21st Century Skills for Jobs: Enhancing Education and Learning
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Presentation Transcript
WebQuests Jan Perkins Shelby County Schools July, 2001
Workers for the 21st Century • Basic Skills • Technical Skills • Organizational Skills • Company-Specific Skills From the National Summit on 21st Century Skills for 21st Century Jobs January 12, 1999
Supporting Educational Principles • Constructivist Learning Environment • Cooperative Learning • Scaffolding
Constructivist Learning Environment “. . .constructivist learning experiences and appropriate classroom practices include reflective thinking and productivity; authentic activities, including student collaboration and consideration of multiple perspectives, and student access to content area experts who can model domain-specific skills. . . “ Grabe/Grabe, 1998
Cooperative Learning • Improves comprehension of basic academic content • Reinforces social skills • Allows student decision making • Creates active learning environment • Boosts students’ self-esteem • Celebrates diverse learning styles • Promotes student responsibility Orlich et al. Teaching Strategies: A Guide to Better Instruction, 5/e (1998)
Scaffolding • Temporary structure which provides help at specific points in the learning process • Allows learners to complete a challenging task which they would not be able to accomplish without help
Scaffolding Provides... • resources • a compelling problem or task • templates and guides for student products • guidance on cognitive and social skills
Why WebQuests? • Provide authentic, real world experiences • Focus on understanding and transforming information • Promote cooperative learning • Provide a framework for project-based learning in a contructivist environment
WebQuest Definition • Inquiry-oriented • Based on a doable, engaging task • Uses pre-defined resources from the Web (and others) • Requires the application of information in a new context
WebQuest Parts • Introduction • Task • Process/Resources • Evaluation • Conclusion • Credits
WebQuests Examples The Realm of Fairy Tales The Geography of FedEx Expansion Return to Web page