Scaffolding a knowledge community for high school physics

This paper presents a design study of a collective inquiry model for high school Physics, where student-contributions are captured, aggregated, tagged and represented in a coherent visualization. We have developed a flexible technology layer that supports the aggregation of peer responses, including the collection of student explanations and semantic tags. We investigate collaborative inquiry scripts and discuss how they must comprise both the (macro) scripts that are enacted over a long-term curriculum, and the (micro) scripts that are enacted in class. We outline our rationale for inquiry design in Physics, the role scripting and orchestration play in the successful implementation of this curriculum, the role of the "smart classroom" in their enactment, and three successive iterations of our curriculum.