WebQuest experience: Pre-Service secondary maths and chemistry teachers

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of developing WebQuests on the attention, confidence, relevance and satisfaction, or motivation, of pre-service secondary mathematics and chemistry teachers in the instructional technologies and material design course. There were a total of 67 pre-service teachers, 32 pre-service secondary mathematics teachers and 35 pre-service secondary chemistry teachers involved in this study, which took place over seven weeks. The pre-service teachers in both groups designed their WebQuests suitable for the level of high-school students. The researcher used a questionnaire in the collection of the data to find the motivational level of the participants. It was given to the participants by the researcher before and after the instruction during a single class period. The paired-samples t-test, independent samples t-test and ANCOVA were used in the analysis of the quantitative data. The study showed that designing WebQuests had more effect on the attention, confidence and relevance of the pre-service chemistry teachers than of the pre-service mathematics teachers. However, in general, although developing WebQuests had positive effects on the motivational levels of both pre-service secondary maths and chemistry teachers, there were no statistically significant differences found in relation to the motivational levels of both groups.    Keywords: WebQuests, pre-service teachers, attention, confidence, relevance, satisfaction