Web Dilemmas: assessing student understanding with a rich ICT task

Dr Gary Simpson Woodleigh School Baxter, Victoria, Australia

Introduction

The Web Dilemma is a task that can be used to assess student understanding by having students use their skills and knowledge to solve a real world problem. I first used this approach in my year 11 biology course, to assess my students' deeper cognitive understanding of ecological concepts in a real world setting. In this paper, I describe the main elements of the Web Dilemma, my first attempt, what I've learnt and the success of my students.

The dilemma

The Web Dilemma seeks to address the shortcomings of the WebQuest (Simpson, 2005), with computers only required for one or two lessons. The intention is to set the students a challenge. A real-world question is posed that has significance beyond the classroom. It presents links to websites that offer perspectives supporting both the affirmative and negative sides of the dilemma. Students are then encouraged to think about the problem in the light of the material they have been studying in class, pair to reach consensus with a partner, citing evidence for the position they take and then share their views with the whole class or a larger/broader group (Parkes, 2005).

I used the Web Dile mma for the first time in 2005 with my year 11 biology students. We had studied ecosystem structure, natural and artificial change to ecosystems and the role of conservation. We had completed many practical and other classroom activities and a series of field excursions. I then posed them the question: ‘Should Western Port Bay be developed as a deep water port?'

Western Port Bay has many ecological values, is under environmental stress from human activity in its catchment, but is also a natural deep water port that could be used to ease the need for dredging of channels in Port Phillip Bay (an issue causing a great deal of concern itself). Western Port Bay is on the eastern side of the Mornington Peninsula and Port Phillip Bay is on the west, with our school located between the two, about 50 km south of Melbourne.

Activities

This task was to be a culmination of the semester's work. I spen t my time in class carrying out experiments their Activity Manual with the students, having the students design their own experiments, performing other activities and viewing videos about the four core topics of the unit:

• Classification and Identification;
• Habitat and Niche;
• Ecosystems; and,
• Change.

I also taught the students how to study the characteristics of a terrestrial ecosystem in the school grounds. So they had experiences from which to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills required to study a complex ecological issue. The Web Dilemma sought to create an opportunity for the students to apply their knowledge and skill in a real world setting.

To take a position on an issue as complex as the development of the Western Port Bay for shipping required an understanding of the ecosystem and its diverse biotic and abiotic factors, the manner in which organisms and ecosystems respond to change and the influence of human actions on the ability of organisms and ecosystems to cope with change. However, it also required them to think about their lifestyles and how a vibrant human economy was required to maintain those lifestyles.

To help with this, I organised three excursions. The first was to Coolart Wildlife Reserve and Historic Home, a Parks Victoria property, where we were able to study a terrestrial environment that included a dune ecosystem, a saltmarsh estuarine ecosystem and a coastal woodland. These three types are common around the bay. With this trip, I was also able to assess their fieldwork skills. We visited the Melbourne Aquarium to investigate the structure and function of a marine ecosystem. This included behind the scenes access to examine how this artificial ecosystem was maintained. Our third outing included a trip on the Western Port Explorer. Martin Blake, owner/operator of this twin hulled charter boat, was able to speak to the students about the environmental values of the Bay and we carried out a dredge to bring up many of the unique species from the Benthic zone. We then visited Jeff Weir, at the Dolphin Research Institute. Jeff has been heavily involved in scientific research on both Port Phillip and Western Port Bays and was able to share his vast knowledge with the students and pose them some difficult economic choices.

These experiences built on the students' classroom experiences and allowed them to ask questions of people with expert knowledge.

Student outcomes

The students were asked to prepare a feature article for a newspaper or magazine. The responses ranged in level of sophistication, as one would expect from a class with a broad range of abilities. I requested drafts from all the students, as I discovered that most of them were experiencing a number of difficulties in preparing their articles.

The obvious problem was how to assess all the competing information that they had collected from the broad range of sources. The second major concern was how to make a list of criteria, based on the concepts we had studied, with which to assess these knowledge claims. Also, the students were having difficulty separating the Western Port Bay issue from the dredging in Port Phillip Bay. Having read all the drafts and making essentially the same comments on the work, I prepared a list of guiding questions:

• What are the abiotic and biotic factors required for the maintenance of a southern oceans ecosystem? (Hint: think back to our visit to the aquarium.)
• What are the ecological needs of some of the organisms? (Hint: think about habitat requirements.)
• How are the relationships between organisms important to maintaining a healthy ecosystem? (Hint: think about food webs and predator/prey, parasitism and symbiosis.)
• What concerns are there with the introduction of pest plants and animals in a marine system? Why would that be a problem if Hastings were a deep water port?
• What concerns are there with biomagnification of toxic substances in a marine ecosystem?
• What does the process of natural change, in particular succession, tells us about the robustness of natural ecosystems?

The first drafts were emotive and opinionated, rather than objective and based on the concepts we had been studying. These explicit questions, which had been implicitly raised in discussions in class, assisted the students to tease out the issues more and write articles based on the biological concepts we had studied. It was also important that I again explored the links between port developments in both bays and how they needed to concentrate on Western Port. The final products were much improved.

Reflection

I was very happy with the outcome of this task. The students were able to display the skills they had gained during the semester and were able to apply their knowledge and understanding to a very complex situation. The three excursions were integral to the success of this program, as it was in the real world that the students were able to make sense of what I had been trying to do in the class. In the future, I will make the links to the course more explicit by issuing the guiding questions with the task. I would also like to include some time in a mangrove ecosystem, as this is a highly significant feature of the Bay that we did not experience.

I certainly recommend the Web Dilemma as a valuable assessment tool when exploring scientific issues. In this example, I have been able to incorporate the ICT components of the task into a range of traditional teaching approaches, to further enrich the student activity and to assess deeper cognitive structures.

References

Parkes, R. (2005). ‘A Webdilemma: intellectual engagement on the internet'. In Independent Education, vol. 35 n1 pp 34-36.

Simpson, G.B. (2005). ‘Incorporating ICT in the secondary science classroom'. In Teaching Science, vol. 51, n3, pp.44-47.