| 1. |
Topic
Hotlist |
Multimedia
Scrapbooks |
Treasure
Hunts |
Subject
Samplers |
WebqQuests |
| Definition | A topic hotlist is a collection of known and reliable internet sources on a specific topic. This is a simple way to create sites that are accessible from any computer at any time. | A multimedia scrapbook is similar to a topic hotlist but varies in media type. It is one page that links to resources about a specific topic. Rather than leading students to only web pages, multimedia scrapbooks link to a plethora of multimedia resources- such as videos, photos, slide show presentations, quotations, virtual reality tours and more! | A treasure hunt is away from students to search the internet to find out a lot about one subject, to expand their knowledge base. A teacher creates a treasure hunt by gathering and organizing together a group of web pages (not wide sites) and gives the students specific questions to answer about each page. | Subject samplers help students connect to information being taught and give them a deeper understanding so that they can care about it. Samplers give students a number of web sites to look into as well as questions to engage them and keep them focused. At the end students can make better decisions and understand a little more about the subject. | A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet, optionally supplemented with videoconferencing. There are at least two levels of WebqQuests that should be distinguished from one another. |
| Advantage | Topic Hotlists can cut down on the amount of time students spend looking on the internet. They don't waste time on sites that are dead end, unreliable or inappropriate. Also this list of sites is available to anyone! | Like topic Hotlists, multimedia scrapbooks are fast and efficient ways for students to do internet research. They also allow students to use more of their senses to gather knowledge-they are not only reading words, but also seeing images and videos. | Allows students to have a guided and structured search of the web. Also students don't waste time on useless web sites with information that may not be credible. Also they allow students to find resources that are more current than books. | They are easy to use and navigate with. They allow students to look into a variety of areas, backgrounds, history, facts, etc. Students can connect with topics and have their own background knowledge. Students can feel important and that their opinions and perspectives matter in relation to the subject matter. | They allow students to do inquiry based learning. Students are able to discover things on their own in a fun and interesting way. They can cover broad based curriculum or one specific area. Students can finish web quests knowing they have accomplished goals and they make good use of student’s time. Information is readily available on the web page. Students feel less overwhelmed because they are guided through the quest with helpful hints and instructions. They also help build a student’s background and deepen their understanding of certain topics, meanwhile teaching them how to uncover facts and use technology. |
| Disadvantage | Topic Hotlists do not allow students to search the internet on their own or to use critically thinking skills. | Multimedia scrapbooks do not allow students to search the internet on their own or to critically analyze. | Treasure hunts don't allow for students to critically analyze web sites or explore the internet on their own. | Students may get lost in a trail of web sites as they go link crazy. Students are not solving a problem or hypothesizing, they are simply looking up information on a topic so these activities are very specific to one area instead of many broader areas. | Some students may feel less apt to use technology, so when they work in groups, they may be left out and end up just sitting their while their partner does everything. Students may feel overwhelmed with the amount of skills internet takes in order to navigate around. Working on the computers could take away from the time spent all in a group working with actual texts. It may be hard to keep web sites in order and working, so links may not work and students may get frustrated with this. |
| Example | Topic Hotlist about Sharks. This would be a great site for younger students who are starting to learn about different kind of animals and are doing research. on sharks. Each site works well and has a short description next to each link. This way students will be able to decide which page to go to based upon the description. This would be a good lesson to use in a science class that is learning about the ocean or different types of animals. | A Scrapbook about the Donner Party. This scrapbook guides students to colorful resources about the Donner Party. Students might use this project in a unit about westward expansion in early America and while trying to get an understanding of what life was life for explorers. This project would be good to use in a middle school or high school American History class.- | A Black History Treasure Hunt. This treasure hunt allows students to discover information about Black History. It is well organized and easy to understand, with the questions layed out and the resources easy to find. There is even a quiz at the end of the hunt! This could be used a variety of units, varying from the time of slavery, the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement, or anytime period when learning about the life of black people in America. | Subject Sampler about China. This is an example of a sampler that helps students learn about pandas. Students are able to find links to all kinds of information about china and their history so that they can make an informed decision about what they think about the issue of panda survival. They can see a conclusion at the end of the sampler to compare their ideas. I loved this idea because I think students hear many topics in areas in school but they often are unable to make decisions for themselves. I would use this in a classroom when I wanted students to make informed decisions instead of just taking my views or others. This is a great inquiry tool for students in a science classroom or any. |
A WebQuest about Anne Frank and Children of the
Holocaust. This would be an instructional project to do in a middle
school language arts or history class, or in a collaboration of both.
