LIVEbrary Open House - Podcast and Transcript

We had a successful Open House here at the LIVEbrary on Thursday, May 15. You can take the Open House Tour yourself any time by listening to the podcast and following the transcript below. Here's a link to the podcast:

Podcast of Annick LIVEbrary Open House
(WAV File, 30 minutes, audio only)

SUMMARY OF PODCAST

The podcast includes producer Steve O'Keefe explaining the mission of the LIVEbrary program. There's a quick recap of Season One, "Media Awareness," from Fall of 2007, and an introduction to Season Two, "World History," running through Spring of 2008.

The LIVEbrary On Demand program is described as an effort to put teachers in charge of the LIVEbrary by allowing them to select the software used, the authors they want to chat with, and the date and time of their chats. Each LIVEbrary On Demand online classroom visit includes a live chat with an author trained in online communications, a moderator, and a LIVEbrary Lesson Plan.

Charis Cotter, author of Kids Who Rule, described the LIVEbrary training she received and how she's already using those skills to reach out to classrooms she can't possibly visit in person.

Our blog editor, Dr. Dedra Johnson, is also on the podcast discussing her process for selecting stories for the blog. She highlights a few of her favorite posts.

Here's a transcript of the sites we visited during the LIVEbrary Open House. You can follow the links while listening to the podcast, if you like.

SITES VISITED DURING OPEN HOUSE

Sample LIVEbrary Blog Post
Copyright-Free Artwork Sources
http://annickpress.blogspot.com/2008/05/5-15copyright-and-hassle-free-images.html

Sample LIVEbrary Lesson Plan
for Shari Graydon's book, Made You Look
Web Version: http://annickpress.blogspot.com/2007/11/livebrary-lesson-plan-4-made-you-look.html
PDF version: http://www.annickpress.com/Livebrary/LessonPlan4.pdf

Skype Chat Transcript for Made You Look with Shari Graydon
http://www.authorviews.com/authors/annick/transcript_week4.html

The Annick LIVEbrary Web Site
http://www.annickpress.com/Livebrary/

List of Books, Authors, and Lesson Plans in LIVEbrary On Demand
http://www.annickpress.com/Livebrary/Livebrary%20on%20Demand.html

List of Books & Authors for Fall 2008 (Science) and Spring 2009 (Health)
http://www.annickpress.com/Livebrary/future.html

Google "LIVEbrary" to see News Coverage, Linkage, and Spread of Program
Web Search: http://www.google.com/search?q=livebrary
Blog Search: http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?q=livebrary

What's Out There Anyway?: techLearning's Site of the Day

techLearning has an excellent series, Site of the Day, that highlights an educational web site every day. Websites are submitted and presented with a description, the name of the author or publisher, tips on the content of the site and appropriate grade levels. You can check in daily or search the archives. Each Site of the Day story is brief, and you'll need to try out the sites yourself, but the features give a great peek at some of the gems in the huge sea of the Web.

Thursday's Site of the Day was Operation: Heart Transplant, an interactive site from NOVA. Students can engage in a virtual heart transplant, going through 190 steps, and also can learn more about the history of heart transplants. The site has lesson plans, too. Operation: Heart Transplant is suitable for middle and high school students. On Wednesday, the site of the day, submitted by Amanda Barton, was My Very Own Pizza, published by the Dairy Council of California. As the description says, the site "never once uses these important words: calories, carbohydrates, fats, saturated fats, fat-grams, etc. A clever teacher might use this fact to spark some interesting class discussions about how we are manipulated as consumers and/or about the growing problem of childhood obesity." The site is appropriate for all grade levels.

Dynamic Earth Interactives, featured on Tuesday, lets users poke around the inner structure of our plant and explore plate tectonics and processes like earthquakes and volcanoes. The site has excellent graphics and some critical-thinking activities. And the week stated with The Circus in America, also appropriate for middle and high school. The Circus in America has biographical information, pictures and audio dating from pre-1793 to 1940. The author is Lavahn Hoh at the University of Virginia.

Other Sites of the Day include The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Thomas Jefferson, Vincent van Gogh, BAM! Body and Mind: Ad Decoder, and guides on writing and grammar. It's easy to get a quick overview of a site and its offerings. Know any fabulous websites you've used with your middle schoolers? Check out the criteria for selection and then click "Submit your favorite Web Site."

SOURCE: "techLearning: Site of the Day" 5/15/08
photo courtesy of eschipul, used under this Creative Commons license

Copyright- and Hassle-Free Images

Recently, a picture on this blog had to be removed. It was found through a Creative Commons search and carried permission for re-use. It turned out that the person who posted the image and labeled it for others to use didn't own the image.

The owner contacted this blog and the picture was removed, then replaced. When pulling together a class project, blog, wiki, video or Ning, it is important to not violate owner's rights or copyrights -- it can cause trouble for you and your students down the road. Errors are usually easy to fix but with a little work, you can avoid the hassle by directing your students and yourself to sites that have worry-free images for you to use.

There are dozens of sources for copyright-free images on the Web, some just for educators, some focused on particular image types or disciplines. Take a look at these sites for starters:

• Flickr's Creative Commons pool is probably the best known source for images. Photographers allow varying levels of use of their images. Often, you can use an image as long as you give credit to the photographer and are not earning money with the image. Using the advanced search can help you find images that are free to use with proper credit.
  

• Also pretty well known is Creative Commons search which taps Flickr, Google, Yahoo and other portals for images that have varying Creative Commons licenses. This search casts an even wider net than the Flickr pool, above.

• Pics4Learning has copyright-free images in 48 different categories, ranging from American Sign Language to fractals to tools and machinery. The images in Pics4Learning have been donated by educators, students and photographers. It was created as part of the Partners in Education program by Tech4Learning, and the Orange County Public Schools Technology Development Unit.

• OpenPhoto also has a great collection of free stock images. You can browse categories or use the search engine to find specific types of images.

• U.S. Government Photos and Graphics at USA.gov has images and graphics that can be used and reproduced without permission. Look carefully at your chosen image, though; some images are licenced. The images come from government departments like Agriculture, Customs, Defense, NASA and the Indian Health Service.
  

• Wikimedia Commons has over 2 million "freely usable" images, video files and audio files. You can search by type of file or browse categories. Always check the copyright or Creative Commons license before using any image.

• The Library of Congress American Memory collection is a great source of historical images but you must be careful about copyrights. Some images are free to use while others can only be used with the copyright owner's permission and possible fees. There is an advertising category that has great images for media literacy activities.

This wiki with a really long title has an enormous list of links for pages that offer images: Copyright-Friendly and Copyleft Images and Sound (Mostly!) for Use in Media Projects and Web Pages, Blogs, Wikis, etc.

Read carefully, and pick wisely, and be prepared for mistakes made by others or unclear permissions. In those cases, removing the copyrighted image is the best fix. If you are contacted by the owner of an image about a blog, wiki or student project, the same policy applies -- defer to the copyright owner and remove and/or replace the image. With so many options available, you and your students have plenty of image choices free of charge and worries.

SOURCE: "Copyright-Friendly and Copyleft Images and Sound (Mostly!) for Use in Media Projects and Web Pages, Blogs, Wikis, etc." 5/2008
photo courtesy of openDemocracy, used under this Creative Commons license

More Nings for Students and Educators

At the Social Networks in Education wiki, you can find dozens of Nings for particular subjects, professional development, French and Spanish, and classroom networks. Many of these Nings connect students globally and can be great tools for your middle schoolers. Or you can modify them to fit your plans and students, find some collaborators, or be inspired to change or add to some of your classroom practices.

You can find all kinds of Nings, and some non-Ning networks, on the page. Some of the Nings made expressly to connect students and teachers globally are listed below:

• FieldFindr aims to connect global volunteers with teachers and their students. Teachers can post looking for volunteers or people who have expert knowledge to enrich their classes' study of immigration, peace studies, playgrounds, and the Holocaust. Teachers can also search for other collaborators through posted comments.

• The International Classroom, a social network created specifically for students ages 12-14 to be able to safely connect and share their experiences and cultures, and The French Connection, a Ning linking sixth-grade classes in the U.S. and France for French language study, are both closed. You must be invited to participate or learn more.

• Rolling on the River is centered around the study of rivers and other bodies of water. It is a "a resource for global collaboration" where users can "[s]hare information, find global partners, and learn more about rivers, lakes, and oceans through participation and collaboration." An interdisciplinary exhibit can be seen at the Apple Learning Exchange. Teachers also share web resources and search for collaborators on specific water studies projects.

• Museums and Students offers a portal to connect students with museums, their staff, and artists. It exploits one of the great aspects of Nings--the multimedia nature of interaction. Museums and Students has videos of artists discussing their works and processes, links for a podcast from the Columbia Museum of Art and other art-related podcasts, notices of art-education events and professional development opportunities, additional groups that focus on particular museums or topics, and forums on museums' online presence and the value of virtual tours.

Most of what you'll find on the wiki are class Nings -- many private -- and social networks for teachers looking for more information or colleague interaction and support as they use or learn to integrate Web 2.0 tools into their teaching and disciplines. As we slide all too quickly into summer, this wiki can be a great resource for new ideas, new friends, and inspiration for next year and beyond.

SOURCE: "Social Networks in Education" 2008
photo courtesy of openDemocracy, used under this Creative Commons license

NASA Connect

Another great, free program from NASA is NASA Connect, a series of math, science and technology programs made just for students in grades 6-8. Math, science and technology are blended and directly related to work done at NASA by researchers.

NASA Connect offers a series of programs each year that have three different parts:

1. a thirty-minute television broadcast that your students can watch live or that can be recorded for later use
2. a hands-on activity
3. and an interactive web activity to promote use of technology on your classroom.

All three components are created to work together to show how math, science and technology are combined in real-life situations and research. NASA Connect shows are available on 130+ PBS stations, Channel One, and some cable access channels. A search box at the NASA Connect site can help you find your local station. The shows are also available online at NASA's Learning Technologies Channel. Video copies can be ordered from the NASA Educator Resource Center in your state or the NASA Central Operation of Resources for Educators. You can copy and show the shows multiple times as long as it is strictly for educational or classroom use.

NASA Connect is produced by the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA and is endorsed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). As with many NASA educational programs and initiatives, the main goal of NASA Connect is to "establish a 'connection' between the mathematics, science, and technology concepts taught in the classroom and the mathematics, science, and technology used everyday by NASA researchers."

Once you register, you have access to the PDFs which describe the hands-on activities for each unit. Unfortunately, the site shows no new programs since April 2006 but the archives are available of past programs such as "Breaking Barriers: Solving Linear Equations©," "Team Extreme: The Statistics of Success©," and "The Right Ratio of Rest: Proportional Reasoning©." Hopefully, new programs are in the pipeline.

SOURCE: "About: NASA Connect