Webquests are lesson plans that are based on student exploration of online materials in the process of answering open-ended questions about a topic of interest.  Webquests were first developed by Dr. Bernie Dodge of San Diego State University around 1995.  In subsequent years, Dr. Dodge’s colleague, Tom March contributed to the revision and refinement of the Webquest tools found on the Webquest website.  A set of Webquest tools, called Quest Garden, was made available in 1999, to assist teachers in the creation of Webquests.  The Quest Garden provided templates and examples of Webquests that had been created by other teachers. 

     Webquests can be either short or long term investigations of a topic.  Some Webquests, though not all, involve group work in which each group member assumes a specific role or perspective.  The teacher usually provides a preselected set of resources to be used in the activities, especially for younger students.  This strategy helps keep students focused on the topic, and enables them to use the information in their investigation instead of spending most of their time looking for relevant information.