CKBiology was the core implementation of my doctoral research, Scripting and Orchestration of a Knowledge Community and Inquiry Curriculum for Secondary Biology. This multi-year project focused on the design, testing, and evaluation of a collaborative inquiry curriculum alongside a bespoke technology platform for Grade 12 Biology. Grounded in the Knowledge Community and Inquiry (KCI) pedagogical model, the curriculum engaged students as a knowledge community, co-constructing a persistent knowledge base aligned to the Ontario Grade 12 Biology curriculum. This shared knowledge base served as a resource for higher-level inquiry activities, and was iteratively refined over five design cycles in two class sections.
As the lead researcher and curriculum designer, I directed the project end-to-end, leading an interdisciplinary co-design team that included a high school biology teacher, two software developers, and fellow academic researchers. I designed inquiry activities, assessments, and curriculum-aligned scaffolds while overseeing the the development of the CKBiology technology environment, embedding real-time analytics and orchestration supports to manage complex classroom interactions. Through iterative cycles of design-based research, I continually refined both the curriculum and the technology environment in response to classroom enactments, ensuring that each tool and feature meaningfully supported student learning and teacher decision-making.
A key component of CKBiology was the integration of learning analytics and orchestration tools that allowed students, groups, and the whole class to monitor progress in real time. For teachers, flexible features such as dynamic group formation protocols and “call a conference” functionality reduced the complexity of orchestrating collaborative inquiry while preserving professional judgment and human agency. These innovations provided clear visibility into student engagement, collaboration, and understanding, creating a feedback-rich environment that facilitated both individual and collective knowledge building.
This project generated several important insights. First, assessment within a knowledge community functions best when it simultaneously measures and scaffolds learning, producing a “feedforward” effect that supports new knowledge creation. Grouping strategies significantly influence collaboration quality, with higher-performing groups demonstrating stronger teamwork and metacognitive practices. At the same time, the research highlighted that complex cognitive processes, such as “reflection,” required deliberate scaffolding, rather than emerging spontaneously. Finally, tools that combine efficiency with human flexibility (rather than rigid automation) were most highly valued by educators.
The impact of CKBiology extended beyond the classroom. The research informed my doctoral dissertation (awarded in 2018) and resulted in several peer-reviewed publications. Key findings were shared at major international conferences, including the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), the International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL), the Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference (LAK) and in an invited talk at Tufts University School of Medicine. While this software was developed for research purposes and was not intended to serve as a standalone product, the software repository has been made freely available on GitHub under an open-source MIT license to anyone who wishes to use, copy, expand, or adapt this software for their own purposes.
Through CKBiology, I developed expertise at the intersection of curriculum design, educational technology, and data-driven orchestration. Beyond its immediate impact in biology education, the project strengthened my ability to design transparent processes for evaluating complex contributions, use analytics to make learning visible, and balance structured guidance with human agency—skills that have been transferable to broader challenges, such as designing evaluation frameworks for collaborative problem-solving or structured innovation initiatives in global contexts.
Alisa Acosta 