INQUIRY DEFINITIONS

STRUCTURED

Where students engage in a hands-on

investigation by following a sequence of

procedures provided by the teacher or the

textbook. The students then collect and

organize the data, and make claims and

explanations from the evidence.

GUIDED

Where the teacher provides the question or

a problem to be investigated and a

suggested list of the materials to be used.

The students then, on their own, design and

carry out a procedure for the investigation.

STUDENT-INITIATED

Where students generate their own

questions concerning a topic or

phenomenon and then design their

investigations to solve their questions. At

the end, they make and justify their claims

with supporting evidence

This webquest is an example of structured inquiry. Students are given

a set process to follow with specific resources to utilize. The purpose

of this webquest is to introduce students to college options after high

school. They are also instructed to use the research they do through

the internet searches to compose an essay on a specific topic they

are provided with. At the end of their webquest journey they will have

more information about themselves and career goals, have done

research to make an informed decision about a college, see what is

need to write a college level essay, find and apply for at least two

scholarships and have resources to use for applications and to add to

their portfolio.

This example includes many areas that will be covered in the unit I am

creating, However, this particular example is geared towards students

who have not selected a college to attend. Instead of having students

research various colleges and compare differences I would rather

incorporate a section for exploring the college they already selected.

This could include resources available, benefits, and how to utilize

certain website functions.

This webquest is an example of guided inquiry. Students are given

guidance on tasks to follow, but each step is vague and requires the

user to use their own initiative to find benefits of the program. The

webquest is designed to give students and introduction to the uses of

Evernote and utilizing the iPad for educational purposes. Uses including

tracing notes, articles and other course resources are covered.

Students will be guided on how to install the app, search for web

resources related to note-taking and ipad, brainstorming productively:

independently and with classmates and synthesize the information in in

a concise way.

This example could be beneficial for the unit i am working on. More and

more students are utilizing technology for their learning needs. One

area that will be covered is note taking. Evernote is a great resource

for this among other things. One benefit is that the tool can be

accessed via the web as well as from smart devices. This particular

webquest does not touch on the web capabilities of the program, which

is one change I would need to incorporate if I used this inquiry method.

This webquest has two components, the first is an example of structured

inquiry and the second of guided inquiry. The purpose of this learning

activity is to identify the students learning style, determine what that

means to them as an individual and then work as a group to showcase

what the team as a whole discovered. The first part of the webquest is

structured and gives specific processes to follow. The second portion

asks the students to work together to draw conclusion and present them

to the class as a whole in a format of their choosing.

In the unit I am designing, determining the students learning styles is

one of the first topics covered. This webquest would cover the self-

assessment portion of the unit but it takes what I currently have in my

unit a step further and has the student draw conclusions for what they

learned and then implement their new knowledge in a group project. The

only change that I would incorporate is having the final project be

completed using a web 2.0 tool and submitted on the LMS software

instead of a class presentation.

This webquest is an example of structured inquiry. Students are asked to

immerse themselves into academic honesty, the instructions deem them

plagiarism investigators. The process for the assignment is multi step and

complex. The students work in groups and this particular webquest is set

up for distance learners instead of face-to-face interaction; because of

this the students are required to use Skype and shared Google Docs. This

assignment will give students a solid understanding of what academic

integrity is all about.

Academic honesty is one of the topics that the unit I am designing will

cover. Proper citations are very important as a student progresses

through college and as the type of resources students use evolve they

need to know where resources exist to aid them. Technology makes

copyright issues more complex than many realize. This webquest could

work as an intense way for students to find examples and see what can

happen if they do now understand what academic honesty means. This

particular webquest is created for a different school, I would have to

update some of the resources give and I would also want to incorporate

more guided information related to digital copyright laws as well as

include resources for free copyright material.

This tools can be utilized as a structure, guided, or student-initiated tool.

This tool allows students to create their own inquiries or homework items

base on their own learning. The items generated by each student keeps

their name, but can also be evaluated/rated by their peers. By using this

resource teaching get the learners involved in generating and creating

reflections so teachers can evaluate their learning. It makes it possible for

students to have access to make inquiries or do “homework” anywhere

anytime. The tool has several dimensions that allows teachers to track

each individual student progress and can allow for student specific data to

be disseminated.

For my learning environment this tool could work as a way to test

knowledge as the unit progresses from one topic to another, but more

importantly the students we be given the freedom to initiate questions to

challenge their classmates or to take their learning a step further and

initiate a more complex learning environment. For my situation I would need

to fine additional ways this tool could be utilized besides mobile devices. At

our day campus only 99% state they have smart phone capabilities, but the

1% who doesn’t cannot be left out. This resources would need modified to

allow tablet or laptop use.

REFERENCES

• HERNANDEZ, J. (2014). TO CATCH A CHEAT: AN ACADEMIC INTEGRITY WEBQUEST. RETRIEVED SEPTEMBER 16, 2014, FROM ZUNAL.COM WEBSITE:

HTTP://ZUNAL.COM/WEBQUEST.PHP?W=65243

• LLEWELLYN, D. (2013). CONNECTING THE COMMON CORE TO THE NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS. RETRIEVED SEPTEMBER 16, 2014, FROM LONG ISLAND SCIENCE EDUCATION

LEADERSHIP ASSOCIATION: HTTP://WWW.LISELA.ORG/DOCUMENTS/SCIMEX-2013/SCIMEX-2013-REGISTRATION-FORM

• PLATE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT. (N.D.). COLLEGE SEARCH... WHERE DO I START. RETRIEVED SEPTEMBER 16, 2014, FROM COLLEGE SEARCH WEBQUEST WEBSITE:

HTTP://PLATTE1.K12.WY.US/WHS/COLLEGEWEBQUEST/#INTRODUCTION

• SCHELLENBERG, D. (N.D.). LEARNING STYLES AND TEAMWORK WEBQUEST. RETRIEVED SEPTEMBER 16, 2014, FROM MESACC.EDU WEBSITE:

HTTP://WWW.MESACC.EDU/~DEBDT83701/LEARNINGSTYLES/INDEX.HTML

• STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION. (2014). SMILE: STANDFORD MOBILE INQUIRY-BASE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. RETRIEVED SEPTEMBER 16, 2014, FROM STANFORD.EDU

WEBSITE: HTTPS://GSE-IT.STANFORD.EDU/RESEARCH/PROJECT/SMILE

• WOODWARD, F. (2012, JULY 22). THE IPAD IN HIGHER EDUCATION. RETRIEVED SEPTEMBER 16, 2014, FROM VALDOSTA STATE UNIVERSITY WEBSITE:

HTTPS://SITES.GOOGLE.COM/SITE/IPADHIGHERED/HOME