I created this web quest for use with our fourth grade ocean curriculum.  Most of the students in our district have had very little access to computers.  I wanted to create a positive, non threatening experience to capture their interests and motivate further learning.  I used the quest as an opening project.  I assigned each student a specific area of study.  They used two 35 minute periods to search for answers independently.  I then put them into expert groups (those with the same topics) and they spent 35 minutes discussing what they found and made a list of questions they still needed to have answered.  I then let them pair up for another 35 minutes on the quest to find the remaining answers.

Preview of Lesson

I started by showing them the quest and how to use the Powerpoint arrows and back buttons to move throughout the quest.  I showed them how to clip and print important information (large paragraphs that had a lot of information they needed).  I printed copies of the questions for them to read through ahead of time so they would have a better idea of what they needed to search for and so they would have a place to enter their answers.  I didn't take as much time as I should have introducing this topic.  I really felt pushed for time and had to have them doing their searches just last week so that I could report on their progress.

Results

The students enjoyed this activity so much that I am anxious to use other quests (looking forward to using George's for my space unit).  While completing this search I heard many comments like, "Wow, look at this!" and, "Oh man!"  They wanted to share what they had found with the students next to them.  However, they weren't grouped in the computer lab by topic so often the students next to them were pulled off task.  Some of the topics were more difficult.  The pollution topic contained both harder to find questions and questions that involved higher order thinking.  I put the students I wanted to challenge in this group. The waves and storms topic was much easier.  I found easy to read, visually pleasing sites that the students had no problems reading. Everyone  enjoyed the quest and it really seemed to spark an interest in our upcoming unit.

Lesson Completion

Students will now meet with their expert groups.  I've decided to have them teach the entire class what they've learned instead of their cooperative groups.  I've put together a "What makes a good lesson" page to guide them.  I've given them requirements that include involving the students, using visual aids, and creating practice work for the students.  They are also required to grade student's work.

Reflections

I will let them choose the topic of their interest.  I will also put those working on a topic close together so they can share and discuss during the quest investigation.  While the quest was good for them, some of my lower ability students had a hard time finding the question that went with the page they were reading through.  I liked George's idea of having the question linked directly to the page with the answer.  Even after giving them the questions ahead of time and taking time to read through them, the fourth graders had a difficult time remembering all the questions they needed to answer.  They would often look over each site by the order of the questions instead of reading through a site to see what questions were answered there.  This is due to the maturity levels of fourth graders.  I'm hoping that our some of our fifth and sixth grade teachers will use the quest and give me feedback.