Videoconferencing Out on a Lim

Today & tomorrow three middle school classes from Bridgman Middle School are connecting to the Bronx Zoo for their Awesome Adaptations program. The science classes have been studying adaptations and this program fits nicely into the curriculum. In the session, students are learning about various types of adaptations and related scientific names such as plantigrade, digitigrade, etc.
During the program, Erin, the presenter, asks the students many questions and pushes them to clarify, explain their answer, and give more details in their answer. She definitely makes them think!

The program includes demonstration of three live animals, as well as full screen text of scientific names, video clips, and still pictures. These visuals enhance students’ understanding of adaptations.

The students were able to ask many questions during the program as well. This was a great program and I’m sure we’ll be connecting to the Bronx Zoo again!

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Today Village Adventist Elementary School is doing my all time favorite videoconference: Magnificent Manatees from the Columbus Zoo. I love this program because of all the hands-on activities students do during the videoconference.

The class measures a paper cutout of the manatee (mailed ahead of time to the class) to help them understand the full size of the manatee. You can see it on the wall in the back of the classroom.

The students also all get on a bathroom scale until they have enough students add up to the weight of a manatee at the zoo. You can see the students lined up at the scale in the picture. This is a group of 1st and 2nd graders, so they aren’t adding all the numbers. However I’ve seen this program with older students where the presenter asks all the students to add the weights of all the students.

Next the partners work with a set of pictures showing the types of food that the manatee eats. The students have to pick out the foods they eat from the pictures.

Several great activities, lots of information for the students, and wonderful live footage of the manatees swimming in their tank. These features make this program an excellent choice. The Columbus Zoo is VERY popular. This school year (2005-2006) they filled the whole year schedule by mid September. They open registration for the 2006-2007 school year on June 1. So plan ahead!

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