Internet Scavenger HuntBy Jennifer M. Santos

The following game is based on the idea of a WebQuest, which, in short, comprises an “an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet.”1 Depending on how the individual WebQuest is designed, it can serve multiple pedagogical purposes including team building, internet research skills, information acquisition (and/or reinforcement), critical thinking skills, etc.

The following Internet Scavenger Hunt was developed as an extension of the WebQuest to include concepts of causality. Often, we want our students to get beyond simple definitions of causality, such as “X causes Y” or “the media causes eating disorders.” Instead, we want our students to trace the chain reaction of events to gain a more complete understanding of the complex relations between different factors. In first-year composition, I teach causal argument. However, the broader concept of complex causality is often emphasized in other subjects and at various grade levels. In history, instructors may invite their students to speculate on causes of the Holocaust. In science, students may be asked to speculate on the causes of different natural phenomena. Regardless of the subject matter, an emphasis on causality and research skills goes a long way in gaining a more complex understanding of the related issues. With this in mind, I created the Internet Scavenger Hunt.2 Its current incarnation is designed to be completed by Freshman Composition students in one class period of 50 minutes, with potential for extended online discussion as out-of-class exploration. In this chapter, you will find a background of the game, student reactions, alternate uses, directions for modifying the game for your class, sample instructions for students, and screenshots of the game itself.

Background of the Game

The idea for this project grew from student frustration with the concept of causal argument. Creating a theoretical linear chain describing the cause of a particular phenomenon often served as the low point of the semester for my students of first-year composition. To mitigate frustration and increase comprehension, I created a version of the game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” wherein students first connect Bob Barker to Kevin Bacon through movies and then trace “six degrees” in a sample student causal argument. The final portion of this activity includes the collaborative creation of six degrees for a potential paper topic. While this series of games helped clarify the basics of causal chains, students still struggled with the causal unit. With this continued struggle in mind, I sought an activity that would reinforce student strengths exhibited in playing the “six degrees” games.

And so, the Internet Scavenger Hunt was born. I envisioned the three parts of the game well before the game was complete. Essentially, students would be faced with a WebQuest in which they must work as a team to derive the answer to six questions (building on the concept of “six degrees”). The set-up for each question comprised a narrative that linked each question to the question that follows, thus demonstrating a causal chain during the game. To be effective, the students were allowed to see only one question at a time – subsequent questions could only be accessed by a correct answer to the question at hand:

1 Dodge, Bernie. “Some Thoughts about WebQuests.” 5 May 1997. 5 January 2004. http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/about_webquests.html. For more information about WebQuests, see The WebQuest Page at http://webquest.sdsu.edu/.2 Special thanks to Robert J. Santos for undertaking the programming required for this game.

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Screenshots of the entire game can be found at the end of the chapter.

In this respect, the Internet Scavenger Hunt differs from a traditional WebQuest – it requires additional technology for its success and forces a linear pattern.3 Students – allowed to see only one question at a time – begin to grasp the complexity of causality and the necessity of understanding and justifying each link in a causal chain. Students learn that one cannot skip a step or rearrange the order of events leading up to a phenomenon without affecting the validity (and possible outcomes) of the causal chain.

Each portion of the narrative causal chain has a related question. Students then use Internet resources collaboratively to deduce the one word answer. At the conclusion of the six steps, students are greeted with a screen that summarizes the causal chain they have just witnessed. After reviewing this chain, they must then take the six answers and place them in an order that comprises a causal chain. Then, they create a brief narrative that justifies and explains their ordering of the terms and their new causal chain.

After completing the creation of the new causal chain, a representative from the group places the causal chain on the electronic Blackboard® system. Each individual is then asked to respond critically (via asynchronous chat) to the other team’s causal chains, observing the strengths and weaknesses of each. Providing prompting questions for this discussion could extend in-depth discussion of the concepts through an online class period.

3 In order to block students from seeing additional questions, Robert J. Santos was solicited to create a Java program that enabled this function. Parties interested in receiving copies of the program can contact Jennifer Santos at jennifer.santos@asu.edu.

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The final portion of the assignment includes a critical reflection. Along the way, students are asked to take notes on the group and individual thought processes to encourage a conscious knowledge of their own causal thought processes. The reflection helps both student and instructor assess how the student learned and helps the student recognize successes and missteps in this particular aspect of learning. By reflecting on their choices, students have the potential to fine tune their choices in regards to research methods and critical thinking for higher potential for success in the future.

