Connecting Beyond the Field Trip: The Online Wonder Wall

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Connecting Beyond the Field TripThe On-line
Wonder Wall

• Lownds and Heeter, 2006

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Wonder Wall

• Background
• How we have used the Wonder Wall
• Kids questions, use and reactions
• Connections beyond the field trip
• How you can get the Wonder Wall
• Let you use (play with) the Wonder Wall
• Students
• Moderators
• Questions, questions

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Field Trips

• 20 million elementary and junior high students
  each year
  
• Effective teaching tools
• Catalyze, enrich or culminate instructional
  units
  
• Promote curiosity and
• wonder

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Field Trips

• Pre-visit
• Visit
• Post-visit

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Field Trip Visit

• Interest and excite students
• Basis for lots of questions
• Never enough time to
• See everything
• Do all the activities
• Ask questions
• Answer all the questions

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Seeds of Science

• Day-long field trips
• Multi-day (usually 3 days)
• Visits separated by 1-2 weeks
• Specific between visit experiments, activities,
  connections

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Seeds of Science

• Science process
• Plant Parts
• Plant Problems
• Plant growing experiment
• Plant evaluation experiment
• Questions, questions, questions

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Seeds of Science
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Questions, Questions
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Wonder Wall Questions

• Why do we even have aphids?
• Where do plant smells come from?
• Do Poinsettias have red chlorophyll?
• Do the leaves of Sensitive plant close when it
  rains?

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Asking Wonder Wall Questions

• Time to think about the questions
• Dont have to be verbal
• Can post drawings
• Can ask anonymously
• Questions will be answered

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Questions beyond the field trip

• How can we stay connected between field trips?
• Answer questions that come up based on field trip
  activities, experiences
  
• Prepare for next field trip
• Continue experiments started on the field trip

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On-line Wonder Wall

• http//wonderwall.msu.edu/preview

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On-line Wonder Wall
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Wonder Wall Administration System
ACCOUNT
ORGANIZATION
ORGANIZATION
Group
Group
Group
Group
Group
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Wonder Wall Administration System

• Each account has a unique URL
• 4hgarden.wonderwall.msu.edu
• An account can create unlimited number of
  organizations (programs)
  
• An account license reserves simultaneous logins
  (seats), shared across all of their
  organizations and groups.
  

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Wonder Wall Administration

• Unique ID and password for each group
• Moderator for each Wonder Wall
• Notified of each post
• Answers all posts
• Receives all chat logs
• Sets up new Wonder Walls
• Can meet with class

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Wonder Wall set up

• Connecting up
• Internet connection (high speed best)
• Web browser (recommend Firefox)
• Flash 8 player
• Wonder Wall checks and directs you to the free
  download
  

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When, Where Wonder Wall?

• Asynchronous
• Any time and any where
• Synchronous
• Scheduled meeting with a scientist, etc.
• Kids meeting each other
• Moderator answering
• questions

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Wonder Wall Connections

• Student to scientist
• Teacher to scientist
• Student to student - within class
• Teacher to teacher
• Student to student different classes

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Student ScientistField trip follow up

• 3 fourth grade classes
• 80 students
• Connected for one week between field trips
• Connected for two weeks after field trips

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Student ScientistField trip follow up

• First morning access 700 to 730 am
• Final daily access 900 to 930 pm
• Average of 40 daily posts outside of school time
• Maximum posts outside of school hours on a single
  day 95
  
• Minimum posts outside of school hours on a single
  day 15
  
• Approximately the same
• number of posts were made on
• Saturday and Sunday

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Student ScientistField trip follow up

• 65 or more of the Wonder Wall questions were
  wonderment questions
  
• 50 to 65 comprehension
• 10 to 20 application
• 5 to 25 analysis
• 1 to 3 synthesis
• In general, the complexity of questions
• increased as students
• used the Wonder Wall
• more times.

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Other interactions

• Students prearranged with classmates to meet on
  the Wonder Wall in the evening or on the weekend
  to chat
  
• Students stayed on task and asked questions or
  chatted about plants
  
• Students read posts by other students and often
  answered each others questions
  
• Students stayed connected
• for over 6 months

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Wonder Wall Questions

• Are plants healthy for you?
• Do some plants have a poison smell?
• Is chlorophyll in every plant?
• How can a maple tree make red pigment?
• If plants make glucose why
• do they need nutrients
• from the ground?

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Student ScientistExperiment support

• Student designed experiments
• Set up in classroom with scientist present
• Rest of experiment was done at home

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Student Designed Experiments

• Students were able to complete the experiment
  using only the Wonder Wall to connect with Ms.
  Kelli
  
• 100 of questions asked were wonderment
  questions
  
• 74 synthesis questions

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Student Moderator Experiment support

• Student
• Im wondering why me lettuce (Freckles) is
  growing sideways?

• Moderator
• Is your lettuce next to a window? If so, do the
  leaves seem to be going toward the window? If
  they are, could you hypothesize why the window is
  so important?

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Student Moderator Experiment support

• Student
• Yes it is by a window. I think it might be good,
  because when we were growing lettuce at the MSU
  gardens Freckles was growing sideways just the
  same as it is doing now.

• Moderator
• Excellent observation! Your lettuce is probably
  doing great. Now, think a bit more about why the
  window might be so important.

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Wonder Wall Student reactions

• Students loved the Wonder Wall
• Students liked to have their questions answered
  and would then ask more questions
  
• Students would revisit the Wonder Wall to check
  for answers
  
• Students stayed connected for months after the
  field trip
  
• Students asked 5th grade
• teacher if they could use
• the Wonder Wall

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Wonder Wall Grad Students

• Questions about topics covered
• Comments on readings, assignments
• Questions for incoming guests
• Quick reading of class
• Fun release from other class pressures

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Wonder Wall Master Gardeners

• Introduce yourself
• Questions about topics covered
• Checking in timely check on how class is
  going, thoughts, concerns
  
• Experience elegant technology integration

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Summary Wonder Wall

• Effective tool to expand field trips beyond the
  museum visit
  
• Encourage questions, curiosity and wonder
• Engaging for students in and out of class
• Tool to stay connected
• for a long time

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Wonder Wall and you

• How would you use the Wonder Wall?
• What topic?
• Connections to scientists?
• Connections to other teachers?
• Connections to other classes?
• Other ideas?

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How to Wonder Wall

• http//wonderwall.msu.edu/preview
• Enter as participant
• Organization demonstration
• Group Museums the Web
• Password museum

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Interested?

• Contact
• Dr. Norm Lownds
• lownds_at_msu.edu
• 517-355-5191 ext. 1-349

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A behind the scenes moment
Groups have one or more group managers
Group Managers can create (an unlimited number
of) Moderators Members Wonder Walls A Gro
up Image Library
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Group Manager Admin System Overview of a Wonder
Wall
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Each account has a unique Wonder Wall URL such
as 4hgarden.wonderwall.msu.edu
An account can create unlimited number of
organizations Accounts license reserved simultan
eous logins (seats), shared across all of their
organizations and groups.
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Each organization can create an unlimited number
of groups. When logging in, picking an organizat
ion causes that organizations groups to appear
in the Choose Your Group popup.
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Group When logging in, picking an organization
causes that organizations groups to appear in
the Choose Your Group popup.