Assignment+5+-+Webquests+and+Pathfinders

** Summer 2011 **
 * RLS 514: Teaching Research to Children and Adolescents **

** Pathfinders and WebQuests ** ** Due Wednesday, July 20, 2011 **

Staff and students are always looking for ways to improve the research process. Pathfinders and WebQuests are two ways to do this. A pathfinder is an annotated bibliography pertaining to a specific topic or curriculum area. Think of a pathfinder as an “expert guide” to get you started on your research.

A WebQuest is an “inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web.” WebQuests include these components: 1. An introduction 2. An interesting task 3. A clear process that includes identified web resources 4. A way to evaluate student performance 5. A conclusion 6. Often credits and a teacher resource page are included. (Source: http://webquest.org/index.php) Other resources for creating WebQuests may be found at [] and [].

For this assignment, please select a grade and subject or curriculum area. Identify a pathfinder and a WebQuest that would support this area. Critique the strengths and weaknesses of each indicating changes you would make in the documents to customize them for your purposes.

It may help to identify a particular state learning standard in order to complete an analysis of the two research tools. Please include the links to the two resources for me to refer to as I read your critiques.


 * Please email this document to me as a .doc, .docx, or .pdf file to lmdiekman@sbcglobal.net with a copy to linda.diekman@nl.edu by 5pm on Wednesday, July 20, 2011. ** I will respond to your email indicating receipt of your work.