Grand Rapids’ Van Andel Education Institute Launches Web Platform for Science Classrooms

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Grand Rapids’ Van Andel Education Institute has created a web-based teaching and learning platform called NexGen Inquiry to support existing science curriculum and offer educators professional development tools.

“The beauty of the online professional development offered within NexGen Inquiry is the opportunity for teachers to learn, enhance, strengthen, and apply the best practices of inquiry-based teaching and learning,” says Jim Nicolette, associate director of Van Andel Education Institute’s science academy.

Nicolette says NextGen Inquiry is a web-based journal in which students can complete investigations designed by their teachers. Students can capture, organize, and analyze data on the platform, which is available through any Internet connection. Students can also plan and conduct their own investigations.

The platform offers teachers self-paced video modules and a resource library with posters and instructional scaffolds.

Nicolette says educators at the Van Andel Education Institute Science Academy, the science education division of Van Andel Institute, have spent more than a decade working on the NexGen Inquiry platform.

 To download a free trial of NextGen Inquiry, click here