WebQuests for Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design

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WebQuests for Differentiated Instruction and
Understanding by Design
Differentiating Instruction and Understanding by
Design Powerful Keys to Student
Learning September 9, 2005 Jann H. Leppien,
Ph.D. University of Great Falls jleppien_at_mt.net
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APALearner-Centered Psychological
Principleshttp//www.apa.org/ed/lcp.htmlThe2014
20Learner
Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

• The learning of complex subject matter is most
  effective when it is an intentional process of
  constructing meaning from information and
  experience.
• The successful learner, over time and with
  support and instructional guidance, can create
  meaningful, coherent representations of
  knowledge.
• The successful learner can link new information
  with existing knowledge in meaningful ways.
• The successful learner can create and use a
  repertoire of thinking and reasoning strategies
  to achieve complex learning goals.
• Higher order strategies for selecting and
  monitoring mental operations facilitate creative
  and critical thinking.
• Learning is influenced by environmental factors,
  including culture, technology, and instructional
  practices.

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APALearner-Centered Psychological
Principleshttp//www.apa.org/ed/lcp.htmlThe2014
20Learner
Motivational and Affective Factors

• What and how much is learned is influenced by the
  learners motivation. Motivation to learn, in
  turn, is influences by the individuals emotional
  states, beliefs, interests and goals, and habits
  of thinking.
• The learners creativity, higher order thinking,
  and natural curiosity all contribute to
  motivation to learn. Intrinsic motivation is
  stimulated by tasks of optimal novelty and
  difficulty, relevant to personal interests, and
  providing for personal choice and control.
• Acquisition of complex knowledge and skills
  requires extended learner effort and guided
  practice. Without learners motivation to learn,
  the willingness to exert this effort is unlikely
  without coercion.

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APALearner-Centered Psychological
Principleshttp//www.apa.org/ed/lcp.htmlThe2014
20Learner
Developmental and Social

• As individuals develop, there are different
  opportunities and constraints for learning.
  Learning is most effective when differential
  development within and across physical,
  intellectual, emotional, and social domains is
  taken into account.
• Learners have different strategies, approaches,
  and capabilities for learning that are a function
  of prior experience and heredity.

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APALearner-Centered Psychological
Principleshttp//www.apa.org/ed/lcp.htmlThe2014
20Learner
Individual Differences

• Learners have different strategies, approaches,
  and capabilities for learning that are a function
  of prior experience and heredity.
• Learning is most effective when differences in
  learners linguistic, cultural, and social
  backgrounds are taken into account.
• Setting appropriately high and challenging
  standards and assessing the learner as well as
  learning progress--including diagnostic, process,
  and outcome assessment--are integral parts of the
  learning process.

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WebQuests

• A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in
  which most or all of the information used by
  learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are
  designed to use learners time well, to focus on
  using information rather than looking for it, and
  to support learners thinking at the levels of
  analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. The model
  was developed in the early 1995 at San Diego
  State University by Bernie Dodge with Tom March.

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A WebQuest About WebQuests

• Click on the site below to participate in a
  WebQuest About WebQuests. Work in teams of four
  to examine five WebQuests from four different
  points of view. Select the grade level most
  appropriate for the grade you teach.
• http//webquest.sdsu.edu/materials.htm

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Differentiating the Content, Process, and
Product Uses of WebQuests
Learning Center Activities Hook the computer up
to your TV to use as a station. Find
WebQuests that help students process the
Big Ideas in your curricular unit.
Tiered Assignments Locate 3 different WebQuests
at varying levels of complexity that help
students apply the units skills or ideas.
Anchor Activity for Research Create your own
Filamentality site to assist students in
carrying out their research.
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What Makes an Ideal WebQuest?

• 1. Links are all working and up to date.
• 2. Pages are attractively laid out and free of
  spelling, grammar and technical errors.
• 3. The Task is engaging and requires higher
  level thinking.
• 4. What is learned aligns well with your
  standards.
• 5. The readability level and tone matches well
  with your students.

• An ideal WebQuest
• would have (among
• other things) these
• qualities

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The Power of WebQuestsAccording to Bernie Dodge
(1997), a WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented
activity in which students interact with
information gleaned primarily from resources on
the Internet.
http//webquest.sdsu.edu/
http//www.ozline.com/webquests/intro.html
http//www.kn.pacbell.com/ Check out the digital
dozen and Filamentality
Webquest Design Patterns http//webquest.sdsu.edu/
designpatterns/HS/t-webquest.htm
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http//projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/building
blocks/p-index.htm/
Webquests as Powerful Teaching Tools in Math and
Science http//www.enc.org/features/focus/archive/
webquests/
http//wcvt.com/7Etiggr/
Bones and the Badge Webquest http//projects.edtec
h.sandi.net/kearny/forensic/index.htm
http//www.internet4classrooms.com/tide.htm
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A Creative Encounter of the Numerical Kind
http//studenthome.nku.edu/webquest/gabbard/index
.htm
Other Webquests
http//studenthome.nku.edu/webquest/
Romeo and Juliet Webquest
http//www.manteno.k12.il.us/webquest/high/Languag
eArts/RomeoandJuliet/mainframe.html
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Other WebQuests to Explore
http//www.kn.sbc.com/wired/BHM/little_rock/
http//bestwebquests.com/
Author Studies
http//www.carolhurst.com/profsubjects/authorstudi
es.html
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Searching for Existing WebQuests

• Where do you find good
• WebQuests? Stop by the matrix
• of examples on the SDSU
• WebQuests site. Try it now.
• http//webquest.org/matrix3.php

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Advanced Searching for Existing WebQuests

• Tighten your search by clicking on the Advanced
  Search on Google.
• http//www.google.com

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The WebQuest Design Process

• Analyze these design patterns to help you select
• the type of activity that you are trying to
  create.
• http//webquest.sdsu.edu/designpatterns/all.htm
• Use this site to design your own WebQuests.
• http//webquest.sdsu.edu/designsteps/index.html

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What is Filamentality???
Filamentality is a fill-in-the-blank interactive
website that guides ou through picking a topic,
searching the web, gathering good Internet sites,
and turning web resources into activities
appropriate for learners. It helps you combine
the Filaments of the web with a learners
mentality. Filamentality helps you spin pieces of
the Web to design your own learning activities.
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Activity Formats
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Hotlist

• Hotlist The first step in using the power of
  the Internet for learning is linking to the sites
  that you find most useful. Doing this will save
  your learners hours of aimless searching (not an
  efficient use of class time).
• ExampleChina on the Net
• http//www.kn.sbc.com/wired/China/hotlist.html

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Scrapbook

• Scrapbook If learners already have a general
  understanding of the subject (i.e., they've done
  some preliminary learning in class or with
  traditional resources), you might want their
  first web-based activity to be the exploration of
  a Multimedia Scrapbook. This format allows
  learners to dig through a collection of Internet
  sites organized around specific categories such
  as, photographs, maps, stories, facts,
  quotations, sound clips, videos, virtual reality
  tours, etc. Learners use the Scrapbook to find
  aspects of the broader topic that they feel are
  important. They download or copy and paste these
  scraps into a variety of formats newsletter,
  desktop slide presentation, collage, bulletin
  board, Hyper Studio stack, or web page. By
  allowing students to "find themselves" in their
  interests (sparked by the web resources they
  encounter), the Multimedia Scrapbook offers a
  more open, student-centered approach.
• Dinosaur Hunter's Scrapbook http//www.kn.pacbell.
  com/wired/China/scrapbook.html

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Treasure Hunt

• Treasure Hunt To develop solid knowledge on a
  subject, you can create Treasure Hunts. The basic
  strategy is to find web pages that hold
  information (text, graphic, sound, video, etc.)
  that you feel is essential to understanding the
  topic. After you've gathered these links, you are
  then prompted by Filamentality to pose one key
  question for each web resource you've linked to.
  A smartly designed Treasure Hunt can go far
  beyond finding unrelated nuggets of knowledge. By
  choosing questions that define the scope or
  parameters of the topic, students discover the
  answers and tap into a deeper vein of
  thought--one that now stakes out the dimensions
  or schema of the domain being studied.
• Black History Past to Present
• http//www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/BHM/hunt.html

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Subject Sampler

• Subject Sampler Part of what makes the Internet
  so great is the quirky, passionate, real stuff
  that many people and organizations post there.
  You'll find things on the web that you'd never
  find on TV, newspapers, or magazines. Subject
  Samplers tap into this vibrant vein in order to
  connect students to the chosen topic. Subject
  Sampler present learners with a smaller number of
  intriguing web sites organized around a main
  topic. What makes this a particularly effective
  way to engage student buy-in is that first off,
  you've chosen web sites that offer something
  interesting to do, read, or see. Second, students
  are asked to respond to the web-based activities
  from a personal perspective.
• Exploring Chinese Culture http//www.kn.pacbell.co
  m/wired/China/sampler.html

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WebQuest

• WebQuest When it's time to go beyond learning
  facts and get into grayer, more challenging
  aspects of the topic, your students are ready to
  try a WebQuest. Basically, a WebQuest presents
  students with a challenging task, scenario, or
  problem to solve. It's best to choose aspects of
  a topic that are under dispute or that offer a
  couple different perspectives. Logistically, all
  students begin by learning some common background
  knowledge, then they divide into groups. In the
  groups each student or pair of students have a
  particular role, task, or perspective to master.
  They effectively become experts on one aspect of
  a topic. When the roles come together, students
  must synthesize their learning by completing a
  summarizing act such as e-mailing congressional
  representatives or presenting their
  interpretation to real world experts on the
  topic.
• Look Who's Paying the Bill! http//www.kn.pacbell.
  com/wired/democracy/debtquest.html

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Knowledge Network Explorer

• Click here to locate Filamentality
• http//www.kn.pacbell.com/

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Steps for Creating a Filamentality Website
http//scilnet.fortlewis.edu/edtech/Filament/direc
tions.htm

• Locate sites on the Internet that you can use for
  your Filamentality activity.
• Open Word document and record the site location
  (URL), title, and a brief description. Find as
  many to complete this search.
• Go to www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil, scroll to
  middle of page and select, Start a New Topic
  and follow the directions.

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ASCD Support
Instructional Strategies for the Differentiated
Classroom
http//shop.ascd.org/ProductDisplay.cfm?ProductID
404442