Blog 6

I was really worried about the WebQuest lesson.  I had never heard of a WebQuest, but since the beginning of lesson one, we were advised to begin working on this lesson as soon as possible.  Our instructions for this assignment had the same advice, “Do not wait to do this assignment. Creating a WebQuest is time consuming – far more than most students realize.” 

One of the problems I see with using WebQuest is that sometimes the teachers who post them do not have entirely correct information.  The first WebQuest on the mathematics 9^th-12^th grade was about probability.  I was really excited about this topic.  I am planning on becoming a math teacher, but I would love to teach statistics also.  I read this WebQuest and was really excited about it until I looked at the practice test.  Her students were instructed to take this practice test before doing any research.  It looked great until the last problem.  I am going to assume that the teacher just had a typo, but on that problem there was not a correct answer choice.  This is the problem with using WebQuest.  If I had just assumed that this teacher had all of the correct information and asked my students to do this assignment, chances are that they would have been extremely confused.  I think that WebGarden should have someone periodically checking the WebQuest and changing mistakes like the one I saw. 

My WebQuest is designed for high school students that are from grade 9-12.  The students will act as if they have won $1,000,000 from the lottery and they are to spend that money on a house, cars, etc.  They will then create an equation to find out how long their winnings will last them.  They are also required to use Excel to create a graph depicting how their money was spent.  They are also expected to write a two page essay with a PowerPoint to show their finished product.

The most challenging part of making my WebQuest was finding the standards that went with it.  This is my first education class.  We have covered technology standards, which I included in my WebQuest, but I had no idea where to find mathematic standards for Kentucky.  After searching the Internet for a while, I decided to call my friend who is a math teacher.  She emailed me a link to Kentucky standards and I was able to find standards that fit Mathematics, Practical Living/Vocational Studies, and Technology. 

Another challenge I faced when creating my WebQuest was coming up with a creative and unique idea.  I had worked hours on my WebQuest.  When I went to the WebQuest discussion board to post the URL for my WebQuest, I saw a student who had the same background story as my WebQuest.  After I spent that much time on my WebQuest I was not about to restart this assignment.  Of course, I freaked out for a couple of minutes before I decided to tweak my background story, since it was just that part that was similar.