To engage students in these kinds of intellectual activities, WebQuests use scaffolding or prompting, which has been shown to facilitate more advanced thinking. Many times students are asked to collaborate with each other to collect evidence. Often WebQuests require that students conduct their research from the perspectives of individuals with different points of view. WebQuest, students role-play animal rights activists, habitat experts, zoo evaluators, and zoologists. Students are directed to resources that would be appropriate for their assigned role model and are then asked questions pertinent to that person.
Students then select five cities and collect data from national weather websites.
These data are analyzed a variety of ways. The answer or solution that student teams develop in response to a WebQuest should be posted, emailed, or presented to real people for feedback and evaluation. When students role-play, they have to present their case from the perspective of the individual they are representing. WebQuest, the animal-rights activists present arguments against zoos. The habitat experts defend why they support the continuation of zoos.