WebQuests: What are they? How can I use them in the classroom?

WebQuests

What is the tool? WebQuests are inquiry based lesson plans that incorporate the internet as a tool for research and problem solving. Commonly, WebQuests ask students to solve problems that have real world applications. WebQuests encourage critical thinking skills for students. WebQuests are a teaching pedagogy associated with the idea "involve me and I understand."

Developed in the mid 90's by Bernie Dodge and Tom March at San Diego State University, WebQuests have become widely used by educators around the world.

How can it be used? Many teachers use WebQuests to expose students to technology. WebQuests are very engaging; they can be used to teach topics that are interdisciplinary and/or to research topics "outside" of the classroom. Bernie Dodge gives a succinct summary of what WebQuests are and how they can be used in the video clip below.

video courtesy of WebQuest.org

Copyright © 2007 by Bernie Dodge, PhD,
Department of Educational Technology, San Diego State University.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of this tool? There are many advantages to using a WebQuest. WebQuests are equal opportunity lessons for students that may work at different pace or different abilities which helps more students have a successful learning experince. WebQuests may be used individually or in groups; another advantage for teachers. WebQuests are also a great way for teachers to introduce students to the world wide web.

The main disadvantage to a WebQuest as a teaching tool is that the WebQuest is only as good as you, the teacher, make it. In addition, WebQuests are not good for simple learning tasks such as learning definitions, rote memorization or learning simple procedures. WebQuests require a basic level of reading fluency and therefore students under grade three are not good candidates for WebQuests.

Who is the audience for this tool? All educators teaching in any discipline or grade level may use WebQuests.

Resources: Bernie Dodge's WebQuest website is the main resource for this tool.


Tom March has also developed a useful website. Best WebQuests provides a matrix of good WebQuests that are arranged by content area and student age's. Educator's may submit their own WebQuests here as well as find helpful tips on how to create a good WebQuest.

Teacher Tap is an on-line resource for teachers that are using technology in the classroom. This link is specific to WebQuests but check out the entire website; it is very useful.

My Thoughts: I will most definitely give WebQuests a try in the classroom. I think that creating a WebQuest will be demanding and time consuming (in order to make a good one) but the payoff will be a carefully planned lesson that will make learning interesting for my students. I especially like that WebQuests are lessons that work well for students of all abilities, including students with disabilities, because of the way the lessons are structured. The premise of Webquests as a type of inquiry based learning is very appealing to me. I like to think students using WebQuests will come away really understanding new information and that is what learning is all about.