Learning in a sheltered Internet environment: The use of WebQuests

The present study investigated the effects on learning in a sheltered Internet environment using so-called WebQuests in elementary school classrooms in the Netherlands. A WebQuest is an assignment presented together with a series of web pages to help guide children's learning. The learning gains and quality of the work of 229 sixth graders participating in either a free-search Google condition or a closed-search WebQuest condition were compared. The closed-search condition showed the highest learning gains for boys. Children's information processing and linguistic skills generally influenced their learning gains and did not interact with condition. A difference in the quality of writing for the two conditions was also found with the language quality being higher in the free-search condition.