Chocolate Chip Cookies: To Eat or Not to Eat http://collier.k12.fl.us/weblessons/cookiewq/index.htm

This interactive webquest allows students to work in teams of scientists and researchers. Each group has a separate location in the "process" section of the site that takes them to their respective tasks. It is an excellent way for students to explore what is good about different brands of chocolate chip cookies, and why they can be bad for you, having them look up the history, ingredients, how much fat is okay to have, etc. In pairs, teams will make a presentation board to show the class their findings. A digital KWL chart, issue reports, idea/data/experiment worksheets, and other sheets allow students to record their findings using technology.

I thought that it was a great webquest. It wasn't too complicated or too simple, gave members different tasks to accomplish, but incorporated group work, and was very interactive. I would definitely use this particular one in a classroom!

Useful Evaluations

The Website Evaluation Wizard from 21st Century Information Fluency lets you enter the URL of the site, then is split into eight specifics that you should look for when evaluating a website: author, publisher, objectivity, links from, date, accuracy, evidence, and links to. For each specific category, there are two to four questions to consider when evaluating the site. There are also tutorials under each category that can help you find certain parts of the website.

The site is more geared toward adults. The layout is clear and organized, but very plain and the questions related to the categories are specific but may require a little digging around the site. It is extremely user friendly, allowing you to take notes on each area and save them with the URL and title of the site.

A to Z Teacher Stuff - Resources for Teachers

The website I reviewed, A to Z Teacher Stuff, featured lesson plans, thematic units, tips for teachers, materials for free and for purchase, and teacher forums. I thought the site could be a great resource for teachers that need some different ideas that they hadn't thought of. The tips for teachers had a lot of great ideas like how to get organized before the year starts, ways to do lunch count, ice breakers, and even tips for student teachers and cooperative teachers. Each idea has a link to another website that features that specific idea for lesson plans, units, etc. There was no author and no way to contact the person in charge of the site, which is a drawback, but all in all, had some good ideas.

By doing the website evaluation, I found there are a lot of things that can be overlooked when searching for a good website. Knowing where the information comes from is important if you want to know that it's a good website and paying attention the authors and publishers is something I had never really thought to do. This exercise reminded me that those things are necessary to remember when looking for a legitimate site and will help me to keep that in mind in the future when looking for resources or sites for students.

Wikis

I've used Wikis here and there in different classes here and UT. But getting to play around with it a little more, it is easy to use, pretty straight forward, and a tool that I feel could be something useful in the classroom. Whether students use it for assignments or reviewing or parents use it for who is supplying what for the class, it could be handy to have a place that members of the classroom community could collaborate.