Students will have to practice and use their writing and critically
thinking skills. They will be asked to answer questions, write journal
reflections and work on an on-going project. They will learn about aspects
of World War II, as well as information about the Jewish religion, the
Holocaust and human strength. It would be a great follow up to reading the
book The Diary of Anne
Frank. |
| 2. |
WebqQuests |
| Types of Instruction | WebqQuests are best suited for problem solving activities, where students immerse themselves into a deep discovery. They should be used when students want to find out more and synthesize information upon discovery of new ideas and perspectives. This is an advanced way of using the internet and coming to conclusions about topics. Often the topics are controversial and offer a variety of perspectives for students to consider and come to conclusions about. |
| Steps to Create | A teacher can create a webquest by coming up with a topic, finding research about this topic, creating a folder of web sites and resources to include, creating questions and instructions to guide students through the discovery. The steps needed for creating a great webQuest include the acronym FOCUS. Find great sites, Orchestrate your learners and resources, Challenge your learners to think, Use the medium, and scaffold your learners to high expectations. Teachers need to be very organized about finding information and making it into a web site so that students will be easily able to access things. When things have been set up the resources need to be used and many different mediums can help the critical thinking process, not just computers. Students can completely engage into the topic using other people as resources as well as many areas on the web. The challenge needs to be put out there so that students understand they are learning while they are at the computers. This may be a totally new concept for students, so as a teacher, helping students with different steps and letting them know that the information is there for them to use, is important for learners. Reception, transformation and production are all ways to help scaffold students in WebqQuests |
| Modifications | If you only had one computer in a classroom, you could do a whole group presentation. Everyone could see the computer screen and help you decide where to go, questions and comments could help the exploration and other mediums could be used such as books, magazines, etc. Also a station approach could help a slow connection or lack of access. You could have students get in groups and use different mediums at different stations. Teachers can print out web pages for students to read or use computers that have web pages saved offline so that they can do part of the work offline while others work online. The computer can become a supplemental material to a broader instructional strategy. |
| 3. |
Topic
Hotlist |
Multimedia
Scrapbooks |
Treasure
Hunts |
Subject
Samplers |
WebqQuests |
| Scaffolding | As students learn about a topic through the use of topic Hotlists they are building upon knowledge they have already acquired. Because of this they are using scaffolding. | Multimedia scrapbooks allow students to continue to learn about a subject and learn new information based on information they already know. However, because they are so structured this only happens to a certain extent. | Treasure hunts can utilize the learning theory of scaffolding if done correctly. Students can continue to build their knowledge base about a particular subject upon knowledge that they already have. | Students are scaffolded in this activity by the questions they are asked in research. They are not sent out on the web lost, but rather they have guidelines to keep coming back to in order to answer questions and search for the solutions. The links provide a clear way to find things and definitions to unknown words are often explained within the sampler | Using a webquest allows students to ease into using internet technology by providing a number of hints and instructions to guide them through activities. Students become better able to navigate through a web site simply by practicing in this way. Production, transformation, and reception are methods that can be used to help scaffold a webQuest. |
| Constructivism | Topic Hotlists utilize the theory of constructivism because students are learning the information on their own as they explore the internet. | Multimedia scrapbooks allow students to find and explore topics that interest them. They take on a project themselves and make their own discoveries. | As students use treasure hunts they are discovering knowledge on their own. They are guided to find particular answers, but they are still discovering information themselves. | Students are able to find information on their own and become independent learners. They are given many choices and are allowed to have their own views and come to conclusions about things. | Students are using constructivist education when doing WebqQuests because they are inquiring ideas on their own using their own tools with the internet. The quests are totally hands on and learner based. |
| Problem-Based Learning | Although topic Hotlists guide students through the internet to find out information about a topic, many times as they do so it is to find the answer to a problem or question. | Often times when multimedia scrapbooks are used students are out to find an answer to a problem or to answer questions about a topic | This is a great example of problem based learning. Students have to explore a topic by answering questions and discovering answers. | There is not so much a problem with subject samplers, but an idea that they can think about and become more informed about so that they can make intelligent decisions and express their ideas about something. Students use web resources to better understand something. | Students using a webquest are able to start with a problem and work their way to the conclusion and solution of the problem using the steps provided. In the end they can feel accomplishment by looking at conclusions and summaries to show that the problem is solved and makes sense to them. |
