Evaluation of The Renaissance WebQuest
Submitted by: Michael Alfred
Spring 2008
Submitted to: Dr. Jeremy I. Tutty
Boise State University
Introduction
The purpose of this evaluation is to consider the effectiveness of a Renaissance
WebQuest in a middle school setting with at-risk students. At-Risk students are defined
as students who meet one or more of the following criteria: Students that are not able to
move on to the next grade or are below grade level; have the potential to drop out of
school; failing two or more classes; receiving free or reduced lunch; and reading below
grade level. A WebQuest is a lesson created for students that is entirely web-based. It is
an inquiry-oriented lesson where most or all the information is found using the web. The
purpose of this WebQuest was to use technology to reach at-risk students.
This WebQuest was designed to meet the needs of at-risk students in the
Clarkston, Washington School District. 41% of the students in this district are considered
at-risk. The focus of this project was to use technology to present information to at-risk
students in a variety of ways that may hold or captivate their attention in hopes of
increasing assignment completion, attitude toward learning, and meet state mandated
objectives. Many of these students are having difficulty functioning in a traditional
classroom environment, and the development of alternative environments through the use
of technology may serve as a bridge to reach these students.
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Program Description
The Renaissance WebQuest was designed to meet the World History Benchmark
1.2.2 of the Washington State Essential Academic Learning Requirement for eighth
grade. This benchmark states: “Compare and contrast elements of culture (e.g., society,
government, economy, technology, arts, ideas, and beliefs) in Medieval Europe and the
Renaissance.”
To complete this task the WebQuest was divided into three assignments.
Assignment number one was to visit a website on the Renaissance and answer questions
based on this reading. Responses were posted into a forum where students responded to
others’ work. This assignment focused on the changes that took place during the
Renaissance in society, economy, technology, ideas, and beliefs. The second assignment
allowed students to explore in more detail a specific topic or individual that influenced
change during the Renaissance. Here they wrote a fictitious news report on a personality
or event of the Renaissance and again posted it to a forum for others to read and discuss.
Assignment number three looked at the changes that took place in art during the
Renaissance and students compared and identified art from both eras, and explained why
they were from that era. Students watched two movies depicting Middle Age and
Renaissance art. As they watched these videos they considered the characteristics of each
time period’s art. Once they viewed these videos, they looked at eight different pieces of
art. Then students posted responses to the forum stating which two paintings they felt
were from the Middle Ages and two that were from the Renaissance. They were required
to list specific characteristics provided for them on the webpage to support their response.
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All assignments were posted to a forum on the web. Once students posted their work,
they were required to constructively respond to two other student’s work using specific
facts and details.
Evaluation Method
Students evaluated in this WebQuest were from a rural school district in eastern
Washington. This district is comprised of 72% Caucasian, 3% Native American, 8%
Pacific Islander, 12% Hispanic, and 6 % African American (SchoolTree.org, 2007). The
poverty level of the county in which the school resides is 60% (Asotin County Health
District, 2007). In this school district, 41% of the students receive free or reduced
lunches. This program focused on at-risk students in three classes for a total of 25
students. These 25 made up 40% of the population of these three classes. Out of this
twenty five, 60% or 15 were male and 40% or 10 were female. The teacher conducting
this program was a white, middle class male with a four year degree. The evaluation of
this program looked at these 25 students’ completion rate, academic achievement, and
attitude.
Academic achievement was ascertained through a traditional pre and post test.
This test assessed student understanding of the major concepts of the changes that took
place during the Renaissance in society, government, economy, technology, arts, ideas,
and beliefs. The test consisted of ten short answer and essay questions that looked at each
of the seven areas in which the WebQuest was focused. An average percentage for all
students was calculated for both pre and post test for comparison. Students were given 30
minutes for each test.
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Completion rate of the WebQuest was measured by the completion rate for each
of the three assignments that made up the WebQuest. This rate was then compared to to
the completion rate of three assignments from a previous mini lesson on the Silk Road.
The Silk Road lesson was completely traditional in nature. Consisting of reading and
answering questions from the book, creating a map that showed the route and stopping
points along the Silk Road, and finally a small writing assignment in which the students
pretended to be a trader on the Silk Road, who wrote a diary entry discussing what and
where they traded their goods. Each of these mini lessons consisted of three assignments.
Completion was based on whether the student simply completed the assignments. The
percentage was calculated by dividing the total number of assignments turned in by the
number of students for both units. Students were given seven class periods of 50 minutes
to complete all three assignments in each mini lesson.
