No 14 - Journal of Social Informatics / Revista de Informatica Sociala

The Web-Inquiry Project [WIP] is a research project on the web that comes exactly to allow thestudents to develop less structured inquiry. Without the “bonds” of WQ, the WIP should beunderstood as a step up from the WQ, with greater emphasis on student critical thinking skills andless direction from the teacher. A breakthrough that, of course, does not eliminate the possibility ofusing WQ, but is justified, from an educational standpoint, because it enhances autonomy andcreativity in its execution. If under certain circumstances are justifiable fears of parents and teachersabout the risks of freedom of research on the Internet, a position in favor of a full education forcitizenship could show that these risks are not so significant. The full education, in contemporarytimes, is technological and human education, education for science and for a democratic life. Thesedimensions are not separated. From this perspective, we should be in favor of creativity andautonomy (Kenway, 1998; Rada, 2003). Although there is who suggests the use of WIP in K-12classrooms (Blanchard, Marshall, 2005), we consider WIP more appropriated for using with HighSchool students and at Higher Education. But we think it could be tested also in the final stages ofElementary Education. At this level we believe students can be stimulated to build situations forgreater autonomy in the process of constructing knowledge.The WIP basically supports a six-stage spiral path of inquiry (Molebash, Julius, 2004). The studentstake a path that goes from the initial reflection (first stage) about a topic or subject to be researchedto the conclusions they draw from the data collected in the research (Figure 2). In each of thesestages, WIP - that like a WQ is organized in web pages available on a web server - has a specificrole (Figure 3).Figure 2 – Stages of the WIPIn the first stage, the teacher can resume some activity earlier or start a new one, in view ofstimulating students' interest for a certain theme that integrates the planning of their discipline. Theteacher has to provide a hook to promote students' interest and encourages them to reflect on thetheme. The WIP, in this part, can provide ideas and resources for students to experience thepossibilities opened up from the hook set by the teacher and feel encouraged to go ahead,establishing strategies to approach the subject and doing searches with more freedom andautonomy.