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A-Hunting They Will Go

When Cindy O'Hora left a career in nursing to become a full-time parent and take an active role in the education of her children, she didn't realize that she had embarked on a career of volunteerism -- and she certainly didn't expect that some of her school-related volunteer work would be accomplished online!

"When the elementary school my children attended got a free Internet connection," O'Hora says, "I tried to help the teachers figure out what it could do for them and for their students. After I observed the challenges of using online resources with younger students, I started creating Internet hunts to give more direction to the students' Internet use. The Internet hunts I created were done for and with teachers, getting their input throughout the entire process." O'Hora established the Internet Hunt Activities Web site to publish and share the hunts she had created.

Ideas for many of the site's Internet hunts -- including About Homer and Ancient Greek Life and The Adventures of Ulysses -- developed through O'Hora's volunteer work with students and teachers at Selinsgrove Area Middle School. Among the most popular hunts are the "month" hunts -- which focus on the famous people, significant dates, and natural phenomena associated with a specific month.

"My goal is not only to have students find answers to specific questions, but also to give them a peek at the many useful sites on each subject," explains O'Hora. "My Environment hunt, for example, links to 50 different sites about environmental issues, making it a helpful tool for students who want to explore and report on an environmental issue."

O'Hora has received innumerable favorable responses to her hunts. "I am especially pleased when I hear from someone who is trying to develop one himself or herself," she says. "It follows the "give someone a fish versus teach someone how to fish" philosophy. Clearly, for some teachers, these hunts are planting the seeds of possibilities."

Article by Cara Bafile
Education World®
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