Collection Use: Learning: WebQuests and Lesson Plans

Audio and video can be integrated into activities across the curriculum. Why reinvent the wheel? You can find lots of units, lessons, and webquests on the Internet to explore and adapt.

WebQuests provide an authentic, technology-rich environment for problem solving, information processing, and collaboration. This inquiry-based approach to learning involves students in a wide range of activities that make good use of Internet-based resources. Bernie Dodge developed the WebQuest concept back in the mid 1990s.

To learn more, check out Bernie Dodge's WebQuest site at San Diego State University. You can also go to Locating and Evaluating WebQuests at eduScapes Teacher Tap for lots of resource links.

Read about ways to use the movie The King's Speech in teaching and learning.

Read about connecting Maths and the Movies.

Collections of Activities and Lesson Plans for Video in the Classroom

• A&E - lessons from A&E
• Cable in the Classroom
• DiscoverySchool - lessons for Discovery Channel programs
• Drama 11 and 12 Film and Television from British Columbia Ministry of Education
• ESL/EFL Lessons Using Movies by Donna Hurst Tatsuki from The Internet TESL Journal
• Film Education from the UK - a few free guides
• Media Awareness Network (MNet) from Canadian non-profit organization developing media literacy programs
• PBS Teacher Source
  • Masterpiece Theatre in the Classroom
• Teach with Movies - guide with "character development and ethical emphasis", emphasis such as The Right Stuff, many movies listed in the index, learning guides are now fee-based service.
• Thinkfinity - search for resources across the curriculum

Directories

• Movies from Awesome Library

Videos in Lesson Plans

You can find many more lessons and webquests by doing a Google search for phrases such as Of Mice and Men movie lesson, or Antz guide. Go to Film Education for lots of resources.

Read The Princess and the Frog from Film Education.
Read Nanny McPhee and Big Bang from Film Education
Read Metropolis from Film Education.

Elementary

• Ice Age Mammals - Based on the movie Ice Age
• Using Film and Literature in the Elementary Classroom: The Jungle Book by
  Gretchen L. Gallagher - Based on the movie
• Mystery - Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective - Scooby Doo videos
• Tunnels of Learning - The World of Ants - Based on the movie Antz

Middle School

• Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity - Based on the movie Clockstoppers and/or Time Machine
• Finding Nemo by Cynthia Kirkeby
• Man of La Mancha - Based on the movie Man of La Mancha
• Movies Are Us - five movies
• Time Travel in Literature - Based on the movie Time Machine

High School/College

• Breakthrough Thinking - Based on the movie A Beautiful Mind
• E-Company: A Look Into Our Past - Based on Band of Brothers
• Drake Equation, The - The Search for Intelligent Life - Based on the movie Contact
• Great Depression and the Arts - Based on Grapes of Wrath
• Heaven of Groundhog Day? - Based on the movie Groundhog Day
• Midsummer's Night Dream, A Imagery in Shakespeare Movies in the Classroom - Based on movie
• Netting the Net - Based on The Net
• Schindler's List - Based on Schindler's List
• Science and Ethics - Based on the movies Mindwalk & Real Genius
• Scorpions, Kinds, and Ancient Egypt - from Scorpion King & Egypt Beyond the Pyramids
• Teaching the Movie M.I.B to ESL Students - Based on the movie MIB
• Watergate - The Role of Press in Politics - Based on the movie All the President's Men & Biography: Richard Nixon

Music and other Audio in WebQuests and Lesson Plans

You can find many more lessons and webquests by doing a Google search for phrases such as civil war music webquest, popular music lesson, or country music webquest.

Elementary

• The Mozart Connection: The Power of Music

Middle School

• Country Music WebQuest
• Feel in the Blanks - listen to music
• Musical Era WebQuest
• Tejano Music

High School

• Popular Music and Music Videos
  

Explore the following 42explore projects from eduScapes for ideas, lessons, and webquests:

• Classical Music
• Folk Music
• Jazz Music
• Rock 'n Roll Music
  
  

Literature-based WebQuest

The following webquests are based on books, but could be adapted for use with the video-based on the book. You can find many more lessons and webquests by doing a Google search for phrases such as Harry Potter webquest, or Tuck Everlasting lesson.

Primary (K-2) Literature-based WebQuests

• Arthur's Tooth by Marc Brown - grade 1 Arthur's dentist, Dr. Sozio, wants your class to make posters for his office to help Arthur understand his teeth better.
• Henkes - Chrysanthemum: What's in a Name (Kevin Henkes) - primary grades Read books by Kevin Henkes and create a "book about me".    

Intermediate (3-5) Literature-based WebQuests

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - grade 3-5 Read the book and invent a candy, learn about the history and origin of chocolate, and create a board game.
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling - A Day in the Life of Harry Potter Harry Potter WebQuest - Keep Harry Potter in the library
• The Lorax - The Grickle-Grass Gazette - grades 3-5 Read the book "The Lorax". Help the ecological newspaper by creating a page for its new issue.

Middle School WebQuests

• Dahl - The Fantasy of Roald Dahl - grades 6-8 Analyze and evaluate the information you have discovered through the novel.
• Into Thin Air - grades 6-8 You are part of a team consisting of an Environmentalist, Adventurist and Biologist. You have been commissioned to look into the events that led up to the tragedy on May 10, 1996 and come up with strategies that would possibly prevent such a tragedy in the future.
• Outsiders: Teens & Life Choices - grades 6-8 The feud between the Greasers and Socs must end! You have been selected to represent either the Socs or the Greasers at a summer camp. Help these gangs from The Outsiders to resolve their differences and develop a plan for the future.
• To Kill a Mockingbird - grades 6-8 (Others: The Mockingbird Sings) Activities related to the novel.

High School WebQuests

• Crucible & McCarthyism Compare "The Crucible" to the political happenings of McCarthyism during the 1950's.
• Fahrenheit 451 WebQuest - Book Burning: It's Not Just Science Fiction - grade 9 Learn about the past, present, and future censorship while reading Fahrenheit 451.
• Lost Horizon - Searching for Lost Horizon - 9th grade Your job is to map your journey and write what you discover on your journey to Shangri-La.
• Odyssey - As Mt. Olympus Turns... WebQuest Examine the stories and characters of Greek mythology and create a modern soap opera
• Odyssey - Homer's Odyssey: A Guide to Understanding the Voyage of Odysseus Through a Study of Greek Mythology Acting as classroom historians, explore the world of Ancient Greece, its cultures, geography and myths.
• Of Mice and Men - Putting George on Trial: Taking Of Mice and Men into the Courtroom - grade 9 You are a participant in the trial of The People of the State of California v. George Milton. You will be a judge, lawyer, juror, bailiff, court reporter, defendant, or witness.
• Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene Explore the historical background to the novel.

Explore more novel-based WebQuests.

Select and evaluate a webquest or lesson. Discuss how it could be updated and adapted for classroom use. Or, discuss how you would adapt a lesson designed for use with a book for use with a video.

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