Using Web 20 Wallwisher Tool in Science Classes

What is Wallwisher and why use it? Its a Web 2.0 application which allows students to express their thoughts or share information on a science concept.

This online application allows the author (teacher or student) to add information as post it stickies, it also allows others to add comments or information to wall - subject to the author’s approval.

Advantages of Wallwisher

The advantages of this Web 2.0 tool include:

• Ease of use by teachers and students
• Collaboration between students during projects
• Ability to use this tool from anywhere with Internet access

Using Wallwisher

When a teacher or students creates a wall for posting (called stickies) information, they are allowed to assign the wall its own URL.

Options include:

• Selecting from 12 color themes
• Controlling who can post or edit notes
• Adding videos
• Adding images
• Adding comments
• Adding links to websites
• Embedding a wall in another website, Wiki, or blog
• Allowing the relocation of stickies - permanently by those with author access and temporarily by others

Teaching Strategies for Using Wallwisher in Science

Concept Wall - this strategy provides an opportunity for students to add comments, images, and links to websites related to a specific science concept such as matter, velocity, wetlands, deserts, insects, recycling, earth day, solutions, etc.

Interactive KWL - displayed on an Interactive whiteboard as means of collecting students’ Prior Knowledge and Experiences regarding a specific concept prior to studying the concept, along with what they want to know about the concept. This wall is then saved and used for comparison as a post analysis of what they learned about the concept.

Interactive Science Games - teacher places facts about a specific science concept or idea in random order. Students are then required to place the facts in correct sequence to demonstrate their understanding. Examples include:

• Biological Taxonomy - Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species
• Planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune (Pluto?)
• Rainbow - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet
• Metric - Kilo, Hector, Deca, Units, Deci, Centi, Milli,
• Material Hardness - Talc, Gypsum, Calcite, Fluorite, Apatite, Orthoclase, Feldspar, Quarts, Topaz, Corundum, Diamond

Project Based Learning Activities

Students can use this Web 2.0 tool as an organizational tool in project based learning by:

• Presenting their open-ended driving question, along with supporting information which was used to develop the question.
• Presentation of what they expect to learn or create from the project.
• Communicating how they will collaborate during problem solving activities related to the project.
• Present student roles during project.
• List of final products developed from the findings of the project.

Students can then embed each of the walls they created in a Group Project Wiki,, Google Doc presentation, or Blog.

Sample Science Wall

Click on this image and try out a sample wall about the science concept - States of Matter

States of Matter Wall