Wonderful Web Activities Enhancing Content Lessons with Technology

Web-Enhanced Lessons Web-based tools can make it easy to develop collaborative, inquiry-based curricula that motivates students of all learning styles and multiple intelligences.

Questions you should consider: What are the different types of web-based activities? What topics/standards/objectives will lend themselves to exploration on the Internet? How do I determine which activity will achieve my desired student learning goals? What role do student projects best complements the activities? What real world connections can I make in my lesson? What kind of tasks can I engage students in to target higher order and critical thinking skills? How can I ensure students are exposed to a variety rich media types and accurate, timely, unbiased, appropriate content? How can I determine whether students have learned the content after completing my activity?

How Do I Start An Internet Project? Decide on a Topic Determine the Goals and Objectives Determine the Evaluation Method(s) Gather Resources Decide on the Type of Project Create the Project Implement and Revise as Necessary

Which Web Activity Should You Use?

Hotlists Purpose: for open research and exploration Teachers choose to create a Hotlist when they are new to the Web 2. they are in a hurry 3. they want to save student surf/search time 4. they want to add Web resources to curriculum they already have Hotlists provide links to information:

Multimedia Scrapbooks Purpose: Download Media A multimedia scrapbook is a variation of the hotlist. It provides links to a variety of content types such as photographs, maps, stories, facts, quotations, sound clips, videos, virtual reality tours, etc. Students can use these multimedia files to create newsletters, desktop slide presentations

Scavenger (Treasure) Hunts Purpose: for acquiring defined knowledge Teachers choose to create a Knowledge Hunt when students need to acquire a specific body of knowledge 2. critical thinking is either not a goal is covered using other activities 3. Web-based resources are more current or reliable than traditional resources

Scavenger (Treasure) Hunts The basic strategy is to find Web pages that hold information that you feel is essential to understanding the given topic. Maybe you gather links (and remember, these are the exact pages you want the students to go to for information, not the top page of a huge Web site). After you've gathered these links, you pose one key question for each Web site you've linked to. In this way, teachers guide students to useful pages and also prompt students to look for information that teachers feel is critical to developing a body of knowledge in the topic.

WebQuests Purpose: for engaging in critical thinking Teachers choose to create a WebQuest when you want students to tackle big, complex, or gray questions 2. students could benefit from cooperative learning 3. the subject warrants a deeper understanding 4. students would benefit from a more real world learning experience

WebQuests Basically, a WebQuest is an inquiry activity that presents student groups with a central Question and related Task. Access to the Web (and other resources) provides abundant grist from which collaborative student groups construct meaning. The whole learning process is supported by prompting / scaffolds to promote higher-order thinking. The products of WebQuests are usually then present to an authentic audience for some type of real feedback.

Virtual Field Trips Due to budgetary limitations and more stringent safety precautions, the number of live field trips a teacher can plan may be limited, but a great alternative a virtual field trip

Simulations Again, cost considerations, and even safety concerns, may limit the number of hands-on activities and experiments that a teacher can perform in the classroom, but virtual simulations provide an alternative method of instruction.