Week II, Post I: Webquests

Being new to the world of instructional technology, I was a little unsure of where to begin my quest for something related to mathematics. Obviously, there is material available, but I’ve had a bit of a hard time narrowing down my searches enough to find anything useful.

However, Jimmy must have “known” I was having a hard time and sent me a link about webquests – lucky me. He seemed really excited about them and so I was eager to research them. I had no idea what a webquest was, but now I understand why Jimmy loves them!

First of all, the link for the math Webquests is:

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/matrix/9-12-Mat.htm

This page contains links to about 30 computer-based activities, all related to math. At first I thought I might pick a few and use them as separate sources, but as I combed through them, I realized all the webquests, while about different topics, are essentially the same. Each contains a brief introduction. The introduction not only offers a summary, but also tries to get the student excited in the topic. They are written directly to the student (e.g. “You will be doing research on the internet about cars.”) Next the overall task is described, followed by the process and resources needed (web links, et cetera.) A general rubric is provided in the “evaluations” section, and finally, a conclusion, which summarizes the activities and things learned from the webquest. Many require students to present what they’ve learned to their classmates as well. All the teacher has to do is provide the link, the time (some require several class periods,) any materials listed and a little supervision! These webquests will certainly give the teacher a well-deserved break :)

I really like webquests for several reasons. First of all, they relate math skills to real life. There is one quest about learning to buy a car and what to expect. It would be a super activity following a lesson on percents and interest rates. It applies what the kids have learned, answering the age-old question of, “Why is this useful?!?!” Secondly, they are engaging. Students love computers and being online. Many of the webquests require extensive research to be done online, which will keep them interested and busy. Not only that, they will also have to learn to use search modules and narrow their search criteria to find something useful. Thirdly, every webquest I saw contained interdisciplinary aspects. For example, there was one about Egyptian pyramids. What a great history lesson, in addition to math! They also all require reading. As a math teacher, I have a hard time incorporating reading practice into my curriculum, and this is a great way to do it! My principal would certainly be excited to hear about students reading in my class.

Overall, I really hope I get the opportunity to use webquests. The most difficult part would be getting access to not only computers, but the Internet as well. I teach several remedial math classes, and they’d love this, but they have a lot of behavior issues. It’s hard to fit all my students in the computer lab and keep an eye on them at the same time. Instead of having the whole class working at once, this might be something fun to use as a reward for hard work. I could send a few students to the lab once or twice a week, and rotates who goes. That way, everyone has access but we don’t have the mayhem that is bound to occur from trying to move my entire class clear across campus to the computer lab.

Thanks for the tip, Jimmy. I love it :)