I enjoyed the three sessions that I went to today. I want to focus on the first one that was about a great new science research and collaboration tool for the classroom. The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is a free resource and the pictures and text are under creative commons meaning kids and teachers can use them freely in their projects, etc. This is a site that is developing. The never ending goal is to catalog all species of animals and plants and discover new ones. That is a tall order!
What is great about this is that students can take pictures in their local area and download them onto this site! Their picture is framed in yellow until that page's "curator" checks it to make sure it is accurate and appropriate. This is an exciting way for kids to actually help a website! Very cool!
The other opportunity with this website is to have older students research and write plant or animal fact pages that are at an easier level for younger students. At the end of the session a few of us gathered with the presenter to exchange emails. We are going to collaborate. My students will probably research and write about ocean animals for a second grade class in CT! It will be for the site of course, but this teacher asked specifically about ocean life and that fits with our ecosytems unit.
I am excited about incorporating the research structure I did last year in coordination with our school librarian into this new goal of a bigger audience!
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