BBC World Class showcase: Schools Videoconferencing event across the water
“How do I get children in America to listen to magpies?”
That was the thought that ran through teacher Colette Cotton’s mind on a chilly British morning this February. Her class of seven year olds in Kent were in the middle of a presentation to 11 year olds in Mississippi, USA:
"Our computer was busy sustaining the video link, so we got another and played the sounds on the speakers".
Collette’s pupils have taken part in the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds' (RSPB) 'Big Schools' Birdwatch' for the last two years. When they found that their twin school did their own ‘great bird watch’ they decided to swap findings.
A webcam and a broadband connection means children on either side of the Atlantic can see and talk to each other. Colette’s pupils presented examples of their work:
“Showing is much better than just talking about something’ says Collette. "We had been making bird food as part of our project so we held up some bird cakes to the camera”.
Both classes have participated in bird counts and shared graphs and information about them. They’ve learned that there are different kinds of birds with different habitats in the different countries. They work together on a joint sustainability project via the School Net Global website.
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