The World Wide Web contains millions of sites; many are inaccurate or inappropriate for use in the K-12 classroom. Students often are unable to separate the quality sites from the uninformed or biased sites and, even if they do happen to select quality sites in the course of their research, they may simply summarize -- or worse, plagiarize -- the information they find.

The WebQuest format allows educators to help students use content-rich Web resources in ways that encourage higher order thinking.

• WebQuests are classroom activities that guide students as they learn to use resources from the Web to create new projects that analyze, synthesize, or evaluate the information they find.
• WebQuests are inquiry-based. Students must actively use online information rather than simply copying it.
• Some WebQuests require one to two class periods to complete; others take weeks or more.
• WebQuests were created by Bernie Dodge with Tom March in 1995.

WebQuests can be designed in all content areas for students of all ages. Bernie Poole's WebQuest on WebQuests is designed for preservice and inservice teachers. Additional WebQuests -- for a variety of grade levels and content areas -- can be found by clicking the Top, Middling, or New link in the menu bar at Webquest.org, or by searching the site's entire WebQuest database.

Next: Why use WebQuests?