Networked communities offer a means of delivering quality science and math education for students in rural locations. I teach in a remote area of British Columbia in a school that is cut off from many of the amenities that are offered in an urban centre. Our population is quite small and as such our students benefit from close interactive teaching where their needs are recognized through extensive differentiated instruction. However, the remoteness and small population of our school limits our ability to offer a breadth of curriculum options (especially for grades 8-10) that would occur in a city centre school.
During my investigation of networked communities I discovered that there are many options for my students that offer meaningful science based learning experiences that they would otherwise not be able to participate in. Virtual field trips and web-based science expeditions, San Francisco’s Exploratorium museum (online), and the Intra-Laboratory Network (ILN) all provide opportunities to increase the quality of science education in rural and remote communities.
While perhaps not a replacement for real field trips, virtual field trips and web-based science expeditions could bring my students to real investigations around the world where they can view real photographs, chat with explorers, and analyze real data. I have many opportunities to take my students on field based trips in our own back yard, but the reality of taking them to the ocean, or to an active volcano site is beyond our most valiant fundraising efforts.
Similar to web-based expeditions, San Francisco’s Exploratorium museum offers an online tour of many of the exhibits they showcase in the actual museum. I perused a link to Climate Change: Global Warming, and was pleased to find an interactive site that thoroughly examines climate change, and how researchers conduct their investigations. A teacher could easily use this platform to design engaging learning experiences for students.
An emerging technology called the Integrated Laboratory Network allows students to access and use specialized laboratory equipment through the internet. I am fortunate to have tried this technology through Western Washington University (WWU) where I ran chemical samples through a gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC/MS) machine. Without ILN technology I may have never been able to use such a machine unless physically present where the equipment is located. As ILN technology becomes more accessible, students in rural locations could participate in scientific investigations that they would otherwise not be able to.
I believe one of the paramount aspects of good use of technology in the science and math classroom is accessibility. These examples of networked communities exemplify this quality and have outstanding potential for providing learning experiences for students regardless of their location.
Stephen