Organization
The project uses a flexible organization to make the children's
communication and learning more effective. Classes involved
in the project have been subdivided as follows:
-
within
each class, groups have been formed of between five and seven
children;
-
these
groups have been introduced to other groups of children of
the same number (in the specific case of my school to those
of the school where Linda teaches);
-
relationships and interactions between groups have then taken
place on-line and through e-mail (and it is planned to continue,
using the virtual worlds).
Times
have been arranged for each of the two schools together with specific
spaces: classrooms, areas below stairs and multimedia rooms.
Classrooms
Class F (teacher: Linda Giannini) and G (my class) each have two
computers available, complete with accessories. These can be wheeled
into Linda's class while in my school they are in a fixed position
in a room on the upper floor.
Areas below stairs
For individual activities or small groups there are "alternative
spaces" in Linda's school, designated areas below stairs or in
halls, which are equipped with a portable PC.
Multimedia rooms
Both of our classes can make use of a multimedia room, depending
on the timetable, since this facility is used in common with the
primary and lower secondary schools.
One aim of the project is to use Internet resources to meet other
children around the world and discover other ways of life, as
well as that of maintaining and reinforcing teaching links between
the two of us and initiating new relationships with other colleagues
through the Internet.
The project is also intended to bring children nearer to the computer
and, in particular, the Internet in order to understand its communicative
potential, to discover its characteristics and to compare it with
other forms of communication.
Since, in my new school, the children had never used a computer
while in the other school there weare many new children, we began
the project by making them familiar with the Paint program.
Given the practical realities of the two school situations, we
find ourselves devising new features in the most unusual ways
and at the strangest of times: during the journey to the university
or in the coffee breaks. We provide constant encouragement to
one another and comfort in the face of difficulties.
One of the features that we are introducing is "Message in a bottle".
The children are drawing messages which will be placed in bottles
tied to balloons and launched into the sky. On the same day the
children in Linda's school will be outside in the garden in the
hope that, weather permitting, some of the balloons may land among
them.
Micromondi is another feature of the project, involving the creation
of posters which we are sending to the TED convention. |
