Pupils find fun on 'Net

By TINA ALLEN

VIEW STAFF WRITER

If predictions by classmates are accurate, Anthony Schettler has a lucrative career awaiting him in about 10 years.

"He's going to be the next Bill Gates," said Jeff Sheeler, about his young friend whose passion is computers.

For that matter, the entire class at Lummis Elementary School could have bright futures if the pupils' current work is any indication of their potential.

The fifth-grade Gifted and Talented Education pupils are developing their own Web sites -- called WebQuests -- aimed at helping other young computer users learn about a variety of subjects, ranging from the Renaissance to basketball.

WebQuest was developed in early 1995 by Bernie Dodge, a professor of educational technology at San Diego State University. It was created as an online tool for youth to see the Internet as a resource, while learning about a specific subject at the same time.

Jeff Hybarger, Lummis' GATE teacher, said the designing of the sites is something usually reserved for teachers or high school and college students. The children are the youngest in the Clark County School District to undertake such a project.

"What I have found is when children are challenged with the opportunity to act as teachers, they are briefly overwhelmed, but not afraid to venture into the unknown," Hybarger said.

To help the children build their own WebQuests, Hybarger scaled the directions down and made the activity developmentally appropriate for his class of advanced 10- and 11-year-olds.

"Children need an opportunity to learn the most cutting edge of technology," said Hybarger, who added his method of teaching has changed because of the Internet. "It's just part of the core of learning. In the past, that hasn't been important, but as the world changes, it is."

The Lummis children are working in groups of two or three and should have the sites completed and online by January.

Each WebQuest provides links to other informational sites specific to the topic, eliminating the need to search through masses of material pulled up by search engines.

Children connected online to a WebQuest work in teams and progress through the site by accomplishing a series of tasks. Each member takes on a role during their cyber voyage.

In the case of Samantha Scott's and Kendal Lay's wilderness survival quest, visitors can choose to be a hiker, which displays links to sites advising the tools to carry for a safe trek. Those with an appetite can take on the role of the bug eater, which has links to pages of information about edible foods found in the vast desert or deep forest.

Ten-year-old Ben Pettit and classmate Evan Unick are working on a site about World War II. The quest is in honor of Pettit's grandfather, a World War II veteran. The two are including a slide show, actual photos of war scenes and a cyber tour of D-Day, the Pearl Harbor bombing and the Battle of the Bulge.

"It would be kind of cool that someone in a different country is reading something I wrote," Pettit said of the fact his site will be able to be accessed by anyone in the world.

Schettler and his teammates, Sheeler and Sean Brady, are designing The Car Zone quest. The site will teach users about the history of cars, experimental cars and safety issues involved in driving.

Although Schettler began teaching himself about computers at the age of 4, he said this is the first Web site he ever designed. He hopes to put his knowledge to work as a future computer engineer, designing software.

"I will have all that knowledge so in my job later on, I will be able to work freely," Schettler said. "The earlier you start learning, the more chances you'll have of being better at your work."