WEBQUEST AS A DIDACTIC TOOL IN PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY
S. Simon1,
M. Solà1,
E. Besalú1,
J.M. Luís2,
P. Salvador1,
S. Vyboishchikov1,
L. Blancafort1,
M. Duran2 1Institute of Computational Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Càtedra de Cultura Científica Comunicació Digital (SPAIN)
2Institute of Computational Chemistry, Department of Chemistry (SPAIN)
In recent years several proposals have emerged with the aim of helping students and the development of different competencies within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Many of these proposals are based on 2.0 tools, especially as they facilitate distance education. One of the latest proposals is called WebQuests. Recent studies [1] conclude that this new teaching tool helps to achieve the targets of generic competencies in the area of Higher Education.
Webquests are didactic tools of guided research, which mainly uses Internet resources. It takes into account the development of basic skills, covers cooperative work and individual responsibility, prioritize the construction of knowledge by processing information on creating a product and has a direct assessment of the process and results.They are a very adequate tool for teaching in the European Space of Higher Education. One of the main advantages is the fact that they stimulate autonomous learning, because the professor is not present during the work.
This methodology has been implemented in several courses taught by the Physical Chemistry area of the Department of Chemistry of the University Girona. The courses are part of the Chemistry Degree which has started at the Facultat of Science in the 2009-2010 academic year. Seven webquests have been designed for the following subjects: Statistical Thermodynamics (2nd year); Quantum Chemistry and Spectroscopy (2nd year); Chemical Kinetics and Molecular Dynamics (3rd year); Experimentation in Physical Chemistry (3rd year), and Chemoinformatics (4th year). Webquests are useful for students to apply their theoretical knowledge to a practical project, based on a real case. This allows them to consolidate their learning and strengthens the students skills that have to do with research. Up to now, the average grade granted to the exercises is higher than 8, which proves the success of the implementation of the webquests.
References:
[1] Iolanda Bernabé Muñoz, Las WebQuests y el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior, Tesis Doctoral, 2008, Universitat Jaume I, Castelló de la Plana.
[2] http://webquest.org/index.php