I had never heard of Internet treasure hunts before this semester, but now I'm hooked! I want to create a treasure hunt for every lesson! Of course that would not be a good use of technology since so many other resources are available, but I think you can see my fondness for this technology in particular. Similar to a real treasure hunt, students are given clues in the form of websites which they visit in order to answer a list of questions. At the end of the "hunting" part of the lesson, the students attempt to synthesize the information they learned and answer another question by applying their knowledge to a new situation.Treasure hunts are extremely useful in the classroom because teachers can easily create these assignments, and everything is provided for the students. Students know what information to look for, and the links for any necessary websites are provided for them. Although teachers must still monitor the room to make sure students are on task and are not visiting irrelevant/unreliable sites, the opportunities for students to get off task is greatly reduced. For a great example of a treasure hunt, click here.
Treasure hunts also provide a great opportunity for students to utilize the Intern
et and find current information. It helps teachers move beyond the textbook and make learning more exciting for students. Although these do take a bit of prior planning (creating the website, finding appropriate links, ensuring that all links are currently active), I believe that they are worth the effort.For more information on how to plan an Internet Scavenger Hunt, check out the following website:
How to Plan an Internet Scavenger Hunt
