WebQuest

In class today we learned about and explored the website WebQuest.org. This is a pretty old website but some of the lesson plans and tools offered appear to be very helpful. The lesson plan I chose to explore was a Solar System Sweepstakes lesson. The basic idea of the lesson plan was to let your students become spokesmen for each planet in the Solar System. They had to come up with reasons why a person would want to go visit the planet that they are representing. Initially the activity seemed kind of boring to me but I found that as I got more into the more I enjoyed it. When I approached the task of advertising my planet I started out with general questions but as I started to look at why a person would want to visit my planet I realized I needed to provide more detailed information about the planet to make it more attractive. By the end of the lesson I had really refreshed my memory and I learned a few new things. Another aspect of this lesson that I really liked is that it can be geared to appeal to everyone.
What I like about the activities provided on WebQuest is that they really get kids involved with what they are learning. I think that the lessons provided on the website could provide some great scaffolding for any teachers lesson plan. In the future I plan on using WebQuest to get ideas for lessons, as well as to get ideas to develop them further. I think that WebQuest is a great tool and resource a teacher could use to better the education of his/her students.