The Internet is everywhere – ubiquitous; pervasive even. If there is one thing the younger generations know how to do well, it is navigate the World Wide Web. We can make use of this skill in teaching astronomy, tapping into the wide variety of resources available and even appealing to the “need to be entertained” mentality of many astronomy 101 students. For this, webquests are often the perfect combination.
A webquest is the use of an internet site to answer a series of questions, which the students complete by exploring the website. You can either make an assignment to go with a particular website, or there are websites which already contain an assignment within them. A good astronomy example (though basic) is the following site: http://claweb.cla.unipd.it/home/mcanapero/astron_lesson/
It contains interactive pages and real-life documents which the students can read through in any order. Some information is repeated in different formats, and any one section or activity does not take long to complete. In addition, there are a number of extra resources linked at the bottom of the page.
An important benefit to webquests is that they introduce a new media from which students can learn, and they appeal to different learning types. Students can take their time going through the assignment, helping each one to learn at his or her own pace. They can also take some of the onus off of you, the teacher. One disadvantage is that it does take a bit of preparation – searching for either a pre-made webquest, or a site good enough (and on topic) for you to make a webquest yourself. However the results are quite worthwhile.
Creating a webquest is not hard. If you have the time and the creativity, you could create an online webpage assignment with links provided to various sites where students can search for information. It is just as easy, though, to create an assignment on paper which makes use of a strong website to answer questions or complete tasks. An excellent resource on webquests in general is http://webquest.org/ . Unfortunately there are no astronomy webquests listed there, but there is the ability to create your own online webquest, and many good examples of other webquests. A second site on how to create your own is: http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/buildingblocks/p-index.htm
How do you know if you’ve found a good webquest website? The best webquests have interactive features so that the students can change the parameters of a simulation or do an online quiz. Some webquests even have a “teachers’ page” with more ideas on how to use the information presented in class. They all include lots of good images, up-to-date information and plenty of “nooks and crannies” into which the students can search for the required material (and maybe even learn an extra few things along the way!).
Listed below are a number of good sites for webquests. Keep in mind that by creating your own, you can tailor the difficulty to the level of your class. Happy surfing!
NASA’s JPL has a number of good sites for webquests:
Other good (general astronomy) sites which can be used to make an assignment:
Some good, pre-made, astronomy webquests: