Participating high school students are involved in authentic scientific practice using modified versions of scientists' tools in a social context including students, teachers and scientists. Communication and collaboration are the central components of the philosophy behind the project. Project activities centre around three scientific visualization environments covering three aspects of atmospheric science. Students can access and manipulate data, generate questions, develop plans for identifying and exploring data as well as create artifacts to demonstrate their findings.
Teachers establish a culture of communication.
Teachers are not engaged in direct instruction. Instead, learners are engaged in collaborative, scientific investigations in which they build a knowledge and understanding of the scientific process in general and of scientific phenomenon specifically. Students collaborate with teachers and with scientists through an electronic network. CoVis provides a rich, extensive environment in which students engage in a process of formulating and testing hypotheses. They can also compare and discuss their work with other students.