Sorry that I've been missing in action! We've been on spring break this past week. While I wish I'd been on a beach somewhere tropical, I've been analyzing and writing up my action research on virtual field trips as an enriching educational tool. Throughout the semester, I organized five virtual field trips in first grade:
1. The students performed Readers' Theater for another class in New York.
2. The students met with a storyteller at Mount Vernon.
3. The students met Stuart J. Murphy, author of the MathStart series, in Boston.
4. The students met with a former Peace Corp volunteer and learned all about Morocco. They even learned some words in Arabic!
5. The students made a butterfly marionette with the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta.
We used the TANDBERG, a videoconferencing system, for the trips but you could also use Skype (we did use Skype for one of the programs). You can schedule the programs through the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration. Some of the programs cost money, some of the programs are free.
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| This is Addison, the former Peace Corp volunteer, on the TANDBERG. He volunteered in Morocco so he wore the Moroccan attire for us! |
Have you used video-calling in the classroom? If so, how?
