The Big Wide World WebQuest

Type of Resource: WebQuest
Free or Fee: Free
Computer Needs: Acrobat PDF
Link: Visit the Site!

Your vote:

Clear

1

2

3

4

5

No votes yet

Recommendation:

This WebQuest promotes critical thinking and allows children to create understandings of their world in a unique way. Teachers can take this WebQuest's components and have the entire class work together, so that all students learn about all areas. This will extend the time needed for the project, but would enhance the learning. Younger students will need guidance reading the materials to inform their ideas. An older student, aide, parent or teacher asking them questions will further student thinking. A rubric with evaluation for the quality of questions, answers and team cooperation is appropriate for the assignment.

Description:

This WebQuest, designed by Tom March, encourages higher thinking skills in young students. Students connect the science and the humanities to the world around them. After researching an area (the globe, plants, animals, people, cultures or languages), students create one to three rules to explain how these categories overlap. From the website: "The designer 's goal in creating the WebQuest was to illustrate how the strategy [WebQuests] can be used with younger students. Less emphasis is placed on finding specific information than encouraging students to engage in very sophisticated thinking. The Relationship Wheel in the Group Work section especially demonstrates that a simple visual organizer can scaffold higher order cognition. The goal is for students to begin establishing the schema that will support later assimilation of information in the related domains. "Also, seeing how things work, impact each other and interrelate builds a network of understanding that memorization of simple facts can't. How do mountains form? Why is it night and winter in another country when it's daytime in the summer in our home? Why do animals look as they do? Why do people in some places live in tents and in others they live in brick houses? Once these kinds of questions are understood, further knowledge of science, geography and the humanities can follow."

Possible uses:

Classes can embark on this WebQuest together and then, in groups, complete the tasks. Discussions before, during and after this WebQuest encourage critical thinking skills. Teachers can find useful resources within each of the categories to utilize in their curriculum.

Related Resources:

K-3, 4-5

WebQuest

Acrobat PDF