How To Use This Site
How To Develop Lesson Plans or WebQuests
WebQuest Links
Community (Place-Based) Education
How To Use This Site
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Secondary Education Program provides opportunities for Web-based learning through use of ODNR website resources, including some off-site resources. The program provides resources for teachers to construct simple or complex inquiries, project-based learning activities and the construction of WebQuests.
The site is especially useful for developing WebQuests or WebQuest-type instructional designs, because the site provides numerous sources of information in various on-line formats (employee interviews, official documents, management plans, brochures and research summaries).
The site does not contain all of the elements of a WebQuest, but rather provides resources that make constructing a WebQuest or planning WebQuest-type instructional practices easier for teachers.
What is a WebQuest?
“A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the Web . . . tens of thousands of teachers have embraced WebQuests as a way to make good use of the internet while engaging their students in the kinds of thinking that the 21st century requires.” (WebQuest.org)
The focus of WebQuests is on using information instead of looking it up. By using a predetermined list of resources, a learner’s time is maximized by not having to search for references. (Starr, 2000)
In WebQuests, references have been prescreened by the instructor to prevent misinformation or to prevent students visiting inappropriate sites. (Grant, 2002)
WebQuests can be simple or complex
For simple or short term WebQuests, “the instructional goal is knowledge acquisition and integration.” At the end, the learner will have grappled with a significant amount of new information and made sense of it. Completed in one to three class periods.
For complex or long term WebQuests: the learner is required to have analyzed a body of knowledge deeply, transforming it in some way and demonstrating an understanding of the material by creating something that others can respond to on-line and off. (Dodge, 1995, 1997)
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ADDITONAL RESOURCES
Curtis, D. (Nov. 2001). Start with the pyramid. The George Lucas Foundation. Retrieved February 22, 2007 from: http://www.edutopia.org/php/article.php?id=Art_884
Dodge, B. (1995, May 5, 1997)). Some thoughts about WebQuests. Retrieved February 22, 2007 from: http://webquest.sdsu.edu/about_webquests.html
Global SchoolNet. (2000, April 2006). Harnessing the power of the web: A tutorial for collaborative project-based learning. Retrieved February 26, 2007 from: http://www.gsn.org/web/index.html
Grant, M. M. (2002). Getting a grip on project-based learning: Theory, cases and recommendations. Meridian 5(1) Retrieved February 21, 2007, from http://www.ncsu.edu/meridian//win2002/514/index.html
Harel, I. & Papert, S. (Eds.). (1991). Constructionism. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex.
Kafai, Y., & Resnick, M. (Eds.). (1996). Constructionism in practice: Designing, thinking and learning in a digital world. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Land, S. M., & Greene, B. A. (2000). Project-based learning with the World Wide Web: A qualitative study of resource integration. Educational Technology Research and Development, 48 (1), 45-67.
Moursand, D. (1998). Project-based learning in an information-technology environment. Learning and Leading With Technology, 25 (8).
Starr, L. (2000, April 2006). Creating a WebQuest: It’s easier than you think!
Retrieved February 22, 2007 from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech011.shtml
Wolk, S. (1994). Project-based learning: Pursuits with a purpose. Educational Leadership, 52 (3), 42-45.
Worthy, J. (2000). Conducting research on topics of student interest. Reading Teacher, 54 (3), 298-299.
How to Develop Lesson Plans or WebQuests
A. Develop an Introduction for the Learning Activity
- set the stage or anchor the activity with a topic or process related to multiple topics
- usually includes some background information
This site is anchored in topics about resource conservation and outdoor recreation. A topic index can be linked to from the left side-bar. Topics are aligned with employee interviews.
Each employee interview includes website links compatible with topics covered in the interview. Employee interviews are grouped according to six resource modules.
- Sustainable Development: Land
- Sustainable Development: Water
- Outdoor Recreation
- Preserving Ohio’s Rare Plants
- Managing Ohio’s Wild Deer Herd
- Lake Erie
The resource modules may be linked to from the left side-bar.
Background information may be gleaned from the employee interviews and associated website resources listed with the interviews.
Teachers will likely want to incorporate learning concepts from the Academic Content Standards into the background information.
B. Establish Learning Tasks
- should be doable and interesting
- include a driving question or guiding question
- captures student interest with an inquiry, real-life scenario or role-play
ODNR examples of inquiries prompting task assignments
- Should prairies and rare plants in Ohio be preserved in the face of encroaching development?
- You are an entrepreneur and want to develop a coal-burning power plant in Ohio. How can research being conducted at the ODNR help you make the plant more environmentally friendly?
- Our area has a watershed action plan. What is the role of our local community in the watershed action plan?
- Our local area does not have a watershed action plan, how can we create one and what should it include?
- Given the water supply in our area, how many people can our community support?
- A local farmer has donated 40 acres of forested land to our community for public use as a park. As the director of the local community park district, make a recommendation for what type of trail use should be provided at the park.
- Many Ohioans suffer nature-deficit disorder. How can you publicize the use of our local outdoor recreational opportunities to help people overcome this deficit?
- There are many types of informational Web pages and other documents on the ODNR website. Create a classification system for the various types.
For a description of different types of WebQuest tasks go to: http://webquest.sdsu.edu/taskonomy.html.
Teachers will likely want to incorporate learning skills from the Academic Content Standards into the task assignments.
C. Collect Information Sources
- Web documents
- expert insights (via on-line interviews, email, teleconferencing)
- searchable databases
- books and other documents physically available in the learners setting
By providing Web documents, expert interviews and searchable databases on this site, the ODNR has made this part of the teacher’s job easier.
D. Design a Process or Investigation Procedure
- break down tasks into clearly described steps
- should result in the creation of one or more sharable artifacts
E. Guidance for Organizing the Information Acquired
- learning aids such as timelines, concept maps, cause-effect diagrams
- scaffolding including teacher conferences to help learners assess their own progress
- project templates
F. Conclusion and Reflection
- remind learners what they have learned using pre-post-test, research logs, or learning records (“What I know; What I want to know; What I learned”)
- classroom debriefing sessions, journal entries, etc.
G. Learning assessment
- multiple choice and short answer questions
- rubrics
- portfolios
Teachers will likely want to generate assessments related to the Academic Content Standards.
WebQuest Links
Community (Place-Based) Education
Use the employee interviews with selected links to help conduct research about conservation efforts and outdoor recreational opportunities in your local community.
Learners can present their results on a school web page to share with others in the community.
Potential local community topics aligned with interviews.