Tech Task #5

The telecollaborative project I found is called the "One Day When I" Story Circle. The purpose of the project is to have students go outside and experience the natural world, then post online a description of their experience that begins with "One day when I...". At the end of their description, they talk about what they they have learned about nature. Children read and learn from the work of other students.

I think this is a great project. It can be used for any elementary grade level and can be used in language arts, science, visual arts, or phys. ed. There is a lot of talk about showing students how different school subjects relate to one another, and this project is a great way to demonstrate this concept. Such creative writing can be incorporated in a science unit, or what is being learned in science can be referred to in language arts. There is any combination of possibilities.
Further, it is a great way to encourage kids to get outside and explore the world around them, and then be able to share their experiences easily through the computer. It demonstrates that there should be a balance between time spent in front of the computer and away from the computer, and how the two can even be interrelated.
Finally, think of the potential this has if children from different climates and countries participate in this correspondence. They can hear firsthand accounts of weather, vegetation, scenery, and animals that they have never experienced. A child in snowy Saskatchewan, for instance, could swap stories with a child in sunny Australia.

Here is the link for the website. Unfortunately, a registration fee is required for this particular project, but a person could easily start their own.

http://www.gsn.org/GSH/pr/GetDetail.cfm?StartRow=1&view=1&projtype=%2Ccurrent%3Ball&sortby=Start%20Date&fAge=8&tAge=8&pID=2769