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1991-07-19
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Carolyn J. Guarino
Telecommunications:
Electronic Network Systems in the Classroom
Dr. Terrence O'Donnell
Salem State College
Leadership Institute for Educators
Summer 1991
Introduction:
The purpose of this paper is to produce a series of
lessons for students to produce work using technology in the
classroom. Teachers are still reluctant to use available
technology either because they are unaware of the available uses or
resources available to them. Many are unfamiliar with
telecommunications and the vast capabilities and avenues open to
them and their students. With these lessons as a starting point I
hope to encourage them to delve into the world of technology with
as much excitement as their students will be when given the
opportunity to telecommunicate.
Assignment #1
Equipment needed: computer, modem, telecommunication software, and
a telephone line.
Personnel needed: 2 willing teachers, 2 classrooms of students.
Project Requirements:
Meeting of minds of cooperating teachers about:
1. letter format
2. length of individual letters
3. upload dates
4. student to student assignments
5. grammar, spelling, punctuation
6. anticipated difficulties (reluctant students, less able
ones, etc.)
7. number of contacts through telecommunications
Curriculum Area(s): Language Arts/Letter Writing
Project name: Exchanging Us
Process: The host teacher leaves a message with an active
telecommunicating teacher on the Educator Echo requesting an
exchange of letters between their students in an area that is of
interest to the students.
Purpose(s):
To develop writing skills using the friendly letter
format.
To become familiar with telecommunications as a means
of exchanging information.
To practice the skill oforganizing information in a
meaningful way.
Setting the scene:
Students are told that they will be writing to other students in
another part of the world/ US. To get to know each other they will
write an autobiographical sketch as their introductory letter.
Activity #1: Teacher present a friendly letter format lesson.
Activity #2: Students write and develop their autobiography using
the friendly letter format and using a word
processor for their finished copy. They save their
finished product on their own disks and also to the
teacher's disk.
Activity #3: All letters are merged into a single file that is
then uploaded to the host bulletin board to await
download to the remote classroom.
Activity #4: While awaiting the remote classroom letters, as a
class the students can brainstorm about the
information the expect to receive. After the
brainstorming session the ideas can be recorded by
category.
Activity #5: Download the transmitted file from the remote
classroom.
Activity #6: Read and discuss with classmates the letters each
received. Compare the similarities and differences
between the host letters and the remote letters.
Activity #7: Students can compare their brainstorming ideas with
the actual facts received to determine how accurate
they were in their predictions.
Activity #8: Various graphs can be made illustrating kinds and/or
numbers of pets, family members, ages, sports,
hobbies, etc.
Follow-up: Reply to letters and continue telecommunicating
throughout the year.
*********************** Assignment #2: *********************
Equipment needed: computer, modem, telecommunication software, and
a telephone line.
Personnel needed: 2 willing teachers, 2 classrooms of students.
Project Requirements:
Meeting of minds of cooperating teachers about:
1. correspondence format
2. length of individual correspondence
3. upload dates
4. student to student assignments
5. grammar, spelling, punctuation
6. anticipated difficulties (reluctant students,
less able ones, etc.)
7. number of contacts through telecommunications
Curriculum Area(s): Language Arts/Creative Writing
Project name: Spying for Information
Process: The host teacher leaves a me ssage with an active
telecommunicating teacher on the Educator's to
participate in an exchange of letters between their
students in an area that is of interest to the students.
Purpose(s):
To develop and expand the students' creative writing
abilities.
To become familiar with telecommunications as a means
of exchanging information.
To compile and analyze information.
To practice the skill of organizing information in a
meaningful way.
Setting the scene:
Teachers announce to the class that they must visit with the
students of the remote classro ey don't know very much about the
remote classmates, they will be able to secretly spy on them by
becoming an inanimate object (article of clothing, bed, light, pen,
etc.). They must choose appropriately in order to be inconspicuous
in order to spy without being discovered. They must also choose a
room to be in in order to do the spying. Their ability to move
about will be limited by the object they choose (or by their
ingenuity to get the object moved).
Activity #1: Students choose their objects and h old a classroom
discussion telling why they chose the item and what
they hope to learn by their observation.
Activity #2: Students pretend they are in the remote location,
(keeping in mind the inanimate object they have
chosen to be) begin to write and develop their piece
of writing and using a word processor for their
finished copy. They save their finished product on
their own disks and also to the teacher's disk.
Activity #3: All stories are merged into a single file that is
then uploaded to the host bulletin board to await
download to the remote classroom.
Activity #4: While awaiting the remote classroom transmission, as
a class the students can brainstorm about the
information they expect to receive. After the
brainstorming session the class can be placed into
cooperative groups to record the ideas by category.
Activity #5: Predict and chart which inanimate object their remote
counterpart will use to spy on them.
Activity #6: Download the remote classroom information and compare
both sets of information.
Activity #7: Reply to the remote classroom as to:
1. the accuracy of their predictions
2. correcting their misconceptions
3. Inform their counterparts what inanimate object
they were in order to spy on them.
4. Inform their counterparts how they moved about if
this applies.
Follow-up: Respond to stories and continue telecommunicating
throughout the year.
********************* Assignment #3 *********************
Equipment Needed: telephone line, thermometer(s), anemometer,
barometer, chart paper, logs for data,
containers for precipitation, ruler.
Personnel needed: 2 or more willing teachers, 2 or more
classrooms of students.
Project Requirements:
Meeting of minds of cooperating teachers about:
1. correspondence
2. length of individual correspondence
3. upload dates
4. student to student assignments
5. grammar, spelling, punctuation
6. anticipated difficulty
7. a number of contacts through telecommunications
Curriculum Area(s): Science, Language Arts
Project name: Weather Observation
Process: The host teacher leaves a message with an active
telecommunicating teacher on the Educator Echo requesting
his/her willingness to participate in an exchange of
letters between their students in an area that is of
interest to the students.
Purpose(s):
To be aware of the similarities and differences of the
weather in a variety of locations over a period of time
through data gathering that daily weather is not the
same throughout the country/world.
To compare the accuracy of forecasts with the actual
weather.
To become familiar with telecommunications as a means of
exchanging information.
To practice the skill of organizing information in a
meaningful way.
Setting the scene: Students are told that they will be
meteorologists for one week. They are to
predict weather, compare with official
forecasts, and record actual weather.
Activity #1: Teams of students work together to measure, observe,
record and log their findings for the day. A log
will be kept by each student on the team. A single
report will be compiled and posted daily by the team.
Each team member will be responsible for one of the
following:
1. temperature
2. precipitation
3. cloud cover at time of readings
4. sunshine
Activity #2: The teams daily findings will be word processed and
saved to student's disks and the teacher's disk and
uploaded for transmission to the remote class to await
download.
Activity #4: While awaiting the remote classroom data, the
students can graph their data for further study.
Activity #5: Download the transmitted file from the remote
classroom.
Activity #6: Compare the similarities and differences between the
host data and the remote data.
Activity #7: Students can compare their pre-conceptions with the
actual facts received to determine how accurate they
were in their predictions.
Activity #8: Various graphs can be made illustrating the different
kinds of weather recorded by the participating
classes.
Follow-up: Respond to data received and continue telecommunicating
throughout the year.
******************** Assignment #4 *********************
Equipment needed: computer, modem, telecommunication software, and
a telephone line.
Personnel needed: 2 willing teachers, 2 classrooms of students.
Project Requirements:
Meeting of the minds of cooperating teachers about:
1. correspondence format
2. length of individual correspondence
3. upload dates
4. student to student assignments
5. grammar, spelling, punctuation
6. anticipated difficulties (reluctant students, less
able ones, etc.)
7. number of contacts through telecommunications
Curriculum Area(s): Social Studies, Language Arts
Project name: Looking at Our Roots
Process: The host teacher leaves a message with an active
telecommunicating teacher inquiring about his/her
willingness to participate in an exchange of letters
between their students in an area that is of interest to
the students.
Purpose(s):
To recognize where the students' roots originate from
and the reasons resulting in being located where they are
today.
To recognize the beauty and value of their ancestry.
To appreciate the similarities and differences of a
variety of cultures found in their classroom as well as
in other parts of the country/world.
To compare their data with the data of the remote
classroom.
Setting the scene: The teacher informs the class that they will be
taking a closer look at their families roots,
Use the tree as a symbol to help them under-
stand what is meant by our roots.
Activity #1: Students look at themselves and their family and
record what they know.
Activity #2: As a class they compile a list of questions they want
answered about their families. A second list is
compiled to determine who could help them get the
information they need.
Activity #3: Conduct one or more interviews with the people they
believe could help them get the information they
need.
Activity #4: Word process their gathered information on the
computer. Save the information on their own disks
and on the teacher's disk.
Activity #5: After a single file is made the file is uploaded for
transfer.
Activity #6: Download remote classroom information. Compare the
information to their classroom information and draw
conclusions about their findings.
Activity # 7: (Optional) Continue telecommunicating throughout the
year.
********************* Assignment #5 ********************
Equipment needed: computer, modem, telecommunication software, and
a telephone line.
Personnel needed: 2 willing teachers, 2 classrooms of students.
Project Requirements:
Meeting of minds of cooperating teachers about:
1. letter format
2. length of individual letters
3. upload dates
4. student to student assignments
5. grammar, spelling, punctuation
6. anticipated difficulties
7. number of contacts through telecommunications
Curriculum Area(s): Social Studies, Language Arts
Project name: History at Our Door
Process: The host teacher leaves a message with an active
telecommunicating teacher on the Educator Echo requesting
his/her willingness to participate in an exchange of
correspondence between their students in an area that is
of interest to the students.
Purpose(s):
To develop an awareness of local history and its
importance in time.
To provide/acquire new, and historical information and
data about the community we live in.
Setting the scene: Your remote classmates and his/her family are
planning to visit the community you live in.
They are interested in the local history,
places they can visit, and the significance
they have in the development of the area and
the country.
Activity #1: Student's are to choose and research a tourist
attraction describe it , and tell why it is
significant to our area and i ts time and place in
history.
Activity #2: Word process and transmit their information.
Activity #3: While waiting for the remote information to arrive,
find the location of the remote classroom on a map.
Determine how they will get to your community, how
long it will take, how much it will cost, where they
will stay, eat and visit. Set up a tentative
itinerary.
Activity #4: Develop a linear graph showing where local events,
people and significant events researched fall on a
timeline.
Activity #5 Download remote classroom information and disc uss
information received.
Activity #6: Make a timeline of the remote classroom information
received and merge with the host timeline.
Activity #7: Determined further information needed for your trip.
Send request for more information if needed and the
tentative itinerary you have set up for them.
Activity #8: Continue telecommunicating as needed or desired
throughout the year.
***********************************************
Conclusion: Some students come to school more globally aware than
others because of their family travels. On the other hand, many
students because of economical circumstances are unable and will be
unable to experience the world beyond their immediate
neighborhoods. Telecommunications for them is especially useful
and critical in order to provide them with the opportunity to step
through the door to the larger world community. It will also give
them the personal touch and involvement they need to provide the
hook needed to arouse and keep their interest in their own personal
learning. It is hoped that with the use of these lessons the
students will become more knowledgeable about themselves and their
immediate environment in using telecommunications they will expand
their experience to a more global awareness of the larger world
community they live in.
Credits: I became aware of the use of telecommunications as a tool
for the learning and exchanging of student gathered
information through the use of the National Geographic
Kids' Net program. I was not aware, however, of the use of
local bulletin boards for which I thank Jim Downey. Dr.
Terrence O'Donnell made me aware of the Regents Network
for which I am grateful. Chuck Drayton's lecture made me
aware that many of the classroom lessons teacher present
can be combined with telecommunications using the
Educator Echo to enlarge the students' learning and open
their horizons to a global community.
My permission is granted for the distribution of this
document.
