Webquests

Webquests will be a good variety in the classroom and will be effective because it can take up a couple class periods, depending on the amount of information you have them research! I like the flexibility of webquests. You can present a concept that you want, and let the students research it for themselves and structure your assessment according to the research they have found. Although webquests might take a lot of time to set up initially, it will pay off in the end because of what the time the students will put into it and what they will gain.

Although math is very straightforward and there are certain requirements they have to master in order to move to the next level, I've thought of some ways to make math more applicable and help them understand it by using it in real life. One of the math webquests I found was something called Carshop. Students had to research certain used cars, pretending that they were going to buy one. They had to research the monthly payments, how long it would take to pay off, interest rates on loans, etc. It was a great application!

Math webquests will also be good to introduce students to the concept we are learning, the background of it, how it relates to what we just learned, and use of this concept in the real world. We are trying to do that with the webquest we are working on in class. I think it will make their study of math more effective and they will be able to retain the information better. It will help them understand why they are doing math, not just for the sake of the teacher inflicting pain to their minds!