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Captivating Your Students. With Cyberhunts. Workshop Objectives. Recognize and use cyberhunts as an instructional tool. Identify different implementation strategies for cyberhunts. Create a frameworks-based cyberhunt as part of a lesson plan.
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Captivating Your Students With Cyberhunts
Workshop Objectives • Recognize and use cyberhunts as an instructional tool. • Identify different implementation strategies for cyberhunts. • Create a frameworks-based cyberhunt as part of a lesson plan. • Demonstrate through discussion the successful integration of cyberhunts into curricular instruction. • Share the cyberhunt and lesson plan with the group to demonstrate the application of new skills.
What are Cyberhunts? • A tool for teaching students how to search for information on the Internet. • Usually appear in an interesting question-answer format. • Other names include scavenger hunt, Web hunt, and treasure hunt.
Why use Cyberhunts? • May be used in every curriculum area and grade level. • Provides students with technology skills and subject matter knowledge. • Provides reading comprehension practice in an interesting format. • Use either as an introductory or culminating activity for a unit of study. • Use as the unit of study itself. • Are easy to create. • Makes students active learners. • Helps prepare students for more complex online activities.
Types of Cyberhunts • Directed – learners are directed to gather information on a set of questions and are provided with the Web site address for locating the answers. • Discovery – questions are open ended and learners must use keywords and search engines to locate sites that provide the answers.
Directed vs. Discovery • Directed cyberhunts are more predictable with no great surprises during the activity. • Directed cyberhunts are less demanding for both the teacher and the learner. • Discovery cyberhunts are more difficult to plan and are more challenging for the learner. • Discovery cyberhunts better enhance thinking and problem-solving skills and are potentially more rewarding due to the substantial amount of information they may yield. From ComputerWise Issue 14 April 2006
Steps for Creating a Cyberhunt • Select a topic/concept. • Locate appropriate Web sites with content that introduces or reinforces the selected subject. • Create questions for each site that relate to your teaching objectives. • Make an answer key if needed. • Decide on an implementation strategy.
Implementation • Type the cyberhunt in a word processing program such as Microsoft Word; add graphics if desired; print and give to students. • Save the cyberhunt to a computer hard drive or a CD; have students work on it at their computer. • Create the cyberhunt as a Web page and publish it to a Web server, so it may be used from any computer with Internet access. • May use any program that will save files as Web pages such as Word, Publisher, or Nvu • Nvu is a free download. - http://www.nvu.com/index.php • Create the cyberhunt using TrackStar. • http://trackstar.4teachers.org
Experience a Cyberhunt • View and complete “The Day I Was Born” cyberhunt. • The link is on the Supplemental Online Resources handout *. • Record your answers on notepaper if desired. • Be prepared to discuss/comment about this cyberhunt.
Cyberhunt Examples • Use the Supplemental Online Resources to view and explore various cyberhunt examples. • Be prepared to share your thoughts and discuss the examples you view. • What did you like and dislike? • What formats do you prefer?
Create a New Folder • Create a new folder in My Documents labeled with your last name. • All of the files you create today will be saved to this folder. • Open a blank Word document, name it “Cyberhunt Resources” and save it in your folder.
Locate ResourcesCreate your Cyberhunt • Decide on your cyberhunt topic and locate online resources for it. • Create a frameworks-based cyberhunt using Microsoft Word. • Minimum of 10 questions • At least 5 different online sources • A link to recommended search sites is located on the resources handout.
Create the Lesson Plan • Create a complete lesson plan which includes the cyberhunt you developed. • Use the provided lesson plan template. • Create any related files (instructional materials, worksheets, assessments, etc.) and save them to your folder. • You will share your product with the group at the end of today’s session.
Discussion • How might the use of cyberhunts improve teaching? • How might the use of cyberhunts improve student learning? • What problems/difficulties might you experience in implementing the use of cyberhunts? • Other comments or questions
Closing • Do evaluations. • Clean up your area if needed. • Take all of your handouts and other materials with you. • Be sure to save your folder to your travel drive or CD. Or, email the files as attachments to your preferred account. • Delete your folder from the computer before you leave.