Student attitude was evaluated from a survey that each student was given at the
end of the Renaissance lesson. The survey consisted of eight multiple choice questions,
one yes or no question, and four opinion questions that considered their attitude toward
each assignment and the use of a WebQuest format. Their scores were assessed by their
responses on each of the multiple choice questions based on their selection of whether
they: Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree. The yes or no
question was simply based on their response of “yes” or “no” to the proposed question.
The opinion question was scored on overall positive or negative feedback to the specific
question. Students were given one 50 minute period to complete this survey.
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Results
Academic Achievement
Student Achievement
The average student
25%
score on the pre test was a
20%
0%. This was expected since
this was new material. The
Student
Scores
15%
Pre-Test
Post-Test
10%
5%
average student scores on
0%
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Tests
the post test were 21%.
Assignment Completion
Assignment Completion Rate
Overall
completions of
60%
50%
assignments for the Silk
Road Mini Lesson were
24% of the assignments
40%
Percent
30%
Completed
20%
10%
0%
given to the students.
Asia
Renaissance
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Assignments
Assignment completion
for the Renaissance WebQuest was 52% of all assignments given to the students.
Attitude Survey Results
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Out of the 25 students who took the survey, 61% responded that they would like
to do another assignment of this nature. In the students opinion section of the survey 62%
of the students responded favorably to the WebQuest and stated that they prefer it over
traditional classroom activities.
Discussion
The purpose of this evaluation was to consider the affect of integrating technology
into the classroom for at-risk students. Specifically, does this medium enhance student
achievement, participation, and attitude? The results, while not profound, do show that
there is some significant improvement in these areas with at-risk students.
When we look at student achievement there is a 21% increase in student
knowledge. This would not be considered a success in the academic world, since the
average is still below a passing rate of 60%. Due to these results, restructuring of the
lessons may be in order to assist these students in achieving higher scores on the post
tests. Reassessment of the focus of the pre and post tests to ensure that they correspond
with lessons may also be appropriate.
In this evaluation student participation was measured by assignment completion
with comparison to a previous mini lesson on the Silk Road. This showed significant
improvement among at-risk students with a 28% increase in student completion of
assignments. What was not measured and deserves further research was the amount of
collaboration among students in the forums. Students were only required to respond to
two other students in the class. Many students responded as many as five to ten times to
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other students. Only one post in the entire mini unit was not content specific. This level
of participation is dramatic for this group of at-risk students. Another factor that was not
considered was the novelty of the technology used. Would this participation level drop as
more activities incorporated this type of technology? Based on the results from this
project, this type of integration of technology does seem to show some promising results.
The last area that was addressed in this evaluation was attitude. Attitude was
evaluated through an anonymous survey of at-risk students. The results were quite
surprising. This group of at-risk students normally have a fairly negative outlook on all
aspects of education, but in this survey 61% responded that they would like to do another
assignment of this nature. Students also responded that they preferred WebQuest over
traditional classroom activities. Again, the novelty factor was not addressed in this
evaluation. What was of note in this survey was the amount of positive feedback about
this type of class work and interaction with students. The survey also provided some
insight that even this population of students likes to be challenged. In the survey 70%
stated that assignment number one was the hardest assignment, but 53% said it was also
the most interesting. This demonstrated that even though they thought that this particular
assignment was difficult, it peaked their curiosity and gained their interest.
Overall the integration of technology into this lesson seems to warrant further
research and consideration. While it did not seem to be overly effective in academic
achievement, it did show promise in student attitude and participation. These two aspects
in education can become powerful tools in student success, if employed in the correct
manner. This unit needs some revision in the assessments and lessons to allow for better
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academic achievement. With these adjustments, increased positive attitude and
participation, this unit could be a bridge to reach these at-risk students.
Project Costs
Personnel:
Evaluation method development: Mike Alfred
Gathering data, writing survey 3 days @ $250 per day Total $750
Compiling Results: Mike Alfred
Analyzing and interpreting data 2 days @ $250 per day Total $500
TOTAL PERSONNEL
$ 1,250
Supplies and Other Materials:
Telephone Charges
Photocopying and Printing
Data Storage
$ 50
$ 100
$ 100
TOTAL SUPPLIES
$ 250
TOTAL BUDGET
$ 1,500
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References
Asotin County Health District. (n.d.). 2007 Asotin County Health District
Health Disparities Report. Retrieved May 8, 2008, from
http://www.co.asotin.wa.us/health_district_data.htm
SchoolTree.org. (n.d.). 2007 Lincoln Middle School. Retrieved May 8, 2008, from
http://washington.schooltree.org/public/Lincoln-Middle-Clarkston-092108.html
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