Online Investigations

Our investigations are interactive web applications that contain intuitive tools and data visualizations. They function best if used on a desktop, laptop, or Chromebook. Full functionality may not be achieved using a phone or tablet.

Investigations are designed as individual lessons. You may use them wherever you see they fit into your learning sequence. Because each investigation does not attempt to teach everything there is to know about a topic, prerequisites are listed in the teacher guide.

All investigations have been designed by teachers and education researchers who are familiar with your needs and with the common learning challenges of students. Each is structured with a sequence of tasks and questions that intentionally build a progression of the concepts necessary for students to make sense of the big ideas of the investigation. A design feature prevents students from skipping ahead out of order. They must complete the work on each page before proceeding to the next.

We encourage collaborative work and the use of active learning tasks and peer interaction through formative assessment opportunities at each investigation checkpoint. However, the investigations can be done asynchronously as well.

Our approach to numerical literacy emphasizes evaluating mathematical and data relationships rather than focusing on doing arithmetic. For this reason, we include equations in the investigations but use embedded calculators to do the number-crunching. This gives students more time to concentrate on developing a robust model of the main science concepts.

In addition to each online investigation, we offer a suite of additional materials: a teacher guide, standards support, a phenomenon, assessments, and some auxiliary materials such as videos, speaker slides or extension activities. You can choose which elements make sense for your students and time allotment.