Of the 5 WebQuests from the WebQuests about WebQuests site, in the High School Math/Science Version, http://webquest.sdsu.edu/webquestwebquest-hs-mathsci.html only one of them had, what I understood to be an essential part of a WebQuest, and that is the requirement that a student adopts a point of view which is not necessarily their own, then through research, presents compelling information from that viewpoint. The “How did life on Earth begin” WebQuest http://questgarden.com/76/45/9/090210180935/index.htm required all students in the class to be assigned to one of four teams representing either Biology Teachers, Physics Teachers, a Parent’s Association and the Religion Department. From this perspective, the students had to research the topic and prepare a presentation to the School Board convincing them of the validity of their argument. This WebQuest fulfilled March’s (2000, p. 62) requirement for WebQuests to be “Real, Rich and Relevant”. It was real and relevant to the students in the school in which it was originally created, because as members of an Episcopalian school the religious viewpoint would have most likely been the one they were most comfortable with. The introduction to the WebQuest states that the teaching of evolution was on trial in several States in the United States and therefore learning about evolution and being asked to present a case for its introduction (if chosen in the role of a Biology Teacher) would quite possibly have been in conflict with their own pre-existing thoughts. It was rich in that it directed students to sites that they may not have found on their own, forcing them to reflect on their currently held opinions.

The other four WebQuests were what I would describe as Directed Investigations, a topic with a definite, known endpoint effectively scaffolded with links to useful and appropriate websites to collect information along the way. Most of these WebQuests either encouraged solo working or could be done alone, they did not require the cooperative, collaborative higher order learning that takes place in the “How did life on Earth begin” Quest. 

The WebQuest about WebQuests requires participants to adopt a viewpoint – either the “Efficiency Expert”, the “Affiliator”, the “Altitudinist” and the “Technophile”. All of these roles would be satisfied with the tasks from the “How did life on Earth begin” WebQuest because it is the only one that encourages students to work in groups right from the beginning of the task (The Affiliator). It is directed, but allows individuals to make up their own opinions based on information that has been provided, therefore the Altitudinist and the Efficiency Experts would be satisfied. Finally, the Technophile would be satisfied because it uses technology in a productive manner – not too many whiz bang applications, but it is more about getting information from the Web rather than from a worksheet.