| Learner Engagement | Learners become engaged in the use of the internet and the end result of building a knowledge base as they use topic Hotlists | Students should be very engaged in the learning process as they use multimedia scrapbooks. Their senses should be challenged as they take in all the different information and media types as they explore a topic. | Treasure hunts definitely help to maximize learning engagement in the learning process. They are out to find the end result and answer questions as they explore the 'hunt.' | The learner is engaged by using different links and finding their own path to develop ideas. They are the captains of the ship in subject samplers. | Using WebqQuests allows students to be totally included in what they are doing. It is active learning, hands on and meaningful. It does not allow students to sit back and listen or fade away as long as they follow with the webquest. |
| Cooperative Learning | As with any of these projects, there is always the danger of students being left out as they work with their group. There may be a student that sits at the keyboard and does all of the work while the other students do very little and do not learn as much. | As with any of these projects, there is always the danger of students being left out as they work with their group. There may be a student that sits at the keyboard and does all of the work while the other students do very little and do not learn as much. | As with any of these projects, there is always the danger of students being left out as they work with their group. There may be a student that sits at the keyboard and does all of the work while the other students do very little and do not learn as much. | Students could work with a partner and come up with ideas by choosing different sites and learning together. They would have to compromise about where they wanted to navigate to. This would help them be cooperative by listening to another’s point of view as well as many points of view found on the web. | If students work in groups, they will be able to practice cooperative learning by helping each other out in order to find answers and complete a webquest. They could take turns and give each other hints, which helps them learn to cooperate. |
| Learner Motivation | Students can be motivated to understand and appreciate the internet more because they will have successful experiences with it. Their searches will not be long, frustrating and fruitless, but rather they will discover it can be an excellent resource. | If done correctly, students should be very motivated to learn about a subject through the use of a multimedia scrapbook. They will not just be reading words on a page or listening to a lecture, but rather be enraptured by the sounds, images, quotations, and videos they discover about a topic. | Because there are questions to be answered in a new and creative way, students will be motivated to complete the exciting assignment as they use a treasure hunt. | Learners are motivated by the questions they need to answer as well as the interest found in answering their own questions. They are totally engaged and that creates motivation to find information. Often the subjects of samplers are controversial or intriguing in some way. | The motivation with WebqQuests is often intrinsic because students like to discover things on their own on the internet instead of the same old ways like a worksheet. This allows students to see things come alive and they feel they are really working to accomplish something. It is easier for students to get into the assignment and want to learn. |
| 4. | Which instructional strategy is most suitable for my lesson? | |
| Nicole | I think a subject sampler is a good choice for our lesson because our lesson is creating for older students who would be able to synthesize information. I think world war two has so many facets and it is so interesting that students could look into many areas of the topic by going to different sites. I think students could work together to figure out why Pearl Harbor happened and what resulted from the bombing. They could uncover events, people, and other circumstances that would help them understand more about the situation. I think a subject sampler would enhance a lesson about Pearl Harbor and I would give students some basic information about it first and then let them choose an angle to go on with. I think students could really use information from a number of different sites to discover things they never knew about the war and the bombing that occurred. With good questions provided for students to answer, they could explore historical events, things that happened to individuals of war, cultures, and the economy, etc. | |
| Alyssa | For my lesson about making connections between Pearl Harbor and September 11th, I think that Multimedia Scrapbooks would be the best web instructional strategy to use. Because the purpose of the lesson is to react emotionally to both events, it is important for students to see and hear a variety of media. Although WebqQuests would also be beneficially, multimedia scrapbooks are the optimal choice. | |
Any questions? Please email ottowaj@uwec.edu or johnsni@uwec.edu
This page was last updated November 6, 2003
Created by Nicole Johnson and Alyssa
Ottow