Once again, I had not heard of a webquest before I looked at the required reading and blogs for the past two weeks.  After reading about them and researching some of the available webquests on the internet, I truly believe that teachers need to begin implementing them into the classrooms.  I learned that a webquest is an online tool that allows teachers to post lesson plans on the internet.  It is an “inquiry-based” tool that allows students to develop their technological skills while learning new knowledge.  The World Wide Web has thousands of webquests online, ranging from covering a simple lesson to an entire subject unit.

The webquest that I found very interesting was entitled “The Wonders of Weather,” http://questgarden.com/46/57/5/070211174029/index.htm.  This webquest was interesting for me because I have recently been working with my cooperating teacher on her classes upcoming units.  Right now my class is working on animals and the concept of hibernation versus migration with the seasons.  In the upcoming weeks, my cooperating teacher is going to be incorporating the seasons and the weather together.  Therefore, this webquest would be perfect to infiltrate into my classroom.  The only immediate problem that I could see was that it might be slightly advanced for third graders.  In general, most webquests are set up with steps: introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion, credits, and a teacher page.  This site also includes these seven steps.  The first couple steps explain to the students that storm chasing is becoming more popular throughout the country and world.  In this project, the students are to separate themselves into groups of two – one of them is to become the official storm tracker, while the other is to become the official storm chaser.  There is a list of the characteristics of each person, as well as five challenges for them to complete as a group.  The only resources that are needed for this webquest and the five challenges are computers for each group to use and calculators (for one of the challenges).  Webquests constantly infiltrate the use of technology, so it would definitely be necessary for each of the groups to have access to the computer lab or even a classroom set of laptops.  In my opinion, these challenges will not take up an entire unit, but they will definitely take up a couple days of classroom science time.  The teacher will need to prepare the class and allow for adequate research time on the internet.  Also, I think that the best part about this webquest is the summary at the end.  The lesson requires that students write a one page narrative about the task they completed and the lesson they learned.  The students are required to type it, save it, print it, and paste it into their notebook, of which all of these tasks will require some advanced computer knowledge.  The final part about this webquest that is remarkable is that is provides teachers with a pre-made rubric to evaluate their students.  Not only is the rubric excellent for teacher use, but having it available online allows the students to view what activities and requirements they will be graded on.

Overall, I think that webquests are going to be an extraordinary part of learning in the near future.  They are already being infiltrated into the classrooms, but I think that as technology continues to enhance learning, online tools for learning such as webquests, wikis, blogs, etc. will be utilized more and more.  It is important to remember that webquests are not perfect for every subject.  They should not be used when addressing factual knowledge (such as memorizing your multiplication times table).  However, they are perfect for addressing open ended questions that will spark the students’ creativity and personalities.  One of the best parts about webquests is the fact that they allow students to take over the reigns of their own learning.  Even though letting the students take control of their learning is one of the best aspects of a webquest, it is necessary for the teacher to be constantly in the background, as problems could arise.  In my opinion, the teachers need to learn to be “mediators” and be available to step in if problems do arise.  Webquests will require the students to collaborate together and cooperate with other students in the classroom.  The main goal of a webquest is to work on the ideas of inquiry and constructivism.  I believe that “The Wonders of Weather” webquest and many of the others that I found do just that.