The Dinosaur unit I use in my class is always popular. Up until this time I have not used CMC as a means of teaching it. Starting off seems difficult. I think I would begin by simply having the students use www.yahooligans.com to search for information about dinosaurs. I am aware from already researching that there are many good sites with lots of information out there. Some of the sites are more difficult to navigate then others, however they still usually have decent information. The question still is, how will I incorporate different forms of CMC? First of all during my Yahooligans search I found The BBC web site which has lots of cool features, several of which meet my needs. The site is www.bbc.co.uk. This site offers lots of cool stuff for kids, parents, and teachers. It has bulletin boards for its users to discuss different topics like space, technology and dinosaurs. It has chat rooms set up for youngsters to discuss different topics and at certain times there are live guest or experts that will chat with you.
It might take some scheduling but we could most likely get to chat with an expert about dinosaurs. I would probably spend some time with my students before hand to discuss what kind of questions they would like to ask. Since they are younger and their typing skills are not great, I would probably type the questions in for them. I have not participated in a live chat session with an expert like this, but I’m sure it moves quickly. Typing for them will give them a better chance of getting their questions answered. Hopefully they would get some good information from this communication.
After our live chat, we could search the Dino discussion groups and see what kind of topics other students have come up with. This should spark more conversation and maybe the students will have more questions that could be posted on the bulletin board. The boards may already have some answers to their questions.
If after our live chat and our search of bulletin board discussions, the students still have questions we will find an expert from one of the websites and e-mail the questions to them. Most of the sites listed under the Yahooligans search have experts and their e-mail addresses listed.
I spent a great deal of time looking for a virtual world where my students could experience the landscape and feel of the world when dinosaurs roamed about. I was unsuccessful! I did however find a site that sparked my interest. It was www.timesoldiers.com. Time Soldiers is a series of children’s books about six kids who find a time portal that takes them to all kinds of places in history. My thoughts are why is there no Website, MOO, or virtual world like this? I would like to develop a site that is a time portal. There is no need to stop with dinosaurs. Students could experience all kinds of times and places via their computers. How wonderful it would be if students could transport themselves into a 3-D world that no longer exists. What about a world that doesn’t exist yet? A time portal website or virtual world could include both past and future worlds. I like the idea of it being more like a MUD or MOO so that more than one person could be present at any given time. Students could go to one of these world and make observations. They could communicate with each other about what they are seeing and experiencing. I just can't believe that something like this doesn’t already exist. If you are reading this and are aware of site that is similar please e-mail me with the address. e-mail
During the Dinosaur unit I plan to work with older students at the middle school. I would like to have those students work with the students in my class using Blogs. My students could make drawings and pictures of dinosaurs that interest them. These pictures could be scanned into the computer and uploaded on the web log. The older students could then access the web log and make comments on the pictures and maybe give information they have about dinosaurs. Other teachers and parents could also access the Blog and give input. For information about how to build your own blog access my Tools for creation page for a link to the Lycos websites.
With some instant messaging programs, voice to voice interaction can occur. This could be used to help the middle school kids communicate with my class. The students can talk about the information on the Blog and give suggestions. The IM’s can also have video feeds so that the students could actually hear and see each other when discussing dinosaurs or any other subject.
This is a nice site to find information about crafts that young people can do associated with dinosaurs.
Check out the dinosaur floor of this site.
Facts and fiction of dinosaurs!
Visit Willow the dinosaur with a heart.
Visit an online Dino exhibit.
National Geographic’s Dinosaur site!