WebQuest

=WebQuest=

A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most of the information used is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

   media type="file" key="Dwight McCleery Audio Scaffolding.mp3" width="240" height="20"

@http://www.webquest.org/

A Connecticut Yankee I King Arthur's Court - Comparing Histories
Every era of human history has its own hardships, triumphs, and daily routines. Moving from one time period to another would give a time traveler advantages and disadvantages over the inhabitants of the time. Today, the differences in daily life from those who lived in 19th century America seem as bizarre as they would see in the lives of people from 6th century England.

The purpose of this Webquest is to gain an understanding of what it might have been like to live in these time periods by comparing it to our daily lives. The project is intended to be a pre-reading activity for the book.

@http://zunal.com/webquest.php?user=40875

Process
My certifications are in English and social studies. The two subjects are very similar. They both require the same skill sets. Despite the difference of dealing with fact and fiction, they each can be analyzed by looking at the other. Whenever I get the chance to combine the two disciplines into one assignment, I jump at the chance.

Relevance
For many students, history begins with Columbus sailing to the Americas in 1492 and ends with the inauguration of George Washington. It’s not their fault. This is the critical time in our nation’s history, and we cover it over and over again from early elementary school through the first half of US history in High School. This assignment allows students to look at three times in history which they rarely get to discuss in an academic setting and make a head to head comparison. The three time periods are early dark ages / post fall of the Roman Empire, US History after the Civil War, and current day history.

Reflection
My difficulties with this assignment begin with the fact that I am not in a permanent class room. This assignment need to start with an actual curriculum so that an assignment can be written with real objectives. I chose A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court because I like the book and the periods in history. Most English teacher try hard to avoid the book. The teachers who actually teach Twain use either Tom Sawyer of Huck Finn.

What I really needed was a good collection of websites which I could work backward into a Webquest. What I needed to make this WebQuest work was a maximum of three websites per research topic which would supply the answer for every group. I needed website which could supply answers for every group working on the same question. Comparing the three answers to any given question is easier if the three answers com from the same source.

I like the idea of the WebQuest. The assignment allows students to develop research skills without the pressure of writing a long paper. It also shows students how to perform accurate research on the internet without the distraction of online gaming. The best possible result for a WebQuest would be for the author of the Webquest to also be the web master for the reference sites.