Kea’au and Kapālama: An Awesome Collaboration

On Wednesday morning Mrs. Ah Hee’s fifth graders continued their collaboration with high school students in Mr. Culley’s Science class at Kapālama.

The fifth graders began this collaboration with our neighbor island friends with a class to class skype a few weeks ago. They were introduced to their project partners by getting a “close up” view of the science students as they worked on different activities and experiments in class (check out our blog posting on the experience by clicking here!)

In the next phase of the project, the fifth graders brainstormed some topics about the human body in which they were interested in learning. From that list the high school students decided to teach us about cancer. The high school students and fifth graders were separated into groups and began using a Web 2.0 tool called Edmodo to introduce themselves and begin communicating with each other. The high school students then started creating websites with their first assignment being a general “About Cancer” page. You can view the websites by clicking on the links below.

Pink Team – Breast Cancer
Blue Team – Stomach Cancer
Green Team – Brain Cancer
Orange Team – Colon Cancer
Brown Team – Lung Cancer
Red Team – Leukemia
Yellow Team – Pancreatic Cancer
Purple Team – Skin Cancer

We viewed the websites earlier this week and were very, very impressed. We could tell that a lot of work went in to the creation of those sites! A follow up to our viewing of the websites was the small group skyping opportunity on Wednesday morning.

In the computer lab, four different computers were set up so that each team of fifth graders could skype with their high school team members. What an amazing experience for all of us, students and teachers alike! During their small group skype each team was able to build relationships by further getting to know one another. They asked questions about what sports they played, what they did for fun, what each campus was like, and more! The fifth graders asked questions about the websites and began talking about the type of cancer they would be learning about.

This project is becoming a wonderful opportunity for learning and collaboration. The students are excited to continue into the next stages of this amazing project. The thing I am most proud of is that our students are using technology to work collaboratively in a learning experience that is meaningful, relevant, engaging, and inspiring.

I am so lucky to work with amazing teachers like Mr. Culley and Mrs. Ah Hee. I am also lucky to have the wonderful support of our administration and technology department. But, most of all, I am lucky I work with a group of students who is inspired by and appreciates these experiences.

Check out some pics of our small group skype below: