In the last week, I've witnessed three different ways in which technology has enhanced learning. Each example is separate and apart from the other two. Yet as a grouping, they allow us to see that the ways in which technology can be an asset to learning are as varied as the subjects we teach and the students who are in our charge.
The Lower School science classes are taught by Lynn Prosen. Two current projects involve collaborative learning with students from Texas and Missouri. Her Sharing Animal Stories project allows ninth graders in Texas to compose animal stories and present them to our third graders through a webinar: students read stories and also share digital stories. There's a digital pop-up book for our students to see on a shared wiki. In turn, our third graders are developing a popsicle stick puppets video with a script developed from their animal research, and stories will be shared with the Texas students. The third graders and ninth graders are each reviewing each others' stories. Our second graders are learning about phenology: "nature's calendar." GSB students are keeping track of changes they see in nature and they're using Primary Wall to post their observations. The same school in Texas and another Middle School in Missouri are also sharing information about their local phenology. Interested in learning more? Check out the sites the students are using:
In the Middle School, the eighth grade recently took a trip to Rutgers University to meet with Ethan Handel, a GSB alum and now a research assistant with the Coastal Ocean Observation Laboratory. The students learned about the significance of our oceans to planetary health, and the ways in which contemporary oceanographers are decoding the mysteries of the deep. Probably the most fascinating tool being utilized by the Rutgers researchers was the "Glider," an underwater robot that could be controlled via satellite and could travel vast distances underwater while collecting assorted types of data. Each of the Rutgers Gliders are sequentially named: RU-1, RU-2, RU-3, etc. RU-27 remains the only Glider that successfully completed a trans-Atlantic crossing, from NJ to Spain, and now is housed in the Smithsonian Institution.
Clockwise, from top left: 1) Eighth grade students in the Glider lab. Here, oceanographic robots are readied for data collection. The types of data that are collected are varied, and might include measurements of water temperatures, pollution, marine life and currents. 2) Computers track the underwater path of RU-27, the Glider that made the trans-Atlantic crossing from NJ to Spain and 3) Ethan Handel (GSB '02), now a research assistant with the National High Frequency Radar Network East Coast Hub, part of the Rutgers' Marine Science research efforts.
Can technology inspire young learners? Based on this trip, the answer is an unequivocal YES. That does not mean every student in attendance came away with an urge to be an oceanographer. But it does mean that students understood technical approaches to scientific challenges hold great promise in helping us to better understand the nature of the world we inhabit.
In the Upper School, Irv Taylor's Multimedia Design class took on a video production project that connected them to our Lower School. The group of students created a short (3 minute) video highlighting our Lower School Related Arts classes. These are classes students take outside of their normal grade classroom, and are informally known as "Specials": Art, Computers, Library, Music, Physical Education, Science and World Languages. For this project, a full array of video production technology skills were utilized. Students filmed, edited, made production design decisions, wrote script and narrated. The end product nicely showcases our Lower School Related Arts courses and highlights the impact of a video presentation.
Want to take a look at the video? It's available in each of the three Division folders (Lower School, Middle School, Upper School) on KnightSite. And for your convenience, it's also just below.
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