Excerpts From 2016 Collaborative Projects
Types of Projects Teachers Supported in Their Classes, and Technologies Used
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description of a project between a U.S. middle school and partner school in Finland, through which teachers took pictures of their school day activities, with a tech facilitator in the U.S. merging the pictures into collages that were loaded into Voicethread where students from both schools were able to explain their pictures and answer questions (2:41)
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description of pairing middle grades U.S. and Swedish students together to write pen pal letters using Google Docs accounts; example given of two girls discussing music in their respective countries (1:07)
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description of a project in which middle school students researched folk tales and their cultural significance in their respective countries, then used Kid Blogs to share details about a given folk tale; students read descriptions of international folk tales from students in different countries and commented (:44)
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description of a project by two U.S. elementary school teachers who worked with a Swedish teacher to set up Lino digital cork boards, to which students posted sticky notes on assigned topics to learn about the other country (e.g., schools, hobbies, famous landmarks); each class had a different colored sticky note to keep track of who was posting what to the boards (:17)
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description of a high school project in which students shared what they ate in school lunches over a period of time, along with their favorite foods, providing an opportunity to compare nutritional value and discuss what should be changed (1:09)
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description of a high school project involving pen pal exchanges between U.S. and Finnish students; since Finnish students did not have Google Drive accounts, their teacher emailed word-processed letters to the U.S. teacher, and the U.S. students uploaded and kept track of their conversations in their Google Drive accounts (:44)
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description from one high school teacher of using the "Where I'm From" poem format to have students write poems about themselves and their culture, then create multimodal presentations with Prezi, which were ultimately shared with their pen pal partners in Finland; a sample student poem is played (1:31)
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students from a U.S. class read excerpts from pen pal letters that they received from partners in Denmark, Finland, and Ukraine; after basic introductions, U.S. students asked international peers for opinions on a research assignment they were working on--how to address human rights issues (1:13)
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an elementary teacher discusses how she used the religious theme of "refuge" to have students draw photos of what they consider to be their refuge, then share their ideas with peers via video conferencing (1:35)
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description of a U.S. elementary teacher's project with a Swedish teacher, involving students discussing different games they play (1:20)
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Cultural Lessons Students Learned from Participation
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U.S. middle school students learned how persons in other cultures view Americans (often negatively due to politics), how they shared many cultural values, and how their education systems differ (:38)
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clip of U.S. elementary students describing aspects of Swedish culture they learned about by sharing digital sticky notes on Lino cork boards
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audio clip from one U.S. high school teacher discussing cultural similarities discovered by her students through pen pal writing with a class in Finland (:53)
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one U.S. student discusses what cultural elements she learned from her pen pal--music interests, classes taken, general similarities (:19)
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a U.S. middle school teacher discusses a pen pal project between his class and a class in Egypt, with students identifying some common interests between cultures, some differences (e.g., hijabs), and sharing reports of current issues facing each country (e.g., human migration, refugees in Egypt) (2:07)
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elementary students discuss things they learned about Finland through their written exchanges on Voicethread, including Finnish schools providing free lunches, more recesses, and more varied daily schedules (1:17)
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Ideas to Kick Off a Project
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video clip showing the Mystery Skype strategy with an elementary class in North Carolina asking questions of a class in France, to determine the geographic location of their partner class, before beginning pen pal discussions with Google Docs (:59)
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one middle school teacher used the Mystery Skype strategy as a way to kick off her project, with students asking a partner class questions to determine the geographic location of this class
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description of two U.S. elementary teachers who used the digital cork board tool Lino to support a "Mystery Skype" type of activity to kick off their project with a class in Sweden; students posted clues about their respective countries until the location was guessed, then the actual project work began; each class used a different colored sticky note, to keep track of where posts to a board were coming from (e.g., the Swedish class always posted with green stickies) (:26)
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Ideas to Wrap Up a Project
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one middle school teacher asked his U.S. students to bring items to school that represented American culture, and they shipped a package to Sweden with these items in it as a way to wrap up the project and experience they had with their partner class in Sweden (e.g., a U.S. football, Rice Krispy treats, mardi gras beads)
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one high school teacher discusses how her partner class in Finland created a video about their school to share, showing all of the students who had participated in the pen pal exchange project; the U.S. teacher reported that her students really enjoyed getting to see their pen pals at the end of the project, and putting a face to a name (:14)
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