Based on Web Site: Scholastic Math Hunt - http://teacher.scholastic.com/mathhunt/index.asp
Lesson Description: I would use this lesson as a center in my classroom. It crosses over several curriculums and involves a lot of reading in order to find the necessary information to solve the problems posed.
"Worth It" Scale: This lesson scores about a 7 out of 10. The information gathering needed is not too intense and would be suitable for 5th and 6th graders. It essentially holds the students hand and points them in the right direction to find the information needed to solve each problem.
Based on Web Site: To Kill a Mocking Bird - http://www.fsu.edu/~CandI/ENGLISH/webquests/mocking.htm
Lesson Description: Using the plans mentioned at the Web Site: This lesson is based upon the reading of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Students will work in teams of three (upon completion of the novel). Each team will be assigned one social issue: Growing up in the South in the thirties, Racism in the South in the thirties, Being a woman in the thirties, Standing up for personal beliefs, or The effects of the Great Depression. Online resources will already be developed for them. They must use these resources to conduct research in order to become informed about their specific topic. They must answer a set of questions created for them in order to better understand their topic. Once they are aware of and understand this information they are to apply it to the characters from their novel. One student will assume the role of one of the characters and another, the interviewer. This interview should reflect the information that they discovered. They will then create a news article. Students will apply their knowledge by developing an article where they make a statement about their topic and use an interview (that they create) with characters from the novel to support their statements. They must post their newspaper articles on their Web Pages.
"Worth It" Scale: This web quest would be an 8. Students could use their text books to find a lot of the information provided, but the use of the web quest makes it much better because they are able to locate information from several more sources. The quest contains several links to photos and stories.
Based on Web Site: Searching for China Webquest - http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/China/ChinaQuest.html
Lesson Description: I would have students get into a group and do a webquest on US diplomacy in an American Government class. After doing the webquest student will develop a plan for diplomatic relations with China.
"Worth It" Scale: This site would score between an 8 and a 9 on the worth it scale. This web site and project is geared toward high school students, preferably 10th to 12th graders in a US Government class and it is well designed for this age group. I really like the site because as students move from issue to issue they stay within a defined set of web sites that relate only to this topic, thus minimizing the possibility that students could venture off into non-educational areas of the web.
Based on Web Site: Worldwide Weather Cams - http://www.weatherimages.org/weathercams/world.html
Lesson Description: After a standard climate study in class, with maps, articles, and statistics, students would be given one city in a country studied during the climate activity. They would then make a prediction about the current weather in that city based on their current knowledge of the climate. They would then view the weather cam of that city on the computer for several days, noting their observations. They would then explain why their prediction was correct or not. It could even be done with the weather cams before the climate activity, predicting what type of climate a particular city had.
"Worth It" Scale: This site would score a 9. First, it would engage the student. Second, they would be gathering real world data themselves. It would also reinforce their prediction and critical thinking skills. This would be worth it because students would be collecting data to explore the topic of world climate.
Based on Web Site: Zelda's Zany Zoo - http://www.itdc.sbcss.k12.ca.us/curriculum/zanyzoo.html
Lesson Description: Students in third grade complete a performance task called planning a zoo. Essentially the activity teaches them perimeter and area. Once that activity is completed, I would then use the web quest as a follow up to help students understand the need for zoos. Students would be divided up into groups of 4 and assigned tasks from the web quest.
"Worth It" Scale: Scores an 8 once again mainly because it would give my students an opportunity through the web to visit zoos that they would most likely never see.
Based on Web Site: EPALS - www.epals.com
Lesson Description: The web site allows students to communicate across the world with other classrooms through E-mail. A pen pal site that is not limited by the schedule of the post office. It would allow students to work on ALL the above projects, and many others, then post and share their projects with others. It would also allow students to work in groups with others from around the world. I used it when students did a report on several countries of Europe. Students shared information about the USA with students from the selected countries. They then created a MS PowerPoint presentation on the country and submitted it first to their pen pal who edited it. They, in turn, did the same for their pen pal. The presentation was then shown to the class.
"Worth It" Scale: This one would score a 9 on the scale. First, studying a country in a book just does not get the attention of students. Studying it through the eyes of an inhabitant would. Also, as stated by Harris, it allows students to share their work with others around the world, which really excites them (I know, I did it two years ago before it became too time consuming because of country restrictions).