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Wonderopolis is a website that poses inquiry-based questions on a daily basis called, “The Wonder of the Day”. Their perspective is that the excitement of learning comes from curiosity and they seek to help create learning moments that are embedded into daily life.

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Using Wonderopolis is a clever way to differentiate instruction because the “Wonder of the Day” meets the learner where they’re at, regardless of age. For example, today’s ‘wonder’ is, “What is Compost?” and this question can easily be introduced to a kindergarten class or a grade 8 class and of course the inquiry process will look a little or significantly different in each grade, but the idea remains the same: students are learning via inquiry. Not only is Wonderopolis great for various grades, it is also a great platform for differentiating instruction for one class. Students who are are various entry points along their educational journey can find the content on this website just as engaging. It seems like the ‘wonders’ on this site can easily be scaffolded up or down, depending on the needs of individual students.

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Why Does Inquiry-Based Learning Help All Learners? (3)

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Why Does Inquiry-Based Learning Help All Learners? (3)

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Inquiry-based learning helps all learners because it meets the student where they’re at and moves them closer to their potential as successful learners.

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Technology fits well into the inquiry process because it facilitates the natural drive and curiosity of students. Technology can also help the teacher to explore more with a class than would otherwise be impossible without technology (I’m thinking of Google Earth, for example).

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Genius Hour was inspired employees at Google that were encouraged to devote 20% of their work week to passion-projects; as a result of this, GMail was born. Since that time, schools and classrooms all over the world have been engaging in passion-projects of their own, devoting time each week to work and research a topic of interest to them. This tool has many websites that can help teachers successfully launch Genius Hour in their own classroom; there’s even a Livebinders devoted to Genius (among many others).

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How is this Tool Related to the SAMR Model? (5)

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How is this Tool Related to the SAMR Model? (5)

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Wonderopolis fits into the SAMR model, in that it is a modification of an inquiry task and it facilitates significant improvements in student outcomes.

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Wonderopolis would fit great into a homeroom situation and an environment where cross-strand and/or cross-subject inquiry-based learning can be accommodated in the daily timetable.

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Wonderopolis helps to increase student voice in the classroom because it puts the student at the centre of the learning and gives the role of provocateur to the teacher, which counters the traditional or historical ways of teaching.

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Genius Hour can be used to differentiate instruction because each student follows their own unique path of inquiry and the depth and breadth of inquiry can be custom-tailored to meet each student’s need.

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Why Does Inquiry-Based Learning Help All Learners? (10)

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Why Does Inquiry-Based Learning Help All Learners? (10)

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Inquiry-based learning with Genius Hour helps all learners because it moves them from where they are at, to where they experience growth. A generation ago, Genius Hour would have been a challenge (not impossible) to implement because the wifi was dial-up and the resources on the internet were not as ‘limitless’ as they are today.

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Technology fits into Genius Hour because it is based upon asking and researching answers to a question that isn’t easily ‘Google-able’. The students are required to dive deep into their questions and follow that trail of knowledge, something of which access to the Internet facilitates excellently.

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How is this Tool Related to the TPACK Framework? (12)

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How is this Tool Related to the TPACK Framework? (12)

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Genius Hour fits into the TPACK framework because it refers to technological content knowledge, as tech is being used in a topic area for deep and lasting learning, which can potentially deepen student inquiry.

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Genius Hour fits into a diverse classroom because students are leading the charge and asking questions that they are really interested in understanding. Any type of class could benefit from doing Genius Hour, it doesn’t have to be a homeroom, class, but a science or math class could take it in other directions related to a specific subject area.

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At the end of Genius Hour, students are encouraged to present their topic of research to the class and this is a great way to increase student voice in the classroom.