21 Module title: : Challenge-Based Learning in the Classroom How, then, do educators ensure that students use technology to construct meaningful knowledge, skills, and, dispositions so that they will be able to work in a technologic ally advanced society? One Internet-based teaching strategy gaining in popularity is the WebQuest, an inquiry-based learning activity. Seeing the benefits of incorporating WebQuests into instruction, hundreds of schools, school districts, and universities have online collections of well-written WebQuests. Many teachers have been using WebQuests in the classroom for several years. But how does the use of WebQuests in the classroom affect student learning? Do students gain needed content and skills as a result of completing WebQuest activities? Why WebQuests? WebQuests promote student motivation and authenticity, develop thinking skills, and encourage cooperative learning, increase student motivation by providing an essential question, real-life resources with which to work, and opportunities to work in cooperative groups. WebQuests, by their very nature, encourage the development of thinking skills. The assigned task requires students to “transform information into something else: a cluster that maps out the major issues, a comparison, a hypothesis, a solution, etc.” Practical Implications Educators must critically examine the benefits of any type of instructional strategy before implementation. WebQuests and other technological innovations should be no exception. Just because a strategy is novel does not mean that it is effective. Any effort to implement this type of technology into the curriculum is certain to be costly and time consuming. More evidenced is needed to justify the use of such technology in the classroom. The empirical evidence is lacking, however, as to whether or not WebQuests are more effective than traditional instructional strategies when teaching for content. They do give teachers and students variety in their teaching and learning. Variety is critical to effective instruction because it ensures that teachers meet the needs of all students.
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