WebQuests are a way of incorporating technology into a classroom to make a classroom more interesting. In a WebQuest a student must navigate their way through a band of tasks using the internet. While doing so they must use a higher level of thinking, synthesis, analysis, problem-solving, creativity and judgement (Lenz, 2010). It connects websites to one another giving students an explanation of a task then encouraging them to complete the skills that they have learnt. A WebQuest can be an excellent way to answer question seven of the LMQs and evaluate whether or not the students have learnt the content shown in class. In a primary school situation a teacher can use a WebQuest to research and find information on a topic as Linda Willert has produced for her class here. This WebQuest encourages students to find out about dinosaurs using a WebQuest. It will challenge their thinking , analysis, problem solving and creativity while also teaching students how to use technology.
As a high school mathematics teacher it will be harder to find and introduce a WebQuest into the classroom. If a teacher does their job a student should not have to search to find out what an equation is they should know how to do it off the top of their head. Workings will still need to be done online unless all the students have tablets. As there are less WebQuests out there for teachers to work off it may be hard for a teacher to create an effective WebQuest which can be used to challenge a student’s critical thinking and expand their horizons. The only time that a WebQuest would not be a waste of time in a mathematics classroom is to asses students on statistics etc. An assessment could suggest that students each pick a topic to research eg car crashes, probability of failing, etc. Students can each set out on a WebQuest which will incorporate mathematical equations into their learning. The WebQuest could then end with the students showing their working in the form of an excel spreadsheet, showing databases
