Global Collaboration Day Mystery Skype

Awesome Mystery Skype with Ms. Partain's Class! 

My classes had the great fortune to participate in a Global Collaboration Day Mystery Skype. If you are not familiar with a Mystery Skype, check out the official Mystery Skype Link! Basically, it is an opportunity to connect with classrooms all over the world. The mystery part of it is not knowing where the other classroom is located.

Before class, I provided my students with some background information and descriptions of the possible roles they would have, thanks to some fantastic resources within the Mystery Skype website and resources at Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano's Langwitches Blog. I then established a back channel for each group using Today's Meet. This was the forum to share questions with the interview team.

I then organized my students into teams: research teams, interview team, blog team and scribe.  I provided job descriptions for each group as well. Once we were set we made the call!  My students LOVED the experience and are ready for another one. They also want to stay connect with the classes we met. It was a fantastic day and the benefits far outweighed the risks. Taking time away from our regular routine was refreshing, and this is an experience that they will not soon forget.  Many thanks to Jodie Dienhammer (@jdeinhammer) for organizing our collaboration group and special thanks to Ms. Deinhammer's 7th grade students and Ms. Meggan Partain's (@Partain_Science) 8th grade class.

Our blogging teams were doing their behind the scenes work, while the call occurred.  You can enjoy one group's blog below!

To learn more ways in which I am using technology in my classroom, 

follow me on Twitter @eglassman757.

GUEST BLOGGERS: G Bell BioBlog Mystery Skype 

by Carson, Molly, Ellie, and Emme

       Today we took part in a Global Collaboration Day Mystery Skype. We have never blogged before so this is totally new to us.  We already know to be more detailed in the future, but at least we gave it a try! We called a mystery classroom and asked them questions to try to figure out where they were located. We had a couple technical difficulties at first, but after fixing some sound problems we got right into the interview. We would ask the other class a question and when the answer was no, they would then ask us questions. We asked if they were located on the East Coast, and near the Gulf of Mexico. 

We have a research team, who would research the clues that we received. 

We have a blogging team, who wrote down the questions and summarized the events. 

We also had an interview team that asked our Mystery Skype questions. 

 

We found out that they are located in San Antonio, Texas!

     

We had a bunch of fun testing our geographical and investigative skill sets!

This Little Piggy...Book Creator Lab Manual Project

One of my favorite activities with my students is the Fetal Pig Book Creator Project.  I have always wanted to have my students capture their dissection experience and be the teachers. The results were fantastic. Please check out my resources and some of the fabulous projects the kids made.

Fetal Pig Book Creator Project Information

Fetal Pig Book Creator Project Rubric

I also  put kids in groups based on comfort level. I always like to have one strong leader in the group, and this also gives them a chance to tell me how they feel in a private setting.

Dissection Comfort Survey


As always, be certain to have students save their work as ePub and PDF files so everyone can access their work.

Fetal Pig Book Creator Project Final Lab Books

Student feedback was extremely positive. They felt the assignment/project was time well spent, and their understanding of the anatomy and physiology was deepened.  Practical test results were strong, and having this project as a resource for the final exam was extremely valuable.

Let's hear it for Book Creator!

To learn more ways in which I am using technology in my classroom, follow me on Twitter @eglassman757.