Laurie Lewis
Slm-521
Green Group 2
COLLABORATION
(Elective # 8)
As an elementary school media specialist (which I
hope to be), I might be asked for advice and information by teachers of all
subjects and all grades from K-5 about web-based projects. Therefore, I have tried to pick out projects
covering a range of subjects and grades.
For each project I have indicated the elementary school subject(s) and grade(s) it might be used for. (Some of the project sites may also be used
in middle school or high school, but I am focusing on elementary school uses.)
Classroom Pet Exchange: Grades
K-3, Language Arts, Reading, or Social Studies: This is a really fun and
interesting project, developed by a technology training coordinator in the Jefferson
County, Tennessee public schools, in which a class selects a stuffed animal,
names it, and then selects a class from elsewhere in the world to exchange the
stuffed animal with. Once the classes
exchange the animals, the children take the animal home one by one, and then
come back to school and record what the animal did while it was at their
house. In this way, the children learn
what it is like to live in the other location.
Each class keeps a journal of the animal’s experiences, and also sends weekly
e-mails. At the end of the project, the
animal is sent back to the original class along with the journal. The site maintains a database of first,
second and third grade classes that would like to partner-up for a pet
exchange. This is an ongoing project. Date visited March 31, 2004.
http://208.183.128.8/cpe/
Electronic Emissary: Grades
K-5, Multiple Subject Areas: The purpose of this site, maintained by The College
of William and Mary, is to link students and teachers from around the world
with mentors who are experts in the area in which they wish to learn more. To begin the project, a teacher must develop
a curriculum based project for which he or she desires the services of an
expert mentor who is able to meet with the class through web forums, web chat,
teleconferencing or e-mail. Once this has been done, the teacher can go to this
site, get matched up with a mentor, and get help setting up contact between the
mentor and the class. The mentoring
usually lasts from 6 weeks to a full academic year depending on the project
content and the needs of the students involved. The site also provides information on how to develop a curriculum
based mentoring project and will help set up a web forum for the project if
needed. This is an ongoing project.
Dates visited April 1-2, 2004.
http://emissary.wm.edu/
Geometry
Gallery of Imaginary Animals: Grades 3-5, Mathematics, Language
Arts:
Developed by an educator employed by the Los Angeles County Office of
Public Education, this is a simple and wonderful collaborative project
involving students making up animals out of geometric shapes and then naming
them and writing a story about them.
The idea of the project is that while students are taking part in a fun
project they are also learning geometry vocabulary and concepts. When an animal and its story are done, it
can be mailed to the site manager who will then post it with an e-mail address
(if asked to do so) so that the students seeing it online can provide feedback
to the students who created it! This is
an ongoing project. Date visited March
31, 2004.
http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/amy/geometry/projects/geoanimals/geoanimals.html
Global
Grocery List: Grades K-5, Mathematics, Social Studies, or Science: The Global
Grocery List is a project started 16 years ago by the Global School Net
Foundation that involves students going to their local grocery stores with
their parents, looking up prices for various sizes and measures of products
specified on the Global Grocery List, and recording them. When they return to class with their lists
of prices and sizes, they will “calculate the average price of each item at the
quantities specified on the U.S. and World prices list.” Then they will submit them with their
location to the site for use. The U.S.
list is in pounds and gallons, and the World list is in kilograms and
liters. Lessons based on the list that
were created by the project coordinator, and by teachers using the list, are
provided. This is an ongoing
project. Date visited March 29, 2004.
http://www.landmark-project.com/ggl/
Museum
Connections: Grades K-5, Multiple Subject Areas: This site,
maintained by the Calgary Board of Education (Alberta, Canada), is devoted to a
telecollaborative project on virtual reality museums, and also to letting
teachers know how they can design telecollaborative projects of their own using
special software and hardware. Schools
can use the instructions on this web site to create their own virtual reality
project, or participate in the site’s ongoing program involving classes
creating virtual reality museums based on museums located where they live or on
their local history, and exchanging them with a partner school from elsewhere
in North America. There is information
on how to get funding for these projects, as well as links to projects that
have already been completed. While this
web site is not organized in a way that makes it easy to figure out what they
are doing, when you finally do understand it sounds really amazing!! This is an ongoing project. Date visited April 1, 2004.
http://projects.cbe.ab.ca/ict/2learn/mmspeight/museumconnections/index.htm
NASA Quest: Grades K-5, Science: This site
is dedicated to letting students and teachers “meet” the people who work for
NASA and find out about what they do.
