| Nicole: |
Tell me about the first project you hosted together. |
| Joan: |
The first project we did together was TENAN: The ENdangered ANimals of the World. We chose endangered animals as the topic since that is something that all students are interested in. We invited students from around the world to research endangered animals in their area and send us reports, which we would publish on our website. |
| René: |
TENAN was very successful - after one month we had 20 schools who wanted to participate. And we estimate that over the course of the last 5 years we've had around 2,500 schools express interest in participating. So far, 83 schools have submitted 829 reports.
The nice thing about TENAN is that we receive reports from students in Kindergarten all the way up to high school.
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Visitors to TENAN can link to the U.S. or Dutch site. Above is the homepage for the U.S. site.
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| Nicole: |
Tell me about some of your other projects. |
| Joan: |
With TENAN, some students wanted to send in stories about endangered animals, so we designed a project for K-6 students geared towards that. We called it Animal Diaries and launched it in the fall of '99. |
| René: |
In between we launched TESAN: The ENdangered Species and Nature of the World, where schools submit reports on nature parks, wildlife sanctuaries, zoos, and plants.
We have also hosted projects with other schools: The Way We Were (with Elanora Heights Primary School, Sidney, Australia) and City Quest (with Hiyoshi School, Japan).
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The fun illustrations on the Animal Diaries homepage link to more information and a range of activities, including progressive stories and animal drawings.
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| Nicole: |
Obviously, you see great value in Internet projects--what do they offer? |
| Joan: |
We find that the Internet is a great motivator! Students love to see their work published and know that other students from around the world will see it. |
| René: |
They love to contact students from other schools to talk about their work.
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| Nicole: |
What would you say are the central goals of your projects? |
| René: |
Collaboration between students from different schools, awareness of world needs, improving computer skills, and having fun while learning. |
| Joan: |
Literacy is a primary goal with all three projects.
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| Nicole: |
What aspects of the projects target literacy? |
| Joan: |
Students must read for comprehension and for details (In TENAN, for example, they have to answer questions like "What are the causes of endangerment--what seems to be a common problem?"). They must compare and contrast. Problem solving comes into play here also, as students need to predict outcomes and draw conclusions. Vocabulary development is another element. Research and writing skills are also honed.
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Joan's third grade students compiled information relayed to them by a visiting forester to write a report for TESAN on the Hoosier National Forest. |
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| Nicole: |
Do your students write on the computer? |
| Joan: |
Computers are great for when a student wants to sit down and just write. On the other hand, many students love to write in their journals, edit on paper, and then type out the revised copy onto the computer. As much as I can, I allow the use of the computer for both kinds of writing (free and finished). Of course, third graders are still learning the keyboard at our school. |
| René: |
Some students team up to do reports on the computer (one is good at writing, another at designing).
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| Nicole: |
What happens when you get a student who hates to read and write? |
| René: |
During the five years we have worked together, I have never had a student who did not like to work on these projects.
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Animal Diaries invites both fiction and nonfiction pieces. Joan and René have recently introduced a new category called Animal Heroes, which will feature true stories of animal heroes.
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| Nicole: |
What do you think makes these projects so attractive? |
| Joan: |
As I mentioned before, the Internet is quite a motivator. |
| René: |
Yes, collaboration on the Internet is highly motivating for my students. They work hard on the projects--even during vacations! |
| Joan: |
And students love to have their work published. Even reluctant writers will try when they know that their work will appear on a website.
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| Nicole: |
Do you see a difference in your students' literacy skills after they participate in these projects? |
| René: |
Yes, I do. Often when my students get to junior high school their principals tell me that they are very good at collecting information and using computers and the Internet. |
| Joan: |
After working on these projects my students better understand the writing process and how to edit on the computer. They are better at reading for details and sifting through information to find what they want or need to know. And they have become critical readers of information--the project demands that they substantiate the information they find. As for story writing, again, they better understand the writing process and that revising can improve their writing.
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| Nicole: |
What kind of guidance do you give students in researching and writing about the animals and species? |
| René: |
The websites for all three projects include help pages. For TENAN and TESAN there is a Questions page that offers research questions that students can use for their reports. For Animal Diaries we have a special program called a Story Starter to give students an idea how to start a story. |
| Joan: |
When researching online, getting off-track can be a problem, and we want to help the students in any way we can. That is why we offer, on all of our websites, a section with recommended places for students to find information online (The TENAN links page, the TESAN links page, and the Animal Diaries Resource Links). We have checked all of these links to make sure that they are child safe. We also suggest child-friendly search engines such as Yahooligans. |
| René: |
And each month (sometimes bimonthly) we publish newsletters for TENAN/TESAN and Animal Diaries with ideas and URLs where students can go to find more information on particular topics (for example, polar bears or penguins). We also get e-mail all the time from students who are asking for specific help, for instance, help on finding information on certain animals like the Black Rhino or the Florida Panther.
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The Questions pages of the TENAN and TESAN websites provide lists of research questions to consider and ideas for collecting information.
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| Nicole: |
This sounds like a full-time job! |
| René: |
That is why we divided the tasks. Joan is the public relations person, and I do the design.
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| Nicole: |
When did you start teaching with computers? |
| Joan: |
For me, it began in 1986, but I didn't use the Internet until 10 years later! |
| René: |
I have been teaching for 5 years now and always with computers.
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| Nicole: |
How much time do your students spend on the computer in a typical school day? |
| Joan: |
Typical for my students would be about an hour per day, but that includes media club time (most of my media club students are from my classroom). I am lucky now that I have five online computers in my classroom. |
| René: |
Last year, on average, students spent about 30 minutes per day on the computer. They will spend more time as I get more computers. Five years ago we started with one computer--my own. Now I have around seven, one online. |
| Joan: |
Yes, René used to have to bring in his computer from home every day!
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| Nicole: |
Conducting research online presents a new set of challenges. What do students need to know in order to succeed with online research? |
| Joan: |
With our own students (and I know other teachers are doing this) we work to help them understand that not all the information they find for their reports is good information. When we were researching bats, for instance, the students found that some sites were not credible. Using Yahooligans first made a huge difference!
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| Nicole: |
Is safety an issue? |
| René: |
For all of our projects we have a Child Safety section, which has rules for the students to keep in mind about safe surfing , and we give them ideas about what to look for with, for instance, Yahooligans.
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| Nicole: |
I noticed that students can incorporate not only text but also sound, videos, and photos in their reports. Do many students make use of this? |
| René: |
Not many, because you need to have the right equipment--and someone who can help. My students like to use multimedia for their own projects (for example, ThinkQuest Junior). |
| Joan: |
It depends on whether they have access to scanners or digital cameras. I see multimedia being used more often in the United States. It is something we try to support. Thanks to René we have a Miscellaneous Section on both TENAN and TESAN that offers support for technical questions about using sound, photos, and video in reports. |
| René: |
I would like to make a multimedia library in my school so that the students can use more video, sound, and such. I will work on that this school year. |
| Joan: |
Multimedia are tools, like the Internet, to help students with their learning. |
| René: |
Well, not just tools--the kids love to play with them!
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| Nicole: |
Do either of you have a favorite report or story that you can think of? |
| René: |
Yes. Five years ago we started to do monster stories for Animal Diaries. These are great.
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Students from Indiana and the Netherlands jointly created monster stories for Animal Diaries. Click here to read the ending of the "Five-Eyed Monster."
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| Joan: |
Gosh, there are so many. The reports from the second graders at Elanora Heights Primary School, Sidney, Australia) are nice. Also the Penguin reports by Mickelfield Elementary School in Cape Town, South Africa are nice. |
| René: |
And the ones from Cardinal Newman College and Bridges Language Tech. Center in Argentina and Atchison Elementary School in Kansas. |
| Joan: |
Yes! The kindergartners from Atchinson Elementary School made wonderful computer drawings.
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Students from kindergarten through high school can participate in TENAN and TESAN. Kindergartners from Atchinson Elementary School in Kansas wrote reports about the panda and the geocarpon. |
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| Nicole: |
Have you learned anything new from reading all these reports? |
| René: |
Yes, I have learned about animals and plants that I had never heard of. |
| Joan: |
We certainly have! We now know of many more animals that need help in order to survive, such as the Boobook Owl of Australia. The students from Elanora Heights Primary School who were researching this owl were so excited when they learned that it wasn't extinct. |
| René: |
Yes, they found around 25 owls somewhere, right? |
| Joan: |
They were researching to see when the last one was spotted, and they found out that there were a few remaining. Then kept sending e-mails saying, "We found another one!" It was exciting! |
| René: |
And here in Holland, my students were researching the Korenwolf (a wild hamster), and learned that there were only eight animals left, all living in one place.
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| Through their research, student from Elanora Heights Primary School in Sydney, Australia discovered that only 25 Boobook Owls are still living. |
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| Nicole: |
What sort of impact have these projects had on people outside the project? |
| Joan: |
Every now and then a student (or maybe an interested adult) will write to tell us that they have updated information refuting reports we had received earlier. So we update as much as we can. Sometimes they are doing research of their own and thank us for helping them. |
| René: |
We have many guest books filled with nice comments. Plus, some textbook authors asked permission to include our projects in their new books, as research websites for students.
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| Nicole: |
Viewing your guest books I was impressed at the kinds of people who visited these websites. On one guest book, I saw posts from a college student and naturalist/volunteer coordinator--among others! |
| Joan: |
Our projects have also received several awards from organizations like Global Schoolhouse and Childnet International.
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| Nicole: |
In addition to these awards your projects brought you a very special opportunity, to participate in the Millenium International Children's Conference (MICC) on the Environment. Can you tell me about that? |
| Joan: |
That was truly a dream come true! |
| René: |
That was sooo cool! |
| Joan: |
I received an email from MICC, (sponsored by the United Nations Environmental Programme), describing the conference and how they had come across our TENAN project and wanted to invite student delegates to present it.
We needed to raise money for the travel and conference fees, but when I told my principal about the invitation she loved the idea! So we did fundraisers, and in March of 2000 were able to bring 21 students to England (9 of mine and 12 of René's)!
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| René: |
Four of the students (two of Joan's and two of mine) jointly presented in front of one thousand kids (age 10-12) from 110 countries. We also attended other student workshops and did some field workshops. |
| Joan: |
The students saw many wonderful projects by students all around the world--all having an influence on bettering the environment. |
| René: |
It was a great learning experience for us all, and it was fun that students who worked online together met in England. At that time, three of Joan's students and three of my own students were working on a Think Quest project together, and thanks to this conference, were able to meet in real life, too.
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| Nicole: |
This opportunity must have had a great impact on your students--have any of them been inspired to continue working around environmental causes? |
| Joan: |
Yes, one boy in particular has continued to do research and has also been involved quite a bit in Animal Diaries. The conference was great reinforcement because the students knew that they had a voice and that it was heard!
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| Nicole: |
Joan I wanted to ask you a bit about a project you did on your own, Animals Unite. This project is also built around the theme of endangered species. I thought the clay animations students made to accompany the reports were so cool! What prompted you to incorporate that piece? |
| Joan: |
Well, during the summer I teach at the Indiana Summer Institute on Technology. Last summer I sat in on a session about clay animations and I was hooked! I saw how it could be another way to motivate students--and it worked!
The students in my media club liked the idea of clay animations, but I wanted them to have a purpose, so we ended up with this project involving animal reports illustrated with clay animations.
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Participants in Animals Unite researched endangered animals and wrote reports, which they illustrated with clay animations!
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| Nicole: |
So, start to finish, what happens in a project like this one? |
| Joan: |
First, the students get into groups and decide what animals they want to learn about. Then I ask them to figure out what they already know about their chosen animal and what they want to know. Next they research the animal (using the library, books, magazines, videos, and of course, the Internet). Then they write, edit, and revise the reports. After that, they design their habitat backgrounds for the animations, and then, finally, they work on their clay figures.
For the clay animations our club decided to depict the animals finding food, which is another way to work on comparing and contrasting (some are carnivores, some are omnivores).
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| Nicole: |
It's obvious that you two stay up to date with technology--how do you manage? |
| Joan: |
For the most part René is the techie. I learn so much from him! And we go to conferences like the Indiana Computer Educator's (ICE) Conference to learn more. |
| René: |
In January, Joan and I will do a workshop on Claymations at the ICE conference in Indiana. |
| Joan: |
We will feature Animals Unite there, as well as animations René's students made during a project called City Quest where students report on their towns.
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The Animals Unite website features seven clay animation videos, each one depicting a different endangered animal searching for food in its native habitat. Click on the icons above to view a grizzly bear and a snow leopard catching dinner.
Learn more and see photographs of the work in progress by visiting the How Did We Do It page.
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| Nicole: |
Are there any professional organizations that help you stay current? |
| Joan: |
René and I are in an organization called Global Educator Team (GET), which was established in 1998. |
| René: |
It's kind of a think tank, where educators from elementary school to the university level, from around the world, form a team of about 20 people to exchange thoughts and ideas about new ways of teaching (including computers of course). |
| Joan: |
The website has links to the GET teachers, and these are a good resource.
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| Nicole: |
Another piece of technology you incorporate into your projects is the chatroom. Can you tell me how this is used? |
| Joan: |
With Animal Diaries, we hold author chats--arranged meetings with children's book authors. |
| René: |
We also like to arrange videoconferencing between our students. We use Net Meeting for video conferencing and Pow Wow for voice only. |
| Joan: |
When we first started the chats and videoconferences we offered chat challenges. |
| René: |
Once we had a CUSeeMe video conference, which allows more than two schools to join, and one of the challenges was to make a report on an endangered animal during the meeting. A school in Dublin, Ireland was able to do that! These Irish kids were amazing! So, after the meeting, we were able to publish their reports.
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| Nicole: |
What do your students learn from communicating with kids from around the globe? |
| René: |
They learn that we all smile in the same language ;-). |
| Joan: |
Students learn that they are not so different after all, that they are all alike in many ways. They also love to learn about the different climates. |
| René: |
So, these things motivate us to continue doing projects together.
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| Nicole: |
If you were trying to convince another teacher to introduce computers or the Web into his or her classroom, what would you say? |
| Joan: |
I would tell them to try it, because it is a wonderful motivator, for even the most reluctant reader or writer. Technology, especially the Internet, gives students a whole new way to learn how to write. Technology makes it easy to promote and encourage writers and reading. It gives them an authentic purpose for their writing. It opens the classroom doors, gets rid of the walls, and makes the world their classroom! |
| René: |
That is a difficult question to answer, because in Holland it is hard to get computers into the classrooms. And many teachers don't have the skills to use them or are afraid of a Trojan Horse type of thing. But once they know what it is like to work with a personal computer, they love it!
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For Animals Unite, three of René's students worked together to write and illustrate a fable about a giraffe named Croxi and his hedgehog friend. The illustrations are fabulous! |
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| Nicole: |
Do you have any resources you can suggest for teachers in this predicament of not having the needed skills to integrate computers into their instruction? |
| René: |
Take a course on "How to Work with a PC," word processing, and such. |
| Joan: |
The computer is a tool--that is all--but it is quite a motivational one!!! How we use it is so important. |
| René: |
With a computer, kids can do more themselves. The role of teachers is changing; the teacher doesn't need to be the central figure in a classroom anymore. Students are better able to help each other. |
| Joan: |
Before, students' stories would maybe be put up on a bulletin board for a week; then they would take them home. It makes me sad to think of all the wonderful stories and poems that are probably sitting in some keepsake box and aren't out where others can enjoy.
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| Nicole: |
But when the work is on the Web, it's out there for everyone. |
| René: |
Yes, now the whole world can enjoy the wonderful work of our students. |
