Using Web 20 Wallwisher Tool in Science Classes

Posted by David Wetzel

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