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Dear friends:
I was wondering what kind of work
you were doing with your students. I know the subject is Energy from the point
of view of consumers, how they can save and manage energy resources.
As it is a common task, I’d like to
suggest you asomething that you could do by yourselves as a school-team and in
“big groups”, that’s to say schools together. What I’m suggesting is easy to
do, easy to plan and in my opinion very interesting.
I’m talking about a WEBQUEST . A
WebQuest is defined, by Bernie Dodge at
As you can read, it is something
that our students like to do: searching the Internet.
Commonly the webquest is made by
teachers and done by students in group-work.
It has a main subject ( e.g. “Good practices to save energy”) and
suggests a task that envolves consulting information sources specially
listed by teachers.
These sources (also called
resources) might be books, videos, even living interviews. In most case they
are webpages or internet sites.
It is also common that the “Task”
demands students to play the role of a
character (e.g. an engineer, a researcher, a technician, an adviser, a “green” activist
,...) to promote opposite opinions
or gather similar ideas towards the same
goal.
There is a lot of sites on internet
where you can find more information about webquests.
I recommend these: http://webquest.org/
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/webquest/webquest.html
Related with Energy you can find:
http://www.dmrtc.net/~embrys/aesindex.htm
http://www.geocities.com/brookwebquest1/
http://www.ccsd.net/schools/carson/webquests/energy/energyquest.html
http://pw.vsb.bc.ca/library/sc9energy.html
From these sites you can find dozens
of others with all information you need.
Let me just give you a few hints:
The webquest structure is divided in
:
1-Introduction
2-Task
3-Process
4-Resources
5-Evaluation
6-Conclusion
By Introduction it is understood as
a short text which presents the subject and antecipates for students
what kind of activities they will achieve (do).
If the WQ
as a scenario or requests to play a role,
(e.g. an environment advisor), that must be written on Introduction.
Task
The task
describes what kind of “product” is expected
from students to do at the WQ’s end and
what kind of tools shall be used. (What software, for instance...)
Some
examples of tasks:
To solve a problem ( how to optimise...?)
To
solve a mistery
Formulate
and sustain an opinion
To
analyse a problematic issue
To
write a report (follwing a given template – journalistic, scientific,
technical)
To
create a slogan (supported by public –school- inquiries)
-Anything demanding
collecting and processing information.
Process (Devlopment)
Process indicates
step by step what to do to accomplish the Task. Detailed is
better...
Example:
1.
To make student
groups (no more than 3 students)
2.
To distribute each
one’s play or tasks
It is also important to suggest in what kind of way
(mean) gathered information shall be organised: fluxograms, checklists,
mindmaps...
Sources (also called
resources) are sites and webpages choosen by teachers and consulted by students
to accomplish the task. They are shown on Process section but can be presented
on a separated section.
Assessment
This section informs
students how their performance will be assessed and in what situation will be
as individual or group.
The table below can be used by teachers to assess
the WQ and to trace students profile. Of course you can do it by yourselves
according to you assessment parameters and goals.
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Steps (Phases) |
Level * Beginner |
Level Apprentice |
Level Professional |
Level Master |
Total pts |
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1st
step Write here the goal and the expected performance |
Give a description about what you consider to be
the begginer profile. (Example:
Less or lack of interest; rather participation on discussions) |
Give a description about what you consider to
be liveliness towards a promising performance. |
Give a description about what you consider to be
good (Example: Good level of interest: good
participation on discussions) |
Give a description about what you consider to
be the highest level (Example: Deep
interest; excellent participation on discussions) |
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Poor |
Rather Good |
Good |
Very good Excellent |
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2ª step ... |
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* Levels are
incative; you can find your own levels.