Project Pages are “online documents that guide learners through inquiry while engaging them in the particular essential question of interest"(1).

(1) Jakes, D.S., Pennington, M.E., & Knodle, H.A. (2001). Using the Internet to promote inquiry-based learning: an epaper about a structured approach for effective student Web research. Retrieved July 20, 2001 from Biopoint: http://www.biopoint.com/inquiry/ibr.html.

Use a Project Page when the goal is to emphasize inquiry learning and higher order thinking skills.

• Scenario
  • Places essential question in “real-world” context
  • Used to “hook” students and interest them in activity
  • Should be a paragraph long
  • Asks the Essential Question
    • Requires a decision or course of action
    • Requires critical thinking
• Task
  
  • Describes what students will be doing
    
  • Lists foundation questions
    
  • Provides structure for investigation
    
  • Indicates whether individual or cooperative
    
  • May define roles
  • Includes Foundation questions
    
    • “What is” questions
      
    • Provide structure for inquiry
      
    • Help students gather information to answer essential question
• Resources
  
  • Contains links to Web
    
  • May direct students to traditional resources
    
  • Includes enough links to enable students to answer foundation questions
• Product
  
  • Describes what students will produce to demonstrate ability to answer essential question
    
  • Should match role given in scenario
    
  • Could be
    
    • Essays
      
    • Hypermedia stacks
      
    • PowerPoint Presentations
      
    • Web Essays
• Assessment
  
  • Describes how students will be evaluated
    
  • Consider using a rubric
    
  • Provided at the beginning
    
  • May evaluate product as well as process

• Planning a Thematic Unit developed for an Early Childhood Language Arts Methosd class.
• Online Gallery of Project Pages and MinQuests from Internet Innovations, Inc. (Hotlist of pages created by K-12 teachers at various seminars. Quality varies, but may provide ideas for higher ed faculty.)

• Jakes, D.S., Pennington, ME, & Knodle, H.A. (2001). Using the Internet to promote inquiry-based learning: an epaper about a structured approach for effective student Web research. Retrieved November 4, 2001 from Biopoint: http://www.biopoint.com/inquiry/ibr.html.
  
• Building Project Pages. (1999). Retrieved July 21, 2001 from Biopoint: http://www.biopoint.com/ibr/projectpage.html.
  
• Dodge, B. (2001). Creating a rubric for a given task. Retrieved November 11, 2001, from The WebQuest Page: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/rubrics/weblessons.htm
  
• Using the Internet to promote inquiry-based learning. (2000). Retrieved July 20, 2001 from Biopoint: http://www.biopoint.com/ibr/startup.html.