Teacher Process
This WebQuest began with an overview of Internet resources and some discussion regarding how to select reliable websites. Students then worked as a group analyzing the websites that they were directed to in the first assignment. We found that this first assignment took about three to four periods to complete, allowing for about half a period to do a wrap up and review, where I shared the ratings I would have given each of the sites and explained the reasons why.
The second assignment is to select three of the websites about Ancient Greece to use for research. This assignment was only given one day in the computer lab, since there were only six sites and no notes were required of the process, just a simple form to state which sites were chosen. Because it was very important that the students use good website sources for their research, students who selected a poor website were required to repeat the assignment and reexamine the websites, with close guidance from myself during the process. There was a mistaken assumption that if an author is listed for the page it is automatically reliable. We corrected this assumption and moved on.
Students then have two days (again during the writing block) to do their research and take notes on Athens and Sparta. We found that this was more than sufficient time for the students to select the most important pieces of information and to put them into their notes. Since this is not an exhaustive study on Athens and Sparta, and since the students have already learned about both citystates in social studies, they were able to quickly find the new pieces of information and enter it into their notes.
Finally, the students had three days to put together their presentations and their visual aids for their speeches. We used the last two days of our unit on Ancient Greece for presentations of the work the students completed. It took us twelve days during the writing period (45 minutes) to complete this WebQuest. It could be completed faster if students did part of the work at home, or if the visual aid component was eliminated from the final presentation.