Web Quest

Purpose:
This project was designed to fulfill the requirements for our Web Quest project assignment. Chris Clark, Chris Watson, Kay Carlile, and Ashleigh Hoslett developed this activity. There are many reasons that people become activists: they are driven by internal and external forces that motivate them to make life changing and sometimes life threatening decisions. The students in this activity are beginning a research project not only into the history of our Founding Fathers, but also into their own futures and values. The students are to investigate what drove the founding fathers to become activists and to risk being hung in the name of independence. Then the students are to investigate other historical figures that are considered activists and determine what drove them to become activists. Finally, the students are to look at the issues which are important to them and how they can become involved. Potentially, this lesson is one which could produce a life long change in a student. By investigating issues which are important to them, the students may themselves become activists one day.

Use:
We have not yet been able to utilize this project because of time constraints, but I am planning to go back to this activity later in the year, when I talk more about activism.

Modification:
There were some minor errors that have been corrected based on peer review that we received..
There are some changes I would like to implement with my students, because the activity may be a little difficult for some of my lower performing students.

Peer Review:
When we decided to use this project for the product section, the link to the site was posted to the list server, and a request was sent out to other colleagues in the teaching profession who worked at various schools with differing numbers of years teaching. Instead of coming up with a complex question and answer Likert scale review for these teachers to use, we simply asked them these few questions:
1. What do you think of these web pages as a teacher looking for activities your class?
2.What are your thoughts on the accessibility of these web pages for your students? For yourself?
3.What do you like about these pages?
4.How can we improve them for the students?

Here are several comments that our colleagues made about the program:
Chris Crowe is a Language Arts and 8th grade US History teacher at Foothill Farms Junior High.
"This program on the Declaration of Independence is thorough and detailed. Instructions are explained step by step and a scoring rubric is provided as a check for student progress. Links are quick and easy. It would have been nice to have sound bites of the protest music. Overall this is a clear and organized presentation".

Kim Harrison IMET2 member and Mono County Office of Education representative.
"A very small detail---can you make the font on the Intro and subsequent pages larger? It is small and with italics, hard to read. The colors are very appealing and easy to read--if the font were either not italicized and a sans serif, or a bit larger. I like the yellow background and blue lettering. The appearance is very sharp and clean.
I like how you guide the students through the pages by using the "next" arrow--it keeps them moving forward! At first, I thought that you would need a back arrow, but realized that they could simply click on the navigation bar on the left if needed.
On your Process page---good idea to give the students choices for presentations depending upon the technology available. I think so often, those of us who use technology don't always realize that it is not readily available everywhere!
A couple of minor details on this page-----Under group presentation, first paragraph: "After you have gather" it should read "gathered"
On the resources page (quite an extensive list here!!)---you could do a mini-tech activity on effective searching so that you are not turning the students loose on the Internet to find other resources. This is only a suggestion.
I like the simplicity of your webquest, Chris. It is really nice. You could add some more historical graphics just to spice it up a bit (the Library of Congress has a website to obtain these), but that is not really necessary. Your webquest has a nice flow and the content is very strong and solid.
Finally, on your teacher page, I like that you have added the EL element. I think this is often overlooked when we create these projects. Also, I did not see where you addressed particular content standards. You may want to include that on the teacher page as well."

Dave Amacker- retired teacher of 30 plus years.
"The program is based on a comparison of the past to the present life in America. This whole program could easily be written to include any and all parts of world history as well. As an example, the rise of the dictators before World War II and the current social and economic problems in Europe today. The project that students are to complete in this program will bring them into focus with problems in the United States under English occupation to problems that still persist in the United States today. Again, I experienced problems downloading some to the information in your program. Perhaps it is due in part to the computer that I am using - I would hope so. Over all, I would think that students would find this to be an exciting and worthwhile project for them to delve into. I think that students would find this to be of much more interest to them rather than listening to a teacher's lecture, reading several "boring" pages in a textbook, answering some questions, taking a quiz over the material only to forget all of that information in a matter of days. This project should be able to make lasting affect on the students especially when thinking of the world that they now live in."

Modifications based on peer review:
There have been no substantial modifications. However, as the Web Quest is used in a variety of classrooms there will be, undoubtably, modifications made to the project.

Presentation:
We have presented this to our IMET2 partners, and in addition, it was part of a presentation on effective web design at the Cue conference. It went over well in this venue.

Faculty Review:
Reviewed by Bruce McVicker:
Chris W., Chris C., Ashleigh, and Kay,
"Wonderful work!
The product certainly seems to be an engaging one. I think the political action component provides a powerful, reflective activity that may transfer to a number of activities through the students’ school lives. Very well done.
You four have also embedded some nice additions that set a nice environment for study. Using music in the background is a clever piece.
The format is clear and inviting. Step-by-step procedures will help your students proceed through this quest with ease, enabling them to concentrate on the problem-solving and critical thinking tasks. Great scaffolds!
The product shows a great deal of thought. You should think about presenting this at the CapCUE in the spring. Teachers need to know about your work.
Well done,"
Bruce

Collaboration:
In this activity, Chris Clark led the group through his construction of the web site. The rest of us focused on retrieving the web resources along with the sites Chris Clark already had found. As a group, we worked on the construction of the assessment.

Research:
Bibliography
Dede, C., & Sprague, D. (1999). If I teach this way, am I doing my job? Constructivism in the classroom [Internet web site]. International Society for Technology in Education. Retrieved July 15, 2001, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://www.iste.org/L&L/archive/vol27/no1/feature/

Milbury, P. (1997). Collaborating on internet-based lessons: A teacher and librarian score with pbl. Technology Connection, 4(5), 2.

Seamon, M. (2001). Changing instructional practices through technology training. Book Report, 19(5), 3.

Yoder, M. B. (1999). The student webquest. Learning and Leading with Technology. Available: http://www.iste.org/L&L/archive/vol26/no7/features/yoder/index.html [2001, October 17th].