomy of WebQuest types
Step 3.
Evaluating the WebQuest will be important as you know your leader will want you to review the learner results from the WebQuest activity. Be sure to understand using a rubric to evaluate WebQuests .
Step 4.
Finally, you know that looking at other’s work is a great way to both better understand WebQuests and to see how a great WebQuest would look.
You should also explore other WebQuest ideas from various other sites. Some exemplars include:
Building a Better Mousetrap Car!
Our Solar System
Sharing Our World With the Grizzly Bears
The Endocrine System
Or, you may want to look through some WebQuest libraries on line, such as :
WebQuest.Org Search Tool
BestQuests.com
N.B.
You also know that your employer feels VERY strongly about creative work and this assignment is yours. While there are templates available and some nice examples online, you also know your employer will want anything referenced that is borrowed from elsewhere AND that this assignment is an original undertaking.
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After all this studying and preparatory work, you are now ready! It is time to start building. The following steps are from Bernie Dodge’s WebQuest. Org .
Step 1: Create your ‘Table of Contents’
This section allows the user to navigate quickly into and out of each section
(Introduction, Task,…). Remember to include a ‘Back button’ to ease the navigation task. You may need to reference Microsoft’s Help menu or website to explore “Bookmarks and Hyperlinks”.
Step 2: The Introduction
Your document should be written with the student as the intended audience.
Write a short paragraph here to introduce the activity or lesson to the students. If there is a role or scenario involved (e.g., "You are a detective trying to identify the mysterious poet.") then here is where you'll set the stage. If there's no motivational intro like that, use this section to provide a short advance organizer or overview
– but keep it compelling. Remember that the purpose of this section is to both prepare and hook the reader. It is also in this section that you'll communicate the Big Question (Essential Question, Guiding Question) that the whole WebQuest is centered around.
Step 3: The Task & Product
Describe crisply and clearly what the end result of the learners' activities will be.
The task could be a:

problem or mystery to be solved;

position to be formulated and defended;

product to be designed;

complexity to be analyzed;

personal insight to be articulated;

summary to be created;

persuasive message or journalistic account to be crafted;

a creative work, or

anything that requires the learners to process and transform the information they've gathered.
If the final product involves using some specific tool (e.g. website, video, class presentation, CD-ROM, etc), mention it here. Don't list the steps that students will go through to get to the end point. That belongs in the “Process” section.
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Step 4: The Process
To accomplish the task, what steps should the learners go through? Use the numbered list format in your web editor to automatically number the steps in the procedure. Describing this section well will help other teachers to see how your lesson flows and how they might adapt it for their own use, so the more detail and care you put into this, the better. Remember that this whole document is addressed to the student, however, so describe the steps using the second person.
a) First you'll be assigned to a team of 3 students... b) Once you've picked a role to play.... c) ... and so on.
Learners will access the on-line resources that you've identifed as they go through the Process. You may have a set of links that everyone looks at as a way of developing background information, or not. If you break learners into groups, embed the links that each group will look at within the description of that stage of the process. (Note, this is a change from the older WebQuest templates which included a separate Resources section. It's now clear that the resources belong in the Process section rather than alone.)
In the Process block, you might also provide some guidance on how to organize the information gathered. This advice could suggestions to use flowcharts, summary tables, concept maps, or other organizing structures. The advice could also take the form of a checklist of questions to analyze the information with, or things to notice or think about. If you have identified or prepared guide documents on the Web that cover specific skills needed for this lesson (e.g. how to brainstorm, how to prepare to interview an expert), link them to this section.
Step 5: Evaluation
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Design a rubric for evaluating the WebQuest you are designing.
If you need information on building rubrics or a refresher, look at an example WebQuest Rubric , or use Google to find the
Process
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necessary resources on building effective rubrics. You may also search for rubrics specifically for WebQuests.
Be sure to look at the “
Evaluatio n” Rubric
below>
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Step 6: Conclusion
Put a couple of sentences here that summarize what they will have accomplished or learned by completing this activity or lesson. You might also include some rhetorical questions or additional links to encourage them to extend their thinking into other content beyond this lesson.
Step 7: Teacher Resource
To support other teachers or other professionals provide a description of the context where you are using this Webquest and provide ideas for extending what you have developed. Describe additional procedural details that teachers would need, including suggestions for organizing groups, resources, processes, anticipated problem areas, materials and resources needed to implement the activity, and suggested introductory and follow-up activities. Describe how the activity will be assessed and evaluated and additional details or clarifications about assessment/evaluation methods and tools
Be sure to name your WebQuest file with both your name and the grade level so others may talk with you for further ideas. Also be sure to provide within the “Teacher
Resources” link: a) a description of the context (e.g. grade level, subject, curricula fit), b) the type of WebQuest selected c) why a WebQuest is the most effective method to teach the given concept(s).
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Evaluation
Standard & Criteria
WebQuest Self-Assessment Matrix
“Not Yet” “Looking Good”
Overall Aesthetics
There are few or no graphic elements.
No variation in layout or typography.
OR
Color is garish and/or typographic variations are overused and Overall Visual
Appeal &
Navigation Flow legibility suffers.
Background interferes with the readability.
Getting through the lesson is confusing and unconventional.
Pages can't be found easily and/or the way back isn't clear.
Mechanical Aspects
There are more than 3 broken links, misplaced or missing images, badly sized tables, misspellings and/or grammatical errors.
Graphic elements sometimes, but not always, contribute to the understanding of concepts, ideas and relationships. There is some variation in type size, color, and layout.
There are a few places where the learner can get lost and not know where to go next..
There are some broken links, misplaced or missing images, badly sized tables, misspellings and/or grammatical errors.
“Great!!”
Appropriate and thematic graphic elements are used to make visual connections that contribute to the understanding of concepts, ideas and relationships.
Differences in type size and/or color are used well and consistently.
Navigation is seamless. It is always clear to the learner what all the pieces are and how to get to them.
No mechanical problems noted.
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Introduction
Motivational and
Cognitive
Effectiveness of
Introduction
Task
Cognitive Level of the Task
The introduction is purely factual, with no appeal to relevance or social importance. No attempt made to appeal to learners
OR
The scenario posed is transparently bogus and doesn't respect the media literacy of today's learners.
The introduction doesn't prepare the reader for what is to come, or build on what the learner already knows.
The introduction relates somewhat to the learner's interests and/or describes a compelling question or problem.
Honestly attempts to appeal to student interests.
The introduction makes some reference to learner's prior knowledge and previews to some extent what the lesson is about.
Task requires simply comprehending or retelling of information found on web pages and answering factual questions.
Task is doable but is limited in its significance to students' lives. The task requires analysis of information and/or putting together information from several sources.
The introduction draws the reader into the lesson by relating to the learner's interests or goals and/or engagingly describing a compelling question or problem.
Has a quality that compels the reader and grabs attention.
The introduction builds on learner's prior knowledge and effectively prepares the learner by foreshadowing what the lesson is about.
Task is doable and engaging, and elicits thinking that goes beyond rote comprehension. The task requires synthesis of multiple sources of information, and/or taking a position, and/or going beyond the data given and making a generalization or creative product

Process (The process is a step-by-step description of how students will accomplish the task.)
Clarity & Scaffolding of
Process
Process is not clearly stated.
Students would not know exactly what they were supposed to do just from reading this.
The process lacks strategies and organizational tools needed for students to gain the knowledge needed to complete the task.
Activities are of little significance to one another and/or to the accomplishment of the task.
Some directions are given, but there is missing information.
Students might be confused.
Strategies and organizational tools embedded in the process are insufficient to ensure that all students will gain the knowledge needed to complete the task.
Some of the activities do not relate specifically to the accomplishment of the task.
Every step is clearly stated. Most students would know exactly where they are at each step of the process and know what to do next.
The process provides students coming in at different entry levels with strategies and organizational tools to access and gain the knowledge needed to complete the task.
Activities are clearly related and designed to take the students from basic knowledge to higher level thinking.
Checks for understanding are built in to assess whether students are getting it.
See:
Reception Scaffolds
Transformation
Scaffolds
Production Scaffolds
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Resources (Note: you should evaluate all resources linked to the page, even if they are in sections other than the Process block. Also note that books, video and other off-line resources can and should be used where appropriate.)
Relevance & Quantity of
Resources
Resources provided are not sufficient for students to accomplish the task. or
There are too many resources for learners to look at in a reasonable time.
There is some connection between the resources and the information needed for students to accomplish the task. Some resources don't add anything new.
There is a clear and meaningful connection between all the resources and the information needed for students to accomplish the task. Every resource carries its weight.
Quality of Resources
Links are mundane. They lead to information that could be found in a classroom encyclopedia.
Some links carry information not ordinarily found in a classroom.
Links make excellent use of the Web's timeliness and colorfulness.
Varied resources provide enough meaningful information for students to think deeply.
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Evaluation, Conclusion, Teacher Resources
Clarity of Evaluation
Criteria
Teacher Resources
Based upon the Assessment Matrix developed by Tom March.
Criteria for success are not described.
Criteria for success are at least partially described.
Fails to provide grade level/subject area or a context.
Provides some teacher information.
Criteria for success are clearly stated in the form of a rubric.
Criteria include qualitative as well as quantitative descriptors.
The evaluation instrument clearly measures what students must know and be able to do to accomplish the task.
Provides a context of where this WebQuest may be used (grade level, subject area), any prerequisite knowledge and possible extensions of the Webqquest.
Includes: a description of the context (e.g. grade level, subject, curricula fit), the type of WebQuest selected why a WebQuest is the most effective method to teach the given concept(s).
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Conclusion
You’ve done it!! You have worked hard to create an inquiry-based project that exemplifies the strengths of a WebQuest. You have shown your superintendent and colleagues a model WebQuest. The next step is a chance to share your
WebQuest with your colleagues and learn from WebQuests created by others.
Teacher Resource
This lesson was developed as a WebQuest to assist in learning about
WebQuests, a sort of ‘metawebquest’.
The lesson asks participants to study the nature and types of Webquests. If you have not yet mastered the skills associated with Web publishing, you may build an adequate the WebQuest in Microsoft Word, as done in this example.
As an extension activity, the WebQuest may be redesigned to accommodate a collaborative group whose role is to build a WebQuest. Four roles would be selected that highlight specialties for each role. These roles would include a web designer, an editor, a web content searcher and a learning specialist. Each specialist would bring his/her perspective and skills to the task. An added criteria to the Evaluation Matrix would be necessary to accommodate team-work and collaboration.
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