Enthusiastic experts answer questions
With free stimulating research assignments, John Demmers draws thousands of visitors to webkwestie.nl every day. Now the 65-year-old teacher has come up with something new: children can ask questions to experts.
Image Angeliek de Jonge
'Look, it's getting very, very exciting now,' says brain professor Erik Scherder into the camera, showing a cross-section of the brain stem. 'Look, those two little black dots make sure your brain is on and you can think well. Don't you think that's incredible too?'
Scherder's video is up question-and-answer.webkwestie.nl, an initiative of John Demmers, teacher at the Krabbenkooi primary school in Bergen op Zoom. When the students during the lockdown came home, he wanted to organize something extra for them to keep them focused. How cool would it be if children could ask experts themselves questions? He took the plunge and found Erik Scherder, Victor Mids and André Kuipers, among others, willing to cooperate. “It took some effort to approach them, but in the end they were very enthusiastic,” says Demmers.
Idea: Have children question experts via a website
Organizations such as the Anne Frank Foundation and Safaripark De Beekse Bergen are participating. On the website, children ask questions and explain why they want to know something. Teun from Delft asks whether older children have more brains than younger ones. His head is almost as big as his sister's, while she is older and knows more. It is one of the many 'terribly fun and above all good questions' that prompt scientists like Erik Scherder to give a passionate explanation.
llusion
Web issues are linked to each topic: assignments for which students largely search the information on the Internet. For example, Victor Mids, known for the program Mindf * ck, a mini lecture on how the eyes can deceive us. Kids can then do a web question to learn about optical illusions. Among other things, they look at the work of artist Escher and learn to make an impossible figure themselves.
As a detective or captain, students work according to a clear step-by-step plan
More than twenty years ago, Demmers brought the American webquest to the Netherlands, and called it web issue. “The internet at school was still in its infancy and I was looking for a way to familiarize my colleagues with it,” he says. “Webkestie is a wonderful concept that stimulates curiosity. As a detective or captain, students work independently according to a clear step-by-step plan. All sources are selected for level and relevance for children, so they do not just go blind on the internet. When this caught on at my school, I wanted to make it available throughout the Netherlands. We succeeded. ”
Subsidy
Demmers received a subsidy from the ministry, to which he and a group of other teachers gave content to webkwesties.nl. The free site now has more than six hundred assignments for primary education up to and including higher professional education, and there are an average of two thousand visitors per school day.
New assignments are always added, provided they meet the requirements, something that Demmers keeps a close eye on. A web issue goes beyond just answering a question. Pupils work together in groups, each with its own role and convert the information found into, for example, a presentation, model or poster. Demmers: “These are open questions for which they can come up with their own solution or answer. Skills such as creativity, collaboration or critical search work are also discussed. The American inventor Bernie Dodge wanted to use this to encourage children to think higher. ”
Sponsor
Another innovation is the mysteryquest.webkwestie.nl. Every week he posts a film about a subject, of which students have to find out what it is, such as a special place, event or painting. This form is also catching on, given the hundreds of participants per week.
It can be a bit more modern, but never commercial
All in all, it does take a lot of time, he acknowledges. “It could be a bit less according to my wife, but I really enjoy doing it and I learn a lot from it myself,” he says with a laugh. His wish is to give the website a modern update, but as far as he is concerned it will never be commercial. "I'm hoping for a sponsor or someone who can help me tackle the technical part so that even more teachers can find their way into this great teaching format."
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