Learning, Teaching & Technology

Thanks to the folks at bugscope online I just realized a longheld dream of connecting to the scanning electron microscope and scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Campus for a live session with a class of 3rd graders. The scientists ran a live “chat” with the class and responded to questions from each of the students. We had mailed them some insects and critters we had collected from the schoolyard and then I controlled the microscope as we all viewed them with magnifications to 3 nanometers (1 nanometer=1 billionth of a meter). The students questions were thoughtful and the responses from the scientists made us all feel like we studying together.

I first heard about “bugscope” in a GLEF video published in 2000 showing students at Clear View Charter School in California. More recently, I read that the live conferencing shown in that video wasn’t available, but an online chat with photos was free to schools who wanted to participate.  What a wonderful opportunity for students to connect their outdoor classroom, hands-on science to University level questioning and exploration. For more information about the history and current availability of the project go to this edutopia link. If you want to login as a guest to one of our future live class sessions email me at cathy.wolinsky@gmail.com. 

Click here to see the questions and photos from our session.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS