Social Studies WebQuest: An Action Research Project

Abstract

Presently, a large majority of the nation has adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which has led to a drastic shift of focus in elementary-level academics. The CCSS aims to educate the whole child through collaboration, communication, and critical thinking skills to prepare students for success in college and career endeavors. To meet the goals of CCSS, 21st century educators need to be able to create and utilize engaging, effective, technology-integrated instructional resources. An action research project was conducted to study the use of a standards-based WebQuest on the topic of the Federal Government that was designed and developed for second grade students at a public school in Honolulu. A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity, supported by the constructivist and cognitivist learning theories, which integrates technology as an instructional strategy (Dodge, 2001; Halat, 2013; Zheng, Stucky, McAlack, Menchana, and Stoddart, 2005). This WebQuest was developed using Google Sites and designed to be developmentally appropriate for young students to work in small groups. The WebQuest contains the pretest, introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion, and resources. Lessons learned include the importance of roles and responsibilities in small groups, scaffolding and debriefing for young students, and the importance of effective data collection tools. Overall, as an instructional strategy the WebQuest was found to be moderately effective for content delivery and effective for increasing student engagement.