Videoconferencing to Enhance Instruction
Boiling Water Project
Location: Videoconference link between Helena, Montana and Portland, Oregon.
Description
Two-way, interactive, desktop videoconferencing systems were used between an
elementary school classroom in Helena and a high school science classroom in
Portland to conduct a series boiling water of experiments simultaneously.
Interviewee quoted here:
Detlef Johl Technical Advisor and Teacher, Kessler Elementary School, Helena, MT.
In the words one of the teachers...
Detlef Johl
"When I got involved with this project, I was excited to know that I'd
be able to get back into videoconferencing and be able to do all sorts of
wonderful things. Then it was proposed that we would boil water and I thought
to myself, 'That's pretty silly. Everybody knows water boils.'
"I guess I never knew what it meant for water to boil. I knew water boils at 212 degrees. Or does it? It doesn't boil at 212 degrees here in Helena, Montana, because we're at a higher elevation. When we started participating with the other school, we found out that their water boils at 212 degrees and our water boils at 202 degrees."
"So we started asking each other, 'When does boiling begin?' We had to come up with a definition: Is it when we see bubbles or when we see steam? The students started talking to each other , saying, 'I see steam. Is it steam? Or what is it? I see bubbles --- does that mean it's boiling?' We came up with a definition that said when we reach a temperature that is constant, that is the temperature that designates that water is boiling."
"Then we said, 'Well, we have a different air pressure than in Portland; we have to get on the phone and find out the current air pressure in Portland.' As we were gathering this information, we found out there's a lot more to boiling water than simply saying water boils at such and such a degree. The students found that doing something as silly or simple as boiling water became more involved. They learned they needed to record their information instead of just saying, 'Well, this is what's happening.' The had to be precise, saying, 'Our time is such and such so we got the same kind of readings,' so they developed a database. They integrated that along with the other scientific aspects of the pressure changes and altitude changes, coming up with a common language."
"That is what it means to boil water."
Further comments by Detlef Johl
Videoconferencing...the Technology
"I've been a teacher at this school for 23 years now, and in teaching 6th grade I became involved with computers, seeing them as a benefit for students to use."
"I really got interested in the video aspect of technology when I attended a conference in Washington, D.C. with a program called 'Passport to Knowledge.' It was a unique experience because I was able to go there and be part of what was called a virtual conference. We had a series of computers that were set up where teachers could email us at the conference, and we had set cameras up so that they could watch us on video as well. The whole purpose of the project was for teachers to see what it's like for mission control to the pathfinder mars mission for the Sojourner that was to land on Mars. We hooked up video cameras to small Lego robots, and we were able to control them at the conference, and other people were able to control them with the software that we had. That was my first experience with video as such."
"When I came back from the conference in Washington, I decided that I needed a camera to be able to do this, not only to be able to send video, but to participate with other teachers. Unfortunately, the technology at the time and the expertise that was needed to make all this happen was rather difficult. We could receive video from NASA and so on, and that brought a whole new dimension into the classroom on to the computer, but it was very difficult to actually send video, and know how to do that. So things were kind of at a standstill until we started experimenting with it more in a different kind of way."
Videoconferencing...the Technology
"Many teachers have faced the same problem that I have, and that is that I have one computer, or I have one good computer that works in the classroom. There are so many things that you can do with that one computer, if you hook up a phone line to it. Many districts are without telecommunications still, but there is some place in the building that you might be able to hook up a phone line, or run a cable to your classroom. That has been a problem for me as well, 'How to get that to the classroom,' but all it takes is running a 100-foot wire from someplace."
"To share that one computer with the classroom, there are some devices out there, which is what we use here, that project the image from the computer screen onto the television. So whatever you are doing on that computer you can share with the entire classroom."
"The software that I'm currently using is Intel's Create and Share package. With that I have a camera and with the software that makes it really simple to use. You click and shoot and point at the phone number that you need to dial, and talk into the microphone and bring up the video, and away it goes. We do that over a regular phone line. The overall cost to bring a phone line into the building is relatively cheap, when you look at the benefits that you can derive from it."
"We have two options, we can do it over the phone line, or we can do it over the Internet [over the phone line]. We have chosen to do a direct connection to the other school. The cost benefits for bringing a phone line into the building are numerous. The benefits of having a phone line, either into a classroom or into a building, outweigh the cost of what it does to bring it in."
Student Impact
"The activity that I'm currently involved in, first of all, came about because the equipment was much more accessible, and the software to make this run was much easier for the students to use, as well as for the teacher to use. My students are trying to do an experiment with another classroom, taking a simple idea of boiling water here in Helena, and collaborating with another classroom in Portland, Oregon where they are doing the same kind of activity. What were doing is sharing using the videoconferencing software, sharing, not only viewing ourselves, as we send images across, but the experiment itself."
"So instead of just telling the students our water is boiling, they can actually see our water boiling as we can see theirs boiling. We can 'see' a variety of different things, such as different forms of bubbling water."
"The activity that we're doing becomes a real life experience for the students. They are connected with other people, they can see that person, that there is an audience for them. When students do a writing activity, nobody ever reads it except for the teacher. When students do an experiment like this, they do it for people in their classroom. Now, not only are they doing it for students in their classroom, but they're able to share their results with classrooms in other places as well."
"The students become active participants instead of, well, here I am looking at it, and not being involved in it at all. By watching the other students in the other classroom, and seeing them actually measure the temperature, and then by doing the same kind of activity here, they are becoming aware of different ways of measuring. We need to make sure that we're doing this the same way. So the students are becoming much more involved in the entire activity."
"The effects of having this in the building provide a lot of opportunities for students that they wouldn't ordinarily have. When they do share information, their audience is limited to their classroom. Now their audience is no longer limited. They can share what they're doing, what their environment is like, with students all over the world. They're bringing things into the classroom that they normally would not be able to see. Students today watch television, they see a lot of different things, but it's not real. But having an actual student on the other end showing them pictures of what they have and what they experience, makes a world of difference. It will bring those students closer together, and it will bring those teachers closer together."
Communication...Cultural & Equity Benefits
"One benefit from this is that students are able to communicate with other people. They break down many of the cultural barriers. It doesn't matter what kind of culture the other class is from and it doesn't seem to matter what age those students are,. When we emailed in the past, it didn't matter, and now that we're doing video, students see themselves as scientists, they see themselves as collaborators, they see themselves as...people, communicating with someone else, and that's what makes it a real experience for them."
"One of the barriers that this type of communication breaks down, is the age barrier. The students that I have participating are 5th grade level, 11, 12 years old and the students that we are communicating with are high school, juniors and seniors. The students talk with each other as if they are fellow scientists and collaborators; they don't see each other as younger than I am and you don't know as much. Instead, it's a sharing kind of experience."
"When the students here talked about what the weather was like, the high school students were amazed. When the students there were talking about different kinds of experiences, my students asked those students to explain it better."
Thoughts on Success
"I'll start with the advice. I think my first bit of advice is to be enthused about doing it, wanting to do it. If you really want to do it, it will happen. The other bit of advice that come along is to plan on spending time that is frustrating. Even though it works sometimes, many times it doesn't work. The problem that I've had in the past is not having someone else that has worked with it. If you can find somebody that has any kind of knowledge, and not necessarily with video conferencing, but understanding telecommunications, having somebody there with you while you're doing this, to talk it over to check your connections---that really helps. Sometimes it can be something very simple that can be fixed. But it does take another person to say, 'Hey, we forgot to do this.' But it does take some time, and it does take some commitment to make this happen. But the end result of making that connection and seeing that other teacher's image come up on the screen, and watching the students makes it all worthwhile."
And...Success...in Videoconferencing...
"In order to make this project successful, there were a couple of things I needed:
- One was the time and commitment to do the project or to even be involved in this;
- Second would be to receive some training from somebody that is more knowledgeable about it than I am.
"In addition to that, the best piece of advice I learned was to keep what we are doing simple. Start out simple, with something as simple as boiling water, and with a simple concept like that, all of the other things will come in place."
"Collaboration is really important. You can have that with a staff person, so it's more of a collaboration between two people in a building working together. You can also have collaboration by bringing some parents in that are willing to work with you. I've been fortunate enough to have parents that have been interested in wanting to see things happening in our school. And by bringing those people into the classroom, we're providing them a way of sharing their expertise that transgresses across the entire building to make that happen for all students."
"The collaboration aspect of it is something that we as teachers really need to be involved in. We are no longer isolated in our own classrooms, the whole world is out there, and those of us that are using the Internet are beginning to find out that there are all the resources that are available to us. The collaboration of using the video aspect of it is it brings that person's face right to you, you feel more comfortable talking with them. I was so excited about doing this, that I bought my own camera for home, and hooked it up to my computer. I collaborate quite often with friends, and sometimes it's just a to say, 'Hello, how are you, how are you doing?'. You can send messages and email, but you can't really get that idea across. When you have that person's face on the screen, it brings a whole new dimension to it."
"The collaboration amongst peers is great. One of the things we have used it for here at school is when we have convalescing students. We have a laptop and a camera that we're able to send home with the student, or if they are at a hospital, in order to be participating with the classroom or with the teacher. In that student's time away from home or away from school, it makes them feel like they're still part of what's going on, and that's a great opportunity for students to be part of what's happening in the classroom still. The collaboration within the building is great. When you have a great idea or you want to share something like this, the teacher that would like to be involved, but is afraid to be involved in some way, more readily wants to jump into it. Not only does it foster communication within your own building, it helps the students as well as expands your horizons into talking with other teachers, whether it is personal, or whether it is on a professional level."
"There's always the technical support aspect of it. There needs to be somebody you can call and say, 'Hey, I need help with this', somebody in your town, or somebody that knows something, whether it's a parent or whether it is somebody else. Having that person that you can work with, makes the difference, because the things I overlook, somebody else will see."
Teaching Impact
"Bringing video into the classroom, whether it is a video camera or as in this case using the technology of video and computers, has added another dimension to my teaching. It brings into my teaching a whole new excitement of what to do. When I used a video camera for the first time, it was great. We were able to see results; we were able to view them later. Now, we are not only able to do an experiment as we are doing, but we are able to share it with another classroom, and we are also able to tape it at the same time for us to view later. What this does for us, is it gives us a whole new way to look at what we are doing, it has made my teaching, for myself much more interesting. I too begin to question what it is we are doing. Now, I no longer take for granted some of the things that I learned, I no longer take for granted that my students understand what boiling means, because I had to learn what boiling means as well. So my teaching, I believe has gotten a new lift. Working with that other classroom as we are doing, bringing that teacher into our school, has added something as well. I now have a whole new set of people to talk with, and I have called her on the phone and said, 'Hey, how about doing this?' She has emailed me and said, 'You know, next year we can continue this project and we can continue from there, and it will just snowball and blossom into other areas.'"
The Future??
I see this in two parts:
- First, short term---the idea that it is new gives us all a chance to experiment with it. We find that technology is not perfect. And as were doing this, the students learn to problem solve. They find out what works best. Teachers find out that things aren't always perfect. That there are a lot of things that we still need to work on. Which then makes us want to work that much harder to make it happen in the future. Such things as, being able to collaborate, not only within a building. If a district building is networked, the access that you can have with that other teacher in another classroom brings...brings it that much closer. You can, instead of running from one end of the building to the other end, call them up, and you can have a short chat about, perhaps a student or what your doing after school.
- Second, when you start looking outside of the building, at school districts that are on a wide area network, you can begin to communicate with several teachers around the district; we can all videoconference together at the same time. Sometimes it's difficult to get from one place, one end of town to the other end, for a variety of reasons, and this will bring us closer together.
"Also, we're going to try to bring the community into our technology center here, by having our camera set on to display images on our Web site, that will be updated, so parents can jump on and view our Web pages, and see what's happening in our lab. Bringing the community into the classroom helps them know more of what's going on in the school."