From: Jan Wee <jwee@mail.arc.nasa.gov>
Subject: Re: Electronic pen pals
Date: Sun, 03 Nov 1996 11:03:11 -0600
Dear discuss-lfm members,
>From Ross Little:
>At 12:18 PM 11/2/96 GMT, you wrote:
>I am a grade 5/6 teacher in southern Ontatio, Canada. I have a class of 29
students
>who are presently studying astronomy. I think it would be wonderful for my
kids to
>exchange thoughts with students who are also tuned into the LFS and LFM
on-line projects.
and
>From Janet Cook:
>Sounds good to me. I teach 16-21 year olds, but there's probably a few
>who would enjoy sharing thoughts with someone. Let me know if you want
>older kids. If there's another high school teacher out there who wants
>to work together, let me know about that, too. jkc
At least the two educators above have expressed interest in pursuing electronic
exchanges as part of their Live From Mars experience. I recall a similar
interest
back a few years ago during Live From Antarctica project. I put together a
list of
classrooms with some specific details and shared it with the group and
am willing to facilitate this effort again.
I would highly recommend that:
1) When you do collaborations with each other **structure activities** so it
is not just a "pen pal" type exchange as students need guidelines,
expectations, specific learning objectives which make the exchanges
more valuable
2) Be realistic in your time lines.
3) Be committed! If you agree to do exchanges with another class, don't
disappoint
them by not fulfilling your commitments. My students loved to do these
type of exchanges but I know how disappointed they were when emails did
not arrive, deadlines were ignored, etc.
4) Exchanging images (ex. model rovers each class has made or classroom
displays, balloon rockets, etc) can be very exciting. If you can
scan an image or use a digital camera, your students will enjoy
receiving
pictures of each other "in action"! Don't forget using snail mail
as that is also effective when you are not able to send graphics via
the net.
I will *not match* folks up as I believe you will want to do this on your
own, but rather, I will compile the list of all interested and will
share that via email.
If you are interested in having your class link up with another one for
the purpose of student-to-student or class-to-class exchanges, please send
me the following information:
Thanks,
Jan Wee, Co-Moderator
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> LFM Electronic Exchange Interest Form <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Teacher's Name:
Your Position/Title:
Email Address:
School Name:
Postal Address of the school:
Grade Level:
Number of Students in Your Class:
If you have specific ideas on what type of activities or exchanges
you would like to do, please describe:
Special Needs or Concerns:
Do you have the ability to exchange graphical images via the net?: ____ Yes
____ No
Send this file to jwee@mail.arc.nasa.gov by November 15th. A list will be
compiled
and shared with those who expressed interest in doing class exchanges!
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