Web-Based Learning: How Task Scaffolding and Web Site Design Support

Using WebQuests for inquiry-based learning represents a higher-order use of technology requiring students to exercise information seeking, analyzing, and synthesizing strategies. This research was designed to obtain a better understanding of how to enhance the pedagogical effectiveness of WebQuests and of how students interact with the various features inherent to informational Web sites. A major objective was to examine the effect of providing instructional scaffolds to support fifth-grade students' WebQuesting experiences. The findings indicated that concept mapping templates coordinated with the research tasks enhanced students' free recall and application of acquired knowledge. The importance of site design features, especially discourse quality, multimedia elements, and navigational systems, are discussed with respect to students' ability to locate, extract, and apply information. (Keywords: WebQuests, information literacy. Web site design, inquiry-based learning, cognitive scaffolding.)

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