Log On and Learn More: Ten On-Line Projects to Enhance Your Curriculum

Looking for ways to introduce technology into your classroom without losing valuable teaching time? Look no further! Education World has found ten terrific on-line projects to incorporate into your curriculum.

There's no doubt about it: To compete academically today, and economically tomorrow, your students need to know how to use, and make use of, computer technology. Many teachers -- made aware of that imperative by in-service workshops, administrative pressure, and parental concern -- steal valuable curriculum time to engage their students in on-line technology projects.

But is that really necessary?

Not according to Judi Harris, associate professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Texas at Austin. Says Dr. Harris, in this week's Education World story You've Got E-Mail -- But Can You Make It Really Deliver?, "Teacher time is limited and there's very little classroom time available for projects whose sole purpose is to teach students how to use technology. Teaching e-mail is not reason enough to do a classroom project."

So what's a teacher to do?

This week, Education World presents ten projects based on Judi Harris's telecollaborative activity structures -- projects that are guaranteed to enhance, not interrupt, your curriculum.

INTERPERSONAL EXCHANGES

At E-Mail Around the World, students send and receive a minimum of 100 e-mail messages to celebrate the 100th day of school. Students are encouraged to include directions for locating their city on a map and trivia about their community in their messages. Participating students explore maps, flags, and encyclopedia entries about the countries of other participating students, developing geography, language arts, social studies, and communication skills. Nearly 500 schools from 25 different countries participated in last year's project. Your class can participate this year by registering at the site before October 22. Messages will be exchanged from October 25 to December 17.
Postcard Geography is a project in which K-12 students exchange commercial, handmade, or computer-generated postcards with other students from around the world. The project allows students of all ages to explore the ways in which language, the arts, and other cultural elements facilitate global understanding. It also provides experience in addressing postcards, maintaining mailing lists, creating and maintaining classroom displays, and generating publicity with school and local press. The site also includes suggestions for extending the project throughout your curriculum.
Classes participating in The Traveling Husky Puppies: Making Tracks Through History, organized by Laura Briggs at Dominion Trail Elementary School in Ashburn, Virginia, receive a box containing a small stuffed puppy, a journal, a photo album, a single-use camera, items from Dominion Trail School, and more! Students adopt the puppy, and introduce it to the history, geography, and culture of their region. Then students share their puppy's experiences with other participants through journal writing, photographs, videos, local artifacts, and telecommunication. Puppies Harley and Haley will be traveling from September 1999 through May 2000.

INFORMATION COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

The Sensational Soil Sampling Project, from TEAMS Distance Learning, encourages students to learn about the characteristics of their local soil and exchange that information with other students. Participants perform a variety of experiments to learn about the local soil, record their observations in a lab journal, and then submit them using a standardized form provided at the site. They can also exchange ideas and questions in the site's discussion area. The site includes suggestions for experiments as well as starter questions, a blackline master, and links to related sites.
Proverbs & Sayings is an ongoing project in which students learn about different cultures by sharing proverbs and sayings. The project, sponsored by I*EARN (the International Education and Resource Network) and conducted in both English and Spanish, encourages students of all ages to collect proverbs and sayings -- as well as drawings and pictures that illustrate those sayings -- and share them with other students around the world. According to its Web site, I*EARN is a "global community of youth, teachers and youth service leaders committed to using telecommunications to make a meaningful difference in the world as part of the educational process."
World Weather Watch, an interactive weather project organized by Tryna Morton at Murphy Ranch School in Whittier, California, pairs partner classes from different climactic zones and asks them to record, share, compare, and discuss weather information. The site provides a "World Weather Watch Automated Weather Reporting System" form for recording and submitting data. The weather data collected is then posted on-line at the http://youth.net/weather/wx-summary1.html World Weather Watch Project, allowing teachers and students to make local and global comparisons.
Field Notes, from Journey North's http://www.learner.org/jnorth/fall1999/index.html Journey South, students take part in a Phenology Data Exchange. Phenology is the "study of the seasonal timing of life cycle events," and students in this project observe seasonal changes in their own area, record data, and exchange the information with a partner class. Then students use "nature's clues" to find where their partners are located. The site includes tips for observing seasonal changes and for recording and submitting data as well as links to related sites. This year, more than 4,000 classrooms are expected to participate in this self-directed project.

PROBLEM SOLVING

Students in grades 8 through 12 can participate in NASA's Wind Tunnel Online Design Project. In this team project -- which includes research, brainstorming, problem solving, design activities, and collaboration with other classrooms and with on-line experts -- students will "replicate much of the Wright brothers' problem-solving process" as they construct actual wind tunnels specifically built for classroom use. As part of the project, students in grades 8 through 12 will bid on a wind tunnel design, create a plan, and then bid for the right to conduct their region's wind tunnel. The purpose of this NASA project is to introduce students to the scientific and engineering principles behind NASA projects and to promote global interaction. The site includes lots of links to related information and resources.
The Costs of War, a project organized at Poway (California) High School, enables students to research, discuss, and debate different perspectives on the justifications of war. Students are provided with a list of questions and discussion topics and asked to research and debate the issues. Students engage in directed role playing to explore the different perspectives of war and communicate by e-mail with students of their own age who live in a country that has experienced war. They conclude the project by communicating with government officials who make decisions about war-related issues.
At CyberFair, a Global SchoolNet project, students between the ages of 5 and 19 work together to create and submit a communal Web project. Students in each school choose their own topic -- and they must all agree to it. In addition, students serve as peer judges for projects submitted by other participants. The goal of International Schools CyberFair is to encourage schools to use the Internet to "share resources, establish partnerships and work together to accomplish common goals ... to share and unite." Registration dates for Cyber Fair 2000 will be announced soon.

MEET SOMEONE NEW

Finally, the following sites provide opportunities for students to exchange information and learn from one another as they find pen pals, join listservs, or e-mail famous people -- from the president to Santa Claus! If you don't find what you are looking for here, use the ideas to organize your own on-line projects!

Penpals

Listservs

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

CU-SeeMe Here, Global SchoolNet provides information about -- and a special membership price for -- CU-SeeMe, a videoconferencing program that allows schools to videoconference with sites located anywhere in the world.
AT&T's Learning Circles At this site, teachers can learn how to organize or join a telecollaborative project, connect with other classes who want to participate in such projects, and get ideas for project topics.
Classroom Ideas for Email This site includes links to several excellent telecollaborative projects.
Mathematics Email Centre This site "attempts to maintain an up-to-date summary of uses of e-mail in mathematics education." It includes free e-mail addresses, a mailing list, and articles about math-related projects and activities.
Ask CyberScout Teachers can e-mail McGraw-Hill School Division's CyberScout to locate Web sites that match specific curriculum content.
Internet Projects Registry This registry, from the Global SchoolNet Foundation, provides access to on-line projects from organizations such as I*EARN, IECC, NASA, GLOBE, Academy One, TIES, Tenet, TERC, as well as from classroom teachers around the world. Use the search engine to find a project by age level or start date.
Technology Categorized Educational Sites These links, from the Skewl Sites Newsletter, include many to sites that contain telecollaborative projects.
NickNack's Telecollaborate! This site "encourages telecollaboration among educators and students around the world" by providing instructions for finding projects, links to telecollaborative projects, guidelines, hints, a project planner template, and more.