The first was from a 5th grade teacher at Knapp Elementary who linked his students up with the students of another 5th grade teacher from Sioux Rapids, Iowa, whom he'd met via Twitter. The theme was "Mystery Skype," and the educational skills included geography, history, and research skills. Each class appeared on screen and were able to hear and see each other while taking turns asking yes/no questions in an attempt to be the first to determine the location of the other class. Early questions included, "Do you live in one of the 13 original colonies?" and, "Are you located east of Lake Michigan?"
The teacher from Iowa had her students working on Macbooks and others taking notes on paper. Our teacher had students in groups with assigned roles, including researchers on the classroom desktop and a few mini laptops, note takers, question runners, and several students with dry-erase maps, which they marked up as the question-asking team asked queries that helped eliminate states.
Our team did very well, having narrowed the location of the Hawkeye kids down to an area between two highways, but the Sioux Rapids students used our sports team allegiances against us, then narrowed down our district, and guessed from our many elementary schools until they got the right one. Win or lose, it was a very educational and engaging experience, activating prior knowledge from social studies and applying research and reasoning skills. Our teacher said he definitely plans to repeat the Mystery Skype experience again, linking up with students in a different state.
The second great Skype experience I was fortunate enough to help facilitate in our district this week was put together by two teachers of completely different age groups: a high school science teacher with a 12th grade class, and an Oak Park Elementary teacher with 4th graders. For this lesson, the high school seniors were dissecting feral pigs, and showing the process to the younger students using an Ipevo camera over Skype. The 4th graders were able to watch and ask questions of the "big kids."
In addition to easy communication between faculty members, the sharing of quick information and links, and the ever-popular "Skype an Author" project, these two projects continue to show how technology can be integrated into curriculum in a way that enhances communication, collaboration and learning.
Please share any other great uses you've found for Skype!
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