Activities are the most frequently used applications in a classroom and come in a variety of formats. An Activity Page is simpler and may be more appropriate to students and teacher new to the Internet. It offers students a range of online resources (like a WebQuest), but then has the student complete a simpler cognitive task. The thinking here is that Activity Pages serve as a good introduction and offer a format that resembles a more typical classroom activity. Thus if the technology and navigating the Internet themselves may be challenging to students, a task lower on the taxonomy of learning might be a good beginning point. One example of an Activity Page is the Egyptian Scavenger Hunt created for Black history month.
Multimedia Scrapbooks - The internet has photos, maps, sound files, stories and facts on a vast number of topics. Point your students to these"scraps" and have them download these into a variety of formats: collage, web page, slide presentation, or poster. You not only create an affective connection to artifacts but you immerse your students in an active constructionist activity.
Scavenger Hunts or Treasure Hunts - Through a scavenger or treasure hunt you can pose questions about a specific topic and then provide interesting Web resources that hold the answers. In a cleverly designed Scavenger Hunt as the students discover the answers they could be tapping into a deeper vein of thought that would furnished the schema for the topic being studied.
Sampler - In a subject sampler learners are presented with a smaller variety of Web sites organized around a main topic. A sampler engages students by offering them something interesting to do, read or see and asking them to respond to the acitivity from a personal perspective. The sampler differs from the Treasure Hunt in that it does not ask them to uncover hard knowledge but ask them their perspective on a topic by comparing experiences or interpretions of artwork or data. Use a Subject Sampler when you want students to feel connected to the topic and to feel the subject matters.
WebQuest - an inquiry-oriented activity designed by Professor Bernie Dodge, Ph.D. He explains, "The instructional goal of a WebQuest is knowledge acquisition and integration. At the end of a WebQuest, a learner will have grappled with a significant amount of new information, analyzes it and transformed it into a useful product.
(This workshop is based on concepts developed by Applications Design Team/Wired Learning for the Knowledge Network.)
Prepared by Carol Siwninski for Germantown Academy Staff Development Summer Workshop June23- June 24, 1997
Updated November, 2007
Send comments or questions to Carol Siwinski, Curricular Technology Specialist for Germantown Academy.