A short summary of my findings while investigating the Web-based inquiry Science Environment
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What was the motivation to create WISE?
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In what ways does WISE promote knowledge integration through its technological and curriculum design?
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Describe a typical process for developing a WISE project. How does this design process compare with the Jasper Adventures?
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What are some perceived limitations, hindrances or constraints related to WISE?
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How could you use a WISE project in your school or another learning environment? What about WISE would you wish to customize?
WISE was created as a platform to host curriculum designed for scientific inquiry. Fully customizable by teachers, it allows students to explore, reflect, investigate, observe and immerse themselves in different project-based environments. With prompts, challenges, animations and many other features, it is less like learning and more like exploration.
With the many activities offered in the WISE design, students can view text, animations, movies, pictures, drawings and many other forms of knowledge, from one platform. Students can review, take tests and quizzes, complete questionnaires, and more importantly students can communicate with each other in small groups, and with users in other schools, cities or countries. Different students learn in different ways, and WISE appeals to students with its bright, fast-paced and varied activity platform.
The WISE projects are easier to develop in some ways. WISE is a platform that any teacher can use to develop their lessons into a larger project. If the user has access to the internet, a unit can be developed. It is; however, both time-consuming and knowledge dependent. If a user is not tech0capable, this would be hard to develop a unit. The Jasper Series, aside from the proprietary affiliation with Vanderbilt University, would be easier to replicate. Anyone with a digital videocamera (smartphone, iPad etc…) could film sequences interspersed with charts, questions, and data.
The knowledge-specific requirement of being able to type text, find and paste media, and the time it takes to do so are limitations. The fact that it is strictly science-based may be seen as a limitation, but that is the purpose for which it was developed. While projects can be customized, they are for set grade levels – something designed for grade 5’s is not really appropriate for grade 9’s. And lastly, there does not seem to be very many WISE projects in the archives.
Actually, I would like to see the scope of the platform expanded to include other disciplines. The humanities could benefit from a platform like this. The project focus in Social Studies classes would fit well with the inquiry-based technological platform design.