Blog #8

Soo Webquests are a new concept to me. I admit, I hadn't even heard of them before, although brief contemplation would probably have led to a pretty reasonable assumption of what they are... Had I bothered instead of just reading about them. It's a clever idea. Almost like a virtual fieldtrip, but even more involved, they're designed especially for students to better grasp concepts by interacting with them. There are several websites devoted to hosting WebQuests that (generally) teachers create, but the most extensive one I found is QuestGarden.

QuestGarden led me to an interesting-sounding Quest sort of based on chimpanzees, applicable because our project focuses on Jane Goodall's interaction with chimpanzees in Tanzania in the 60's. Survival of the Fittest: The Deserted Island Project, asks students to choose an aspect of chimp life and through research and observation compare it to human life. The results are intended to contribute to a debate over whether a male human or male chimp would survive better on a deserted island. Even though we couldn't *really* directly incorporate this into our presentation, if the teacher were to spend more time on the difference beetween chimps and humans, it would certainly be an interesting project! Although it is intended for grades 6-8, it could even be made adapted for lower grade levels by allowing the students to make small presentations instead of debating their reasoning.

I like this WebQuest find... It's fun and descreetly (albeit effectively) educational. That's the best kind of learning!