1. A clear introductory paragraph which sets the stage for the activity and provides some background information.

2. A central task that is concrete and interesting.

3. A set of information sources needed to complete the task. All of the knowledge sources, both from online and real world sources, should be given to the students in the form of a WebQuest handout. These pointers to information are vital and ensure that your students are centered on the task at hand.

4. A description of the entire process the students should go through in accomplishing the task.

5. Guidance on how to organize the information acquired. This can take the form of guiding questions, or directions to complete organizational frameworks such as timelines, concept maps, etc., ultimately resulting in the creation of new Web pages to demonstrate their understanding.

6. A conclusion that brings closure to the WebQuest reminds the students about what they've learned, and encourages them to extend the experience into other domains.

Sample Web Quest Sites
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/9-12matrix.html
 
 

You may work in groups of 2-3-4 students.  Each student is to represent a department chairperson at our school.  Your mission is to create a cross-curricular web quest project.  Pick a decade or a period in time that you want to research.  Decide on your driving question or quest and design a project that incorporates 3 or 4 disciplines such as:

Creative title of your WebQuest

Take the time to brainstorm a good name that succinctly describes your project. Your project's name is your marketing tool. A catchy name will make your project stand out from the rest. Examples: Signs of Spring, Global Grocery List, Ask An Expert.

A WebQuest for grades.......9-12
 

Introduction

 Write a short paragraph here to introduce the WebQuest to the students. If there is a role or scenario involved (e.g., "You are a detective trying to identify the mysterious poet.") then here is where you'll set the stage. If there's no motivational intro like that, use this section to provide a short advance organizer or overview.

 Write a short description of your project so you can very quickly communicate its essence to others. Example: The Global Grocery List Project requires students to record the prices of seven common grocery items and compare their results with those of other students around the world.

The Task
 Describe crisply and clearly what the end result of the learners' activities will be. The task could be a:

•  series of questions that must be answered
•  summary to be created
•  problem to be solved
•  position to be formulated and defended
• creative work
•  anything that requires the learners to process and transform the information they've gathered.

To accomplish the task, what steps should the learners go through? Use the ordered list tag (ol) which will automatically number the steps in the procedure. Be sure to put a (li) before each item in the list, and close off the list with a (/ol). (Use angle brackets rather than parentheses).

1.This is step one.
2.This is the second step.
3.... and so on.
 

Resources .....Internet links....

Use this space to point out places on the Internet (or books or magazines from library) that will be available for the learners to use to accomplish the task. Embed the anchors within a description of each resource so that your learners know in advance what they're clicking on.

Example:
Sammamish High School in Washington state has an impressive home page. (This is just an example sentence with an anchor embedded within it.)
 

Evaluation.....create a rubric for evaluation...

• Use a table to create
• What ESLR's did you meet?

Conclusion

• Put a couple of sentences here that summarize what they will have accomplished or learned by completing this WebQuest. You might also include some rhetorical questions that encourage them to extend their thinking into other content.

By the end of the period today.....write a memo to me using one of the memo templates in Word.  State who is in your group and what department they are going to represent.  Next tell me the title of your WebQuest...remember it must be creative and tell me what grade your quest will be for.