Online Inquiry Learning: Making Inquiry Easy with Online Units Featuring Visualizations, Debates, and More

Marcia Linn, University of California, Berkeley
Online units make implementing inquiry activities in any discipline both easy and effective. For example, the Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE, http://wise.berkeley.edu) offers free and open source units in science. These classroom-tested materials guide students as they explore complex standards-based topics such as photosynthesis, genetics, the seasons, chemical reactions, and force and motion. Research shows that inquiry units in any discipline promote coherent understanding and lifelong learning. This session describes how participants can implement inquiry in their own classroom.


About the Presenter:
Marcia Linn, Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Marcia Linn is a professor of development and cognition, specializing in education in mathematics, science, and technology in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a member of the National Academy of Education and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Association, and the Association for Psychological Science. She has served as chair of the AAAS Education Section and as president of the International Society of the Learning Sciences. She directs the National Science Foundation funded Technology-Enhanced Learning in Science (TELS) center and the Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE). Board service includes the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Graduate Record Examination Board of the Educational Testing Service, McDonnell Foundation Cognitive Studies in Education Practice, and Education and Human Resources Directorate at the National Science Foundation. Awards include the National Association for Research in Science Teaching Award for Lifelong Distinguished Contributions to Science Education, American Educational Research Association: Willystine Goodsell Award, and Council of Scientific Society Presidents’ first award for Excellence in Educational Research. In 1983, she was a Fulbright professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. Linn is also a three-time fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences and a fellow at the Institute Rousseau in Geneva and the University College in London. Linn holds a PhD from Stanford University.