The site provides profiles of NASA employees, a chance to interact with
some of them live online, and live Webcasts on various space topics. It also offers a chance for students to work
on projects relative to the space program and to interact with other students
while doing so, a place for teachers from around the world to interact with
each other, and access to archived information and past Webcasts. Students can also e-mail questions to NASA
experts and get them answered. This is
an ongoing project. Dates visited March
29 and 31, 2004.
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/index.html
Postcards from
America: Grades K-5, Social Studies, Geography or Reading: This site
is maintained by Pricilla and Ken Rhodes, a former American history teacher and
a photographer and graphic designer who, in 1997, decided to quit their jobs
and take their RV on a long trip covering the entire U.S. to discover
America. Their first trip focused on
the state capitals and sights close to them.
They sent two e-mail postcards a week to anyone on the net who wanted to
receive them, the first postcard being of a scenic view, and the second being
of wildlife. Each postcard had a
handwritten message on it about what they had seen. They also had hand designed stamps on them highlighting something
connected with the state, such as a picture of a famous person who is from
there (mostly Presidents), a state flag, or the state bird. The postcards were accompanied by “Fun
Facts,” a “historical note” a map, and a “next” button telling the reader where
they would visit next. This trip ended
in 2000, and the postcards are archived at their site and can be used in the
classroom as teaching tools. Ideas for
using them as such are given on their web site. Their second trip begins on Columbus Day 2004, and is called the
“Wild Side.” It will focus on “the states' back roads,
mountains, seashores, rivers, woods, swamps, and wildlife.” Two postcards a week will again be sent to
anyone who wants to receive them (children under 13 must have an adult, i.e.
teacher, subscribe for them). Students
can e-mail them during their trip, and may receive an answer in the form of a
secret message in one of their postage stamps! Currently the archives of the site can be used for teaching
purposes, and the project will commence again in October 2004. Date visited March 29, 2004.
http://www.postcardsfrom.com/
Pumped Up For Peace: Grades
3-5, Social Studies or Science: This is a project sponsored by the United
Nations through their Cyberschoolbus web site designed to help communities
around the world obtain access to safe drinking water. The project is designed so that students
learn about the importance of safe drinking water, and what it means for them
and other communities throughout the world.
A teacher must sign his or her class up for this project, which offers
in class activities involving drinking water, discussions with other classes
from around the world that are participating, information on the communities
that are going to be helped by the project, regular updates on how the project
is going in those communities, and the opportunity to ask U.N. water experts
any questions that they might have. In
addition, the site suggests other informative project related activities. Finally, the project asks classes to help
raise funds to send to the communities that the U.N. is assisting to obtain
fresh drinking water. This is an
ongoing project that is starting with the current community, and moving to
other communities around the world.
Date visited March 29, 2004.
http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/pufp/peru/about.asp
Searching
the World Over for Good Character: Grades K-5, Language Arts, Social
Studies or Art: This is a site maintained by Mrs. Sumner’s 4th grade
class at Sullivan Elementary School in Sullivan, Missouri, that has as its
mission spotlighting activities undertaken by classes around the world that
model good character. At this site
students and teachers can share stories, poems, posters or activities that they
have created to illustrate good character traits. Teachers must have the permission of their students to share
their work, and students can share their first name and the school that they
attend, including its address, but not their last names, in order to protect
them. This is an ongoing project. Date visited March 29, 2004.
http://www.eduplace.com/projects/character.html
Wonderful
World of Weather: Grades 3-5, Science and Language
Arts or Reading: This is a project site maintained by the Center for
Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) at the Stevens Institute of Technology with the
purpose of helping students grades 3-6 investigate weather phenomena both in
their local area and around the world.
Weather topics include rain, wind, temperature, climate, cloud
formations, and severe storms. Lesson
plans are provided for science activities as well as literature activities that
have a weather theme. Links to
reference materials are also provided.
Teachers can submit projects that their students have worked on based on
the information at this site, and the site is careful to outline the safety and
legal protections that need to be met in order to do this. This is an ongoing project. Date
visited March 29, 2004.
http://k12science.ati.stevens-tech.edu/curriculum/weatherproj/index_NEW.html