Week 6

The WebQuest that I created was : http://questgarden.com/127/81/1/110613044905/
The purpose of this WebQuest was to get the students thinking about economics and their responsibility to the environment.  I geared this lesson towards a fifth grade group and they needed to create an argument for the Principal to provide an iPad to each student in the school.  I really wanted them to think about the ways that the iPad could be used to reduce cost, and make the learning process easier.  They would be conflicted in that most students would want an iPad because it is the "cool, new" thing, but I wanted them to go beyond that.  I wanted them to think about how much it would initially cost to provide these to every student, but how much we would save with reducing textbooks, and eliminating a lot of the paper waste.  I also wanted them to think about what type of distraction this tool would place in the classroom.  Students would have the opportunity to abuse the privilege of having a "computer" at their desk.  There would be many opportunities for the students to open a game app and the teacher would never be aware.  These were the things I wanted the students to wrestle with.  I really wanted them to create an argument through an economic lens, rather than from the perspective of a 5th grader that wanted a new "toy."

My challenge in creating this was balancing the lesson plan look, with the look of what my students will be reading.  I wanted to establish the background of the lessons, while still providing the opportunity for the students to follow along and participate.  When I was researching WebQuests I found several different layouts that I liked better than the questgarden site.  Questgarden supplied the tools to create this tool, however I found it to be more lesson plan styled, rather than student interactive.  I think some students would have a challenge navigating through this site.

This was a tool I had never heard about or learned anything about.   This is now a tool that I plan to use and I LOVE the premise of it.  It was, however, time consuming to create, and is obviously not something I would use everyday, but rather would use on the bigger projects of the year.  I also think this tool is geared towards intermediate students more than primary students.  It would be difficult for a K student to be set free with this tool to read its directions and complete the tasks at hand.  They would need too much help for this tool to be effective.