Crack the Code!

This webquest is designed to help students actually see the answer to the common question, "When will I ever use math?!" It helps them see how math is used outside of the school system and how vital it is to our society. Even the government uses it! It is to also let the students know that there are careers specifically for people who love math, and the job is a highly respected one!

Cryptography is also important in the historical aspect. It is very old, and codes have been significant in use around the world. There was even a specific branch of the military just for codes! Slaves used codes in their quilts, and the Germans used them in WWII.

This webquest has the students create several small projects based on their findings and in the end, as a group, they collect all of their projects for a summative project of a poster (or tri-fold) to be presented to the class.  It encourages a high level of thinking and logic and is just plain fun.  It also encourages the use of technology through websites, online puzzle-making, and Microsoft Word documents.


The projects give students choices throughout the webquest.  They have choices of which things to research, and also in the methods they create them.  I believe this is a strong means of engaging students as well as a motivational tool. 


I enjoyed creating this, and hopefully your students will enjoy participating in it.  :)