Webquests

My favorite article on Webquests was “Webquest Sends Students Back in Time.” The article detailed the topics that students could choose for their webquests and then instructed students to write a fictional account of someone who was witnessing the historical event, then prepare a Powerpoint for the class. Topics included the following: The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the Civil War battle of Gettysburg, Apollo 11 Mission moonwalk, “I Have A Dream” speech, and Frederick Douglass and the underground railroad. Students apparently were very engaged with the material and produced stunning narrations and Powerpoints.
In the MySpace age, I believe any way that educators can get students involved in learning and using technology is good. I particularly liked webquests because they were a valuable tool in preparing students for the kind of research necessary to craft good papers in high school and college. Our group did a webquest on Gone With the Wind, which was useful for literary and historical studies. There were questions on the novel, the film, and the historical events that occurred during the Civil War and the publication of the book. There could be a feminist study of the work (what inspired a woman like Margaret Mitchell to write the book? What events and cultural attitudes shaped her thinking?) There could also be an analysis of the romanticized version of history versus what really happened. Another question dealt with determining what an epic was, which is an important literary term. All in all, I feel webquests are a great educational tool.