Scientist
on Tap: Video-Conferencing Over the Internet
© Yvonne Marie Andres, 1995
In education, everyone has heard the old adage about how important it is to teach the
three "R's" - READING, WRITING and ARITHMETIC.
My story is about an Internet project called the Global Schoolhouse which teaches two
additional and very important "Rs" - RESEARCH and RELATIONSHIPS that get
kids excited about learning.
Most of the Internet tools that are presently available revolve around RESEARCH.
Global Schoolhouse supports teaching students research skills and they use all the current
tools, including ftp, gopher, and the world wide web. These are marvelous tools that can
teach students how to access information all over the world and bring multi-media into the
classroom with the availability of images, video, and audio. But, we'd like to focus on a
desktop video-conferencing tool called CU-SeeMe that we think fosters RELATIONSHIPS.
However, my story unfolds something like this....
One day a scientist named Larry magically appeared in our classroom. Where did he come
and what was he doing there? It seems that Larry was a rocket scientist at the Jet
Propulsion Labs.
Larry, the rocket scientist, while exploring the Internet, was lost and needed some
help. Our 12 and 13 year old students were eager to come to the aide of our surprise
cyber-guest. Larry had been testing a brand new piece of software called CU-SeeMe and had
somehow found his way into the Global Schoolhouse.
Our lost guest promised to teach the kids everything he knew about science, rockets,
and space exploration if only they would come to his rescue and answer a few of his
questions.
Since our kids were expert users of CU-SeeMe and this was Larry's very first time, they
easily answered all his questions about configuration, reflectors, and frame rates. This
interaction formed a strong bond and a continuing RELATIONSHIP.
Since that magical day, Larry has willingly become a permanent resource to the students
of the Global Schoolhouse. He has shared stories, lectures, and up-to-the minute satellite
images upon demand. This spontaneous episode led to the development of a new concept we
call "Scientist on Tap."
The word spread, as good news tends to do, and before long we met another JPL
scientist, named Steven. Steven was so moved by the idea of sharing his work with school
kids that he made "Scientist on Tap" an official program, and thus created a
permanent partnership between JPL and the Global Schoolhouse.
Before we knew it scientists were "popping up" in our classroom all the time.
There was Brian from the High Performance Computing Center who taught our 6th graders how
to use the Cray Super Computer and Josh from Carnegie Mellon who taught our kids how to
research environmental issues.
- These are the kinds of RESEARCH and RELATIONSHIP experiences that
encourage our students to work collaboratively and give them meaningful opportunities in a
real-world context.
- These are the kinds of RESEARCH and RELATIONSHIP experiences that help
transform teachers into coaches, facilitators, and side-by-side learners.
- These are the kinds of RESEARCH and RELATIONSHIP experiences that keep our
kids glued to their keyboards and help our kids to love learning!
Cu-SeeMe software , was developed at Cornell
University, and supports multi-party real-time videoconferencing on inexpensive desktop
computers via the Internet. The communication and collaboration capabilities opened by
this technology are key powerful motivators, particularly in K-12 education.
Global SchoolNet Foundation maintains a directory
of K12 schools with the capability for using CU-SeeMe.
CU-SeeMe has opened our students cognitive window by creating a new "virtual
schoolhouse" only made possible by worldwide electronic networking. As budgets shrink
and resources within the school building diminish, the Internet can connect students to
the expanding resources of a "Global Schoolhouse" limited only by bandwidth and
populated with fellow students, teachers, scientists, astronauts, and other experts around
the world.
I have dedicated the past twelve years of my life to the "electronic
frontier," because As a teacher, I have never seen such enthusiastic and motivated
students. This experience has provided my students with tools to effectively investigate
their world and make them responsible citizens of the twenty-first Century. The impact has
been so great that parents in my district have insisted the project be expanded to the
high school. Local businesses, libraries and universities visit our middle school to find
out how they can establish a RELATIONSHIP with the Global Schoolhouse.
In addition, I have discovered there is a "team" of expert volunteers at my
fingertips. These professional RELATIONSHIPS have resulted in my meeting important people
like Dr. Jane Goodall, Senator Diana Feinstein, and Dr. C. Everette Koop. My
cyber-RELATIONSHIPS have resulted in actual travel to three continents.
How do students feel about live interactive video?
- From Lyndon (an 8th grade male student)
"Larry had been holding
up-to-the-minute satellite photos of space, which he receives at JPL. After the
demonstration, I just thought he was a fun and fascinating person. With his great sense of
humor, Larry shares his knowledge with the students and helps us out in any way possible.
From Erin (an 8th female student)
"Good friends come along once in a lifetime. I met mine on a window on the
computer screen in the Global Schoolhouse where I met Steve who was a professor at Cornell
University. I struck up a conversation with him and this spawned a long distance
relationship. Steve and I send e-mail to each other often, and we discuss everything from
musical instruments to school.
After five minutes of conversing with a NASA scientist named Simon, Victorio (a student
that had been very unsuccessful in school) jumped up and shouted, "This is my dream
come true. I wish my science teacher could explain things the way Simon does!"
For more information on the Global Schoolhouse project, contact Yvonne Marie Andres,
yvonne@globalschoolnet.org, (760) 721-2972 http://gsh.lightspan.com
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