Student Reaction: Successes and Potential Problems

The instructions and screen shots given throughout refer to the first version of the game, designed for a first-year composition course focusing on differing argumentation styles (specifically dealing with causal argument). In crafting this particular game, the topic was chosen based on perceived audience interest. The current craze surrounding reality television shows and the younger generation’s interest in music became the focal points for the activity.

After testing this game in two freshman composition classes (First-Year Composition and Advanced First-Year Composition), certain benefits became obvious. The game allows for a more hands-on, kinesthetic approach to learning that is often difficult to integrate into composition classes. It therefore allows for a variety of learning styles by integrating kinesthetic with visual learning. Student response in the First-Year Composition class, gleaned from formal and informal anonymous evaluations, rated this activity with a high degree of success – the style of the activity and the topic allowed for increased student engagement.

Likewise, by utilizing this game to reinforce and draw out more sophisticated concepts of causal argument, students performed extremely well on their written formal causal arguments, outperforming (as a whole) previous writing classes. The frustration and dislike of causal argument found at the beginning of the unit was replaced by a collective expression of favoritism for this argument type. These students also expressed pleasure in learning more advanced Internet research skills.

However, a major concern in the creation of the game includes the creation of appropriate questions. Consideration of audience competencies (in relation to technology as well as to the subject matter) proves particularly necessary. While the questions allowed my First-Year Composition students to practice and improve upon Internet research skills, my Advanced First-Year Composition students found the questions to be too easy, due to greater experience with advanced Internet searches. Thus, students with strong Internet research skills need more complex questions than those posed in the beta version of this game, as demonstrated by my Advanced First-Year Composition students.

While this problem impeded the main pedagogical purpose of the game in the Advanced First-Year Composition class, using such an activity towards the beginning of a semester does provide a fairly accurate heuristic of student competencies in regards to technology and researching. In technology assisted classrooms, determining student knowledge of technology and research proves vital in crafting and adapting lesson plans for student success and maximized learning.

Alternate Uses

While the primary focus of this game relates to argument based freshman composition classes, any humanities course investigating the causes of a particular phenomenon may successfully adapt the game to its purposes. One major strength includes demonstrating the necessity of looking at multiple causes encapsulated in the popular conception of a single cause. Similarly, considering various methods of

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reaching a particular conclusion stimulates discussion (online or face-to-face) regarding complexities of a particular issue.

As such, the Internet Scavenger Hunt functions well as a gateway activity into more in-depth topical issues. It may be used to introduce a particular unit, theme, or topic, or could be used to transition from one topic to the next, while allowing students to gain research skills, basic background information, and encouraging critical inquiry. By asking students to respond to the process and product of the game, students continue to improve their ability to question effectively and appropriately.

Likewise, various grade levels may chose to use this game. Younger students involved in science classes may find value in this game when learning about, for example, the formation of clouds where a particular set of phenomenon (including evaporation and condensation) must occur in a particular order for a cloud to form. Without one step in the chain or without the steps occurring in the appropriate order, there will be no cloud!

Using the Internet Scavenger Hunt for Your Course

To use this game for your course, you will need to:

get the files change the questions and answers for your class

upload the files to an appropriate webspace for use

and test your game.

Get the files by emailing jennifer.santos@asu.edu to receive the game components.

You will receive three files – Query.jar, questionList.xml, and testpage.htm.

First, you will want to change the questions and desired answers to match your specific class. The following method will allow you to accomplish that:

1) Open the questionList.xml file in a webpage development tool, such as Netscape Composer or Dreamweaver.

2) You will see the questions and answers within html code:

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3) In between the line that reads <question> and the line that reads </question>, you will see the example student prompt regarding Madonna. Delete the text you see and type your own question.

4) If you would like a white space between your text (like that shown in the example between the statement about Madonna and the actual question), type <br> and press “enter” to move to a new line. Type <br> again.4 If you do not want any white space, simply delete the two lines of text that read <br><br>.

5) In between the line that reads <answer> and the line that reads </answer>, delete the existing answer and enter the response that you would like your students to provide.

6) Repeat this process for each of the questions and answers.

7) There are only six questions in the questionList.xml file you received. If you would like to use more than six (6) questions, copy the following text using your editor (Netscape Composer, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Notepad, etc.):

4 This html line break construction is atypical of html code. However, it must be carefully observed in order to create the desired effect.

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8) Paste the text you have copied after the </page> of question 6. Repeat steps 3, 4, and 5 (above) to change the question and answer. Be certain that your last line of each question reads </page>.

9) If you would prefer to use less than six (6) questions, delete the text shown in the figure above. Be certain that your last line for your final question reads </page>.

10) When finished, save your work.

Upload the three files (the questionList.xml you just modified, Query.jar, and testpage.hml) to your webspace. They must be stored in the same directory! (Note: University-provided webspace often restricts posting of jar files. Using an outside webhosting source such as that provided by Cox may be necessary.)

Test your results by opening the testpage.htm using Netscape. You should see this screen:

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Netscape

You may see a screen that looks like this:

This screen means the game is not working properly, which often occurs when using Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox browsers. If you prefer to use a browser other than Netscape, you can download Java by Sun Microsystems to enable the game to work in other browsers, such as Internet Explorer and Firefox.

To do this:

1) Go to http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

2) Peruse the list of Operating System Choices and find yours.

3) Click the download button next to your Operating System.

4) Install the program following the installation instructions.

5) Test your page. You should now see the working screen!

Note that your students will have to follow the same process on their computers if they are not using a recent version of Netscape.

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Internet Explorer

Sample Student Instructions for the Internet Scavenger Hunt

(Note: These instructions are tailored for the sample Internet Scavenger Hunt shown in these pages. You may need to modify them for your own use to have your students go to your webspace, answer however many questions your activity requires, etc.)

This activity asks you to combine your internet research skills and your knowledge of causal chains to complete:

1) an internet scavenger hunt2) a journal of your methods3) a new causal chain with the clues found in the scavenger hunt4) a discussion of the new causal chain.

Follow the steps in order while working with your teammates.

PART 1

1) Turn off the volume on the computer.

2) Make sure you are using Netscape and go to the webpage http://members.cox.net/ssantos1/testpage.htm.5

3) Work together to answer each question. There are six (6) questions total, and you cannot move on to the next question until you have completed the one before it. (For example, you cannot view question four, until you have completed questions one, two, and three in order.)

4) Read the question CAREFULLY! Note: Although the program is not case-sensitive (that is, you may use capital letters if desired), you MUST enter the correct form of the word (“pen” is not the same as “pens”) to receive a “correct” response from the program. Each question will instruct you as to which form of the answer will be accepted.

5) Discuss methods of finding the answer with your teammates. Take notes on where you chose to look for the answer and WHY you chose to look in each place.

6) When you begin searching for the answer, open up a new browser window (click File and then New) and use that window for all of your searches.

7) When you get the correct answer, write it down on paper.

8) Repeat the process for all six questions.

9) Read the final screen and reflect on the causal chain provided.

10) Write down your thoughts on the information given on this screen in relation to the principles of causal argument and causal chains.5 This game will only work in Internet Explorer if an appropriate upgrade patch has been installed: Internet Explorer only recognizes Java 1. To allow Internet Explorer to recognize Java 2, download the applet from http://www.java.com/en/index.jsp. Newer versions of Netscape do not require additional components to recognize Java 2.

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PART 2

1) Work in your group to turn the six (6) “clues” you found (the answers to each question) into a causal chain, utilizing the “six degrees of separation” technique. You will need to create a rough narrative to be successful with this activity.

2) You may use various forms of the terms. For example, you may change “political” to “politics” if you prefer.

3) Be sure to JUSTIFY each link in the chain. Avoid placing only the terms in order, leaving your reader to infer your meaning.

Instead of this: spam costs lots of money death of emailTry this: Spam has increased exponentially in recent years. It currently comprises more than 60% of all email. This large amount of spam email has caused a huge monetary drain on ISPs, business, and individual users. If this keeps up, email may become an obsolete method of communication.

4) Take notes on how your group completes this process.

5) Post your new causal chain to the class discussion board.

PART 3

1) Read the other groups’ causal chains. Consider the strengths and weaknesses of each.

2) Respond to at least two other groups by presenting your thoughts on the causal chain presented. Make sure you point to both the strengths and weaknesses. Feel free to make suggestions and/or ask questions. The more you put into this discussion, the more you will get out of it.

3) As usual, your responses will be graded. This portion of the activity is due by the end of our next hybrid meeting, and the quality of your discussion will influence your grade for this assignment.

PART 4

For homework, type up your methods, reflecting more thoroughly on the links in your group’s thought processes. Post this document to your group’s discussion board prior to the start of the next class period.

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Internet Scavenger Hunt Screenshots

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