Wonderopolis is a website that poses daily ‘Wonders’ (questions to wonder about) and different ways of answering those questions through video, audio, images, and text. Wonderopolis was developed by the U.S based National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) who state they “work(s) to eradicate poverty through education solutions for families.”
This website could provide a valuable resource for guided or student-led inquiry-based learning. Participation in the site allows a student or class group to formulate and share questions, research areas of interest, and develop curiosity and a sense of wonder. Students can even test their knowledge of the topics in which they are interested.
The information presented on Wonderopolis is both visual and textual. Answers are clearly written using ‘kid-friendly’ language and the site makes good use of hover text for definitions, making it an excellent resource for students looking to increase their vocabularies and/or for students who require a little assistance with reading comprehension.
Looking at the ‘Wonder of the Day’ on this site would make a great ‘walk-in’ or transition activity for an intermediate or middle school class. Teachers could also hyperlink to the Wonder of the Day or embed the widget on the class blog as potential home learning or extension for an extra challenge.
Simply click on https://wonderopolis.org
There are many ways to interact with this website. You can search for any question you are wondering about, browse a Wonder of the Day, or browse the Wonder Bank to learn what other people are wondering about. The Wonder Ground section has great resources for educators to develop inquiry-based learning in their classrooms.
