Question: How could you use a WISE project in your school or another learning environment?

The Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) was designed to support students in their inquiry of science concepts, making use of “Evidence” from the Web (Slotta, 2002). The projects are designed to support a topic from two days to four weeks, depending on the content. Students work at their own pace as they walk through a number of activities, multimedia, and examples. Students use critical and creative thinking skills to problem-solve and design solutions. What I like about the WISE projects is that it encourages students to take ownership over their learning, as the teacher acts as a facilitator. During the WISE projects, students learn how to use the internet effectively, critiquing Web sites, comparing arguments, and designing approaches (Slotta, 2002). WISE is accessible through the internet with no unnecessary add ons. Students can work from home, as well as at school.

In my school, I would use a WISE project to encourage collaboration amongst students. Students could work in small groups to discuss, debate, design, and problem-solve as a team. This would support the development of core competencies such as critical thinking, creative thinking, and personal and social (BC Ministry of Education, 2015). In the grade 3 curriculum, one of the big ideas in Science is that all matter is made of particles (BC Ministry of Education, 2015). I would use WISE to develop weekly challenges for students to work through. Students would begin with an inquiry question on Day 1, accompanied by an experiment. Day 2-4 would have content, guided questions, and multimedia videos and images to support the big idea. Students would work in a small group for experiments and discussion questions. Students would then proceed independently to their WISE project to document observations, share reflections, and work through the course material. I think this would be an engaging way for students to understand curricular competencies. It would also allow for students to work at their own pace. Students could be grouped according to their learning needs. Some WISE projects could have extra inquiry questions to further develop understanding if they consistently finish early. I think this would be beneficial to younger learners because it helps students to become autonomous science learners, developing lifelong learning skills such as critiquing evidence, debating arguments, or designing solutions to personally relevant problems (Slotta, 2002). I would be interested to see how an ongoing inquiry project would work in the primary grades and if students find this supportive of their learning needs. 

References:

British Columbia Ministry of Education. (2017). B.C.’s New Curriculum. Retrieved from: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/science/3

Slotta, J. (2002). Designing the “Web-Based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE)”. Educational Technology ,15-20. Retrieved July 29, 2017.