Spotlight on the 1999
SIGTel
Online Award Winners
Eco Disaster
Joanne
Tate
Honorable
Mention
Ararat Community
College
School
Barkly Street
Ararat, Victoria, 3351 Australia
Project
Summary
Imagine junior students engaged in small groups solving an
environmental scenario
problem where they must investigate and develop their own Web-based
action plan.
They are connected to experts in the area of water environments over
the Internet
and collaborate with other classes in Australia and Uganda. They are
responsible
for the construction of the multimedia response that will be linked to
the Global
Classroom Project, "Watery Worlds."
Objectives
- Empower students and their families to make a difference to issues
of global
significance.
- Generate interest in the environment and issues related to its
preservation.
- Promote awareness of the global nature of environmental problems.
- Increase collaboration between global classrooms.
- Learn how to develop an action plan in relation to communities
and their
environment.
- Develop research skills using the Internet.
- Broaden resources available to the students.
Necessary
Telecommunications Resources
A computer lab, capable of servicing teams of three. Computers should
be equipped
for Internet access
Role of
Telecommunications
- E-mail collaboration between teachers and students
- Transfer of files
- Publishing of student research
- Web site publication and sharing
- Research on the Internet
Curriculum Area(s)
Involved
Studies of society and environment
Planning Requirements
& Procedures
- Initially, I had to set up eight separate skeleton Web sites and
put permissions
in place on the server so the students could add to or alter
them.
- On each Web site, I entered an environmental disaster photo and
scenario
that personalized the problem for the junior students.
- I contacted government agencies for handouts on the problems
associated
with water and the wetlands.
- Students were put into groups and allocated a Web site.
- The groups are responsible for researching the scenario and
completing
all the pages on the Web sites under the various headings (i.e., The
Problem,
Effects on Wildlife, etc.).
- The groups are responsible for "decorating" the Web site with
fonts and
other design elements.
- The finished products are shared with the other groups in an oral
presentation
and linked to the main "Watery Worlds" Project as our
contribution.
Print Materials
Needed
Materials to explore the area in the general classroom context,
library materials
Class Management
Strategies/Required
Activities
We use this project in integral ways in the curriculum:
- E-mail communications between international teachers to plan
classroom
collaboration with the main Watery Worlds project and to access
expert resources
- Some work on the scenario is conducted in class-looking at video,
literature,
text, and Web resources
- Teachers visit the lab with their classes show the students the
Web sites
- Students do Web searches for sites and ideas while in the lab and
complete
their individual scenario page over a period of weeks
- Oral presentations
- Work is linked to main site
Suggested Class Time
& Project
Duration
It is anticipated that this activity will run for three weeks. In
each week,
students have three 50-minute sessions.
Method(s) for Evaluating
Student
Achievement of Objectives
- Students will be evaluated by their peers when they do their oral
presentation
and demonstration of their solution.
- We ask students who have been involved to evaluate the experience
in a
written report, and this will also be published on the Web site.
This will
include an evaluation of how the team worked as a whole.
- Students will be tested with a scenario and ask to develop an
action plan
during the examination.
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