I chose to
review the middle school webquests.
The webquest that I thought was the
best was “The Problem with Landfills”.
This site was age-appropriate for middle-schoolers from the type face used
to the activity’s steps. The images weren’t awkward or too clip-arty either. I
think it can be hard to walk the thin line of age-appropriateness when dealing
with students between middle school and elementary and the webquest toed the
line fairly well. The language used on
this site was well-designed for the age group.
I feel like students would not only be comfortable with the
expectations, but they would be challenged just enough. The webquest not only
covered geography standards, but it also incorporated being a responsible
global citizen. Having dual-standards
met is always good in lessons, given the time crunch that most teachers face
every day.
The worst webquest that I viewed
was the “Creative Encounters”. The “Creative
Encounters” text was too colorful and cluttered; I found it very
distracting. I could not concentrate on
what the premise of the lesson because of how the site was set up and
organized. I still don’t know what I can
gain by using the webquest. The idea of creating
a numbering system seems great, but I do not think the way that “Creative
Encounters” was set up was effective.
The premise of numeration value is age-appropriate for middle school
students. If the theme had been less
cutesy and more age-appropriate, I think the site could be used more
effectively.
