WEB KIE PROJECT

The "What's What" Tour


KIE Wired projects are a particular style of on-line lessons for students which engage students with pieces of scientific evidence from the Web. They are part of a larger effort called the Knowledge Integration Environment project funded by the National Science Foundation. This "What's What" tour describes the different pieces which make up a project.


The Main Screen


The Activity Checklist

    The Activity Checklist guides students through the list of activities which make up a project. The activity which is currently selected sets the context for what students can do at that time.

    Students navigate through the list of activities by clicking on the PREVIOUS ACTIVITY and NEXT ACTIVITY buttons or by clicking on PROJECT CHECKLIST and selecting an activity by name.

    While students work on a particular activity, they can receive information about:

    • THE BIG PICTURE: which describes the purpose of doing the particular activity

    • WHAT TO DO: which provides a list of what is being asked of the students for that activity

The Places Area

The "Places" area allows students to access a set of tools and resources which help them complete their projects. The list of places which are available include:

  • GUIDE: a bovine science guide which can provide students with hints about various aspects of their project (see description below)

  • EVIDENCE: provides access to the list of evidence associated with the current project

  • SPEAKEASY: links to an on-line discussion tool where students are sometimes asked to discuss their scientific ideas

  • OVERVIEW: displays a picture describing the overall purpose for working on the project

Mildred, The Bovine Science Guide

At any point while working on a KIE Wired project, students can receive guidance about what they are doing by clicking on the GUIDE button under the Places section. When they request guidance, the Mildred window will appear as shown below.

Mildred will open up ready to provide guidance about the evidence students are currently exploring, the activity they are working on, or about the project in general. Students receive these different types of hints by clicking on the three HINT buttons. Students can also manually select a different piece of evidence to receive hints about by clicking and holding on the evidence list (where the evidence name is shown).