Following the Jasper Project readings, I was excited to explore another platform to extend student learning. The Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) provides students with an individualized learning experience catered to themselves. Having tried out the program, I do believe that it has a lot of benefits, but like any resource it has some faults.
Linn, Clark and Slotta (2002) define this inquiry learning as “engaging students in the intentional process of diagnosing problems, critiquing experiments, distinguishing alternatives, planning investigations, revising views, researching conjectures, searching for information, constructing models, debating with peers, communicating to diverse audiences, and forming coherent arguments” (p. 518). Using a scaffolded approach, the program sets to make thinking visible, making the science accessible, helping students to learn from each other, and promote lifelong learning. They believe that the learning is accessible by providing information that is relevant to the students. The authors state that WISE invites students to report their ideas, teachers to provide feedback, and the creation of models, simulations, and other representatives to make students learning visible. Additionally, following with Vygotsky’s zones of proximal development, it is recommended that students work in groups of two to help students learn from each other. Finally, it is hoped that if students are engaging with material that is important to them, they will continue to explore the questions after class.
Following these four guidance, I explored the Designing an Amusement Park Ride project. Students as assigned to two groups, the thrill team or the safety team. Taking on the perspective of professions in these fields they are asked to create a ride to add to an amusement park. As you make your way through the project, students are provided the opportunity to play with slopes but immediate following are asked to answer 3 to 4 multiple choice questions (reminded me of the FSA assessments). What was lacking also for me was the immediate feedback regarding my answers. For both the multiple choice and written questions I wrote nonsense answers to see what would happen and it let me progress through without correcting me. Coming back to the ideas of misconceptions, I think is a perfect example where students are answering questions using their beliefs and not being corrected along the way. I also found that there was a lack of videos. Referencing the Jasper project, one of the major positives for that project was the video components to engage students in the material in real-time. This is an adjustment I would make to this project where students are able to see a real-life example of the ride they are creating, while they are creating it.
Overall though I do believe that this could be a fantastic tool and I will be continuing to play with it. Especially to see if I can create one that works for the grade 3-5 grade range where there are currently 0 projects.
Linn, M. & Clark, D. & Slotta, J. (2002). WISE Design for Knowledge Integration, Graduate School of Education, University of California at Berkeley, 87(4), 517-538.
Hi Shayla,
I like how you pointed out that there is no way for teachers or the program to offer immediate feedback, which I think is so important when learning a new concept. Students could go through a big chunk of the module before learning or realizing that something they thought was incorrect. In my post, I also mention how there is lack of videos in the modules that I viewed and think that adding videos to help with comprehension would be very helpful. I noticed that WISE requires a lot of independent reading which some students would struggle with. Having videos could help balance the amount they have to read and maintain their attention.
Like you, I think that WISE has a lot of benefits, but there are some downfalls as well. I could see myself using parts of it, but would never just solely use it in a unit. I teach Grade 3 and know that a lot of my class would have trouble reading about new ideas for understanding, so having a specific project created with keeping in mind where they are developmentally would be fantastic!
Regards,
Sarah
Dear Shayla,
I liked how you connected to our previous readings on the Jasper videos.
Indeed, immediate feedback would help students identify their misconceptions. In order to modify and replace misconceptions, Posner, Strike, Hewson, & Gertzog (1982) believes that it requires optimal conditions(i.e. connection to prior knowledge & ability to resolve current issue etc.). I am curious to know your thoughts on how WISE can support persistent misconceptions.
Cheers,
Alice
Hi Shayla,
I don’t know about you but I found the graphing of position vs time rather awkward as the graph looks like a roller coaster but the scale causes the simulation of the coaster/person to react very differently. Instead of head movement, I probably would have chosen something like G forces or acceleration. What do you think?
Cheers,
Gordon