Introduction
A Web Quest is a tool designed to generate student interest and develop habits of inquiry. There are carefully guided steps involved in structuring a quality learning experience for your young researchers. This short Web Quest will familiarize you with some of those steps and procedures. The introduction should pose a guiding question. Ours is this:
How can Web Quests improve student literacy?
Task
Your task for this assignment is to find resources that will engage students in literacy across content areas. During the course of this activity, you will decide on a topic, identify resources, and direct student thinking towards the contemplation of your critical question.
At the conclusion of this Web Quest, you will have identified--and share with your classmates--content specific resources that you can use in your classroom to stimulate interest and comprehension across content areas.
Process
Determine an inquiry question. It could be related to any of the content areas (science, social studies, ELA, etc.). Be sure that the question will be meaningful to the lives of your students; it should attempt to help them understand real-world problems or issues.
Visit the Library of Congress Digital Collections. Identify at least two multimedia texts that relate to the inquiry question. How might these sources engage students in inquiry?
Identify a TED Talk that relates (directly or tangentially) to the topic of inquiry. How might this resource shape the way students think about the topic?
Visit the Newsela website. Identify 2-3 articles (or, perhaps a text set) that relate to the inquiry question. What new information might these resources provide?
Evaluation
You'll be evaluated on the presentation of your resources to the rest of the class. Tell your classmates briefly about the topic (including your rationale, cross-curricular connections, key concepts and vocabulary, etc.)
Conclusion
The Conclusion revisits the critical inquiry from the introduction:
How can Web Quests improve student literacy?
Credits
Create your own Web Quests using the template provided on this site!