Measuring IQ

The Inquiry Quotient of WebQuests

(A WebQuest about WebQuests)

  

TEACHING GUIDE

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Introduction
Aim
Rationale
General Goals
Subject Matter Description
Learner Description
Prerequisites
Learning Objectives
Materials
Instructional Plan
Plans for Assessment and Evaluation

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Introduction. This WebQuest is designed to introduce teachers to WebQuests by focusing on the question of what makes WebQuests different than other forms of lesson plans. Specifically, the WebQuest helps teachers to ask what features or qualities in a WebQuest lead students to inquiry.

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Aim. This WebQuest introduces teachers and other potential developers of curriculum webs to WebQuests and specifically to the challenges involved in creating learning activities based on inquiry.

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Rationale. Because WebQuests are easy to create from templates, and because they are so popular, there are many, many examples of WebQuests available on the Internet. (In September 2004, a simple Google search for “WebQuest” revealed 444,000 references.) For many teachers, WebQuests are the first type of web-based lesson or unit that they create. Some sites make it incredibly easy to set one up with web-based forms and templates. (See, for example, landmark-project.com/slate.php3, which suggests that a WebQuest can be designed and created in about 45 minutes.) This means that many WebQuests have not emerged out of much careful thought or effort. Even a cursory look at some of the WebQuests that have been created and posted to the Web reveals many that are unlikely to lead to higher-order thinking by the students. Many simply ask students to fill in the blanks on worksheets, or to make simple lists, or to complete a relatively simple task that is taught directly or through a set of examples. It seems that some teachers who create WebQuests don’t fully understand what it means to construct or facilitate an inquiry, as opposed to the mere collection of facts or mastery of fairly low-level skills. The IQ WebQuest is an antidote to this lack of understanding. We hope that teachers who have completed this WebQuest will build their own WebQuests with careful regard for what it takes to include inquiry as a learning activity.

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General Goals

  • Introduce the structure of WebQuests and their promise as an approach to learning how to construct curriculum webs

  • Emphasize the importance of curriculum planning

  • Expose the reader to a variety of activity formats including WebQuests and curriculum webs

  • Engage the learner in an inquiry that explores the qualities of inquiry-based learning

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Subject Matter Description

  • The structure of WebQuests

  • The features of inquiry

  • The construction of rubrics for evaluating complex situations
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Learner Description. Readers of Curriculum Webs who are preservice or inservice teachers, or others who wish to design instructional plans that incorporate web-based resources. Expectations for those learners are described in this book’s Preface.

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Prerequisites

  • Facility with a web browser

  • Familiarity with the basic structure and purposes of WebQuests and curriculum webs

  • Interest in learning how to build effective curriculum webs

  • Understanding of the content of Chapter One and Chapter Two of Curriculum Webs
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Learning Objectives. On completing this WebQuest, learners will be able to:

  • Describe the purpose of each component of a WebQuest

  • Be able to list at least five qualities or features of inquiry-based learning activities

  • Create a rubric that can be used to distinguish inquiry-based learning activities from other forms

  • Describe inquiry in general terms that help others to distinguish inquiry from other modes of learning
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Materials

An Internet-linked computer with a web browser The IQ WebQuest, found at curriculumwebs.com The web-based resources listed in the IQ WebQuest Resources section at curriculumwebs.com.

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Instructional Plan. This WebQuest is designed to allow the learner to use it on his or her own, without the assistance of a teacher or facilitator. So, the “instructional plan” is that the learners will access the WebQuest and follow the directions they find there. The activities that learners will follow include:

  • Developing a working definition of inquiry

  • Developing a rubric that can be used to evaluate the “inquiry quotient” of a WebQuest

  • Using the rubric to evaluate 10 existing WebQuests

  • Revising the rubric

  • Developing a WebQuest task that exemplifies the features of inquiry that have been discovered

  • Using Hands-On Lesson 2 to create a complete WebQuest built around the task that has been developed

Teachers who are in a position to facilitate learners’ experiences with this WebQuest can do any of the following:

  • Lead a group discussion about the qualities of good working definitions. You might start with an example that is somewhat easier than inquiry, for example “education” or “learning.”

  • Lead a group discussion about the features of inquiry as a learning activity. You will find a lot of background material for this discussion in the web sites listed in the Resources section of the WebQuest.

  • Collect several examples of WebQuests that do a good job of incorporating inquiry, and discuss these with the group. You will find some very good ones at webquest.org in a variety of subject areas.

  • Collect several examples of good rubrics and discuss the features, including the criteria, categories, and scoring. Some excellent examples of rubrics can be found using some of the web sites listed in the Resources section of the WebQuest.

  • Use the tasks that are developed in step 5 of this WebQuest to foster a discussion of how inquiry can shape learning. Ask the learners to brainstorm other activities, besides inquiry, that can support thinking as well as, or better than, inquiry.

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Plans for Assessment and Evaluation. Learning that results from this WebQuests is assessed through an evaluation of the products that the learners produce. This WebQuest requires four products: a working definition of inquiry, a rubric that can be used to evaluate the inquiry quotient of existing WebQuests (which is revised later), an evaluation using that rubric of ten existing WebQuests, and a newly developed “Task” for a new WebQuest that meets the criteria in the revised rubric. The evaluation criteria for each of these products are found in the Evaluation section of the WebQuest itself. Because we want to illustrate alternative forms of evaluation, each product is evaluated in a slightly different way.

This WebQuest can be evaluated by the learners by having them submit a feedback form, a link to which is found at the bottom of the Conclusion section. (It was reviewed and critiqued by several teachers and non-teachers prior to publication.)

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The IQWebQuest was created by Craig A. Cunningham
to accompany the book Curriculum Webs, 2nd edition,
by Cunningham and Billingsley (Allyn & Bacon 2006)
Return to curriculumwebs.com home page.