- Develop a working definition of inquiry that can be used to evaluate whether any given learning activity is based on inquiry. Examine the web sites listed in Resources under “About Inquiry.” Paying close attention to the criteria of good working definitions found in the Evaluation section, write a definition that successfully distinguishes inquiry from other types of learning activities.
- Develop a rubric for evaluating the inquiry quotient of existing WebQuests. Pay close attention to the web sites listed in the Resources section under “About Rubrics.” Your working definition may provide enough criteria for the rubric, or it may not. You may need to add additional features of inquiry in order to have a suitable rubric. The goal is to be able to differentiate among WebQuests using the rubric.
- Use your rubric to evaluate the IQ (inquiry quotient) of 10 existing WebQuests found in the Resources section under “Lists of Existing WebQuests.” You should select WebQuests that address the same subject area—preferably a subject area you are familiar with and have taught or will teach. For each WebQuest, rate each criterion on your rubric, and compute a final score, or “Inquiry Quotient.” Then rank-order the WebQuests from highest Inquiry Quotient to lowest.
- Revise your rubric in light of what you’ve seen in the best WebQuests you’ve evaluated, and in light of what you learned about your rubric by following the procedure described in the Evaluation section. If necessary, revise your ranking.
- Develop a new WebQuest task that embodies the highest possible Inquiry Quotient. Choose a topic and grade level that you will actually teach soon, either the same as the WebQuests you’ve already evaluated or a new topic.
- Create a complete WebQuest built around the task you developed in step 5. The technical steps necessary for this process are explained in Hands-On Lesson 2, found on the companion web site at curriculumwebs.com.
Proceed to the RESOURCES.
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