Inside Activate Learning Virtual Investigations®: Built for OpenSciEd, Designed to Support Hands-On Learning
Inside Activate Learning Virtual Investigations®: Built for OpenSciEd, Designed to Support Hands-On Learning
Hands-on science investigations are at the heart of the OpenSciEd curriculum. These investigations are where students experience real-world phenomena firsthand, ask questions, collect data, and start sensemaking. It’s also where the school day has the most opportunities to get in the way. Activate Learning Virtual Investigations® are designed for these moments by providing a flexible, curriculum-aligned option that ensures that every student stays in the storyline when the day doesn’t go as planned.
What Are Activate Learning Virtual Investigations®?
Activate Learning Virtual Investigations® are high-fidelity, interactive replications of the hands-on labs in the OpenSciEd curriculum. These Virtual Investigations® are built specifically for OpenSciEd and are intended to complement, not replace, hands-on investigations.
The growing library of over 50 investigations spans from OpenSciEd K-5 to grades 6-8. What sets them apart from a video or generic simulation? Students are interacting directly with phenomena through manipulating virtual lab equipment step by step, in the same sequence they would in a hands-on investigation. This experience mirrors the investigation itself, including features such as collecting real-world data that can be added to a class chart or discussion.
Creating Virtual Investigations®
Building a Virtual Investigation® is more involved than it might seem. Joy Reynolds, Chief Academic Officer at Activate Learning, brings a hands-on approach to developing investigations. Where does this development process begin? Joy starts with her extensive experience in science education to determine which labs are hardest to run consistently and which, if missed, would leave a student unable to participate in the discussion and learning that follows. “The investigations we chose had to be things that kids needed to experience if they were at home,” Joy explains. “If they weren’t in class and they missed our class, they really could not be part of the discussion and conversation.”
For each investigation, Joy runs the actual OpenSciEd labs, writes a detailed script that captures the entire investigation procedure, films herself walking through it, and shares all her work with the product development team. From there, the team builds the interactive, digital experience, and the collaborative process of reviewing and refining begins. Each investigation takes approximately three to four weeks from start to finish. The end goal stays the same throughout this development process. As Joy puts it, “Virtual Investigations® were never meant to replace hands-on events. They were developed to include every student.”
How Teachers Are Using Them
Casey Killett, K-8 Science Program Specialist in Auburn School District (WA), started using Activate Learning Virtual Investigations® after her school adopted OpenSciEd and faced a familiar question: with a set budget, where to invest? Her team chose Activate Learning Virtual Investigations® because it filled a gap that nothing else could. "We don't have the ability to make a lab online," she explains. From supporting substitute teachers to providing access to all students, her team began utilizing Virtual Investigations® in the classroom.
What followed was a series of use cases her team hadn't fully anticipated. When flooding cut class periods dramatically short, Virtual Investigations® allowed the unit to keep moving. "Having the online lab allowed us to continue with the unit," she says. "I didn't have to figure out busy work." Absent students made up labs independently at home. And one colleague began using them before the hands-on lab as a preview to walk students through the process step by step to build lab readiness before they ever touched the materials. And for the moments you can't plan for? As Casey puts it: "You'll find surprising ways that you're using them. Things will come up."
Casey notes that the step-by-step structure, which doesn't allow students to skip ahead, is actually one of the features teachers appreciate most, even if students find it a little constraining. "It allows the lab to go at a pace, because we can't have tangents." Students stay focused on the content, not on figuring out the tool.
Support for Every Student, Every Teacher
At the heart of Activate Learning Virtual Investigations® is a straightforward idea: every student deserves to have the experience of the OpenSciEd investigation, no matter what the school day brings. Absences, shortened periods, substitute teachers, and students who need a different access point are all situations that now have solutions that don't ask teachers to choose between fidelity to the curriculum and the realities of the classroom.
The hands-on investigation will always be the first choice. Activate Learning is building Virtual Investigations® with that in mind. But having that backup, as Casey puts it, "is really nice to have."
Explore Activate Learning Virtual Investigations®
Activate Learning Virtual Investigations® are now available on the Activate Learning Digital Platform as part of Activate Learning's certified versions of OpenSciEd Elementary School and OpenSciEd Middle School. With over 50 investigations, and more on the way, it's a growing library designed to keep every student in the storyline.
Ready to learn more? Connect with an expert to request a demo or talk through implementation for your school or district.
Related Posts:
