Captivating Your Students With Cyberhunts

Workshop Objectives Recognize and use cyberhunts as an instructional tool. Identify different implementation strategies for cyberhunts. Create a frameworks-based cyberhunt as part of a lesson plan. Demonstrate through discussion the successful integration of cyberhunts into curricular instruction. Share the cyberhunt and lesson plan with the group to demonstrate the application of new skills.

What are Cyberhunts? A tool for teaching students how to search for information on the Internet. Usually appear in an interesting question-answer format. Other names include scavenger hunt, Web hunt, and treasure hunt.

Why use Cyberhunts? May be used in every curriculum area and grade level. Provides students with technology skills and subject matter knowledge. Provides reading comprehension practice in an interesting format. Use either as an introductory or culminating activity for a unit of study. Use as the unit of study itself. Are easy to create. Makes students active learners. Helps prepare students for more complex online activities.

Types of Cyberhunts Directed – learners are directed to gather information on a set of questions and are provided with the Web site address for locating the answers. Discovery – questions are open ended and learners must use keywords and search engines to locate sites that provide the answers.

From ComputerWise Issue 14 April 2006 Directed vs. Discovery Directed cyberhunts are more predictable with no great surprises during the activity. Directed cyberhunts are less demanding for both the teacher and the learner. Discovery cyberhunts are more difficult to plan and are more challenging for the learner. Discovery cyberhunts better enhance thinking and problem-solving skills and are potentially more rewarding due to the substantial amount of information they may yield. From ComputerWise Issue 14 April 2006

Steps for Creating a Cyberhunt Select a topic/concept. Locate appropriate Web sites with content that introduces or reinforces the selected subject. Create questions for each site that relate to your teaching objectives. Make an answer key if needed. Decide on an implementation strategy.

Implementation Type the cyberhunt in a word processing program such as Microsoft Word; add graphics if desired; print and give to students. Save the cyberhunt to a computer hard drive or a CD; have students work on it at their computer. Create the cyberhunt as a Web page and publish it to a Web server, so it may be used from any computer with Internet access. May use any program that will save files as Web pages such as Word, Publisher, or Nvu Nvu is a free download. - http://www.nvu.com/index.php Create the cyberhunt using TrackStar. http://trackstar.4teachers.org

Experience a Cyberhunt View and complete “The Day I Was Born” cyberhunt. The link is on the Supplemental Online Resources handout *. Record your answers on notepaper if desired. Be prepared to discuss/comment about this cyberhunt.

Cyberhunt Examples Use the Supplemental Online Resources to view and explore various cyberhunt examples. Be prepared to share your thoughts and discuss the examples you view. What did you like and dislike? What formats do you prefer?

Create a New Folder Create a new folder in My Documents labeled with your last name. All of the files you create today will be saved to this folder. Open a blank Word document, name it “Cyberhunt Resources” and save it in your folder.

Locate Resources Create your Cyberhunt Decide on your cyberhunt topic and locate online resources for it. Create a frameworks-based cyberhunt using Microsoft Word. Minimum of 10 questions At least 5 different online sources A link to recommended search sites is located on the resources handout.

Create the Lesson Plan Create a complete lesson plan which includes the cyberhunt you developed. Use the provided lesson plan template. Create any related files (instructional materials, worksheets, assessments, etc.) and save them to your folder. You will share your product with the group at the end of today’s session.

Discussion How might the use of cyberhunts improve teaching? How might the use of cyberhunts improve student learning? What problems/difficulties might you experience in implementing the use of cyberhunts? Other comments or questions

Closing Do evaluations. Clean up your area if needed. Take all of your handouts and other materials with you. Be sure to save your folder to your travel drive or CD. Or, email the files as attachments to your preferred account. Delete your folder from the computer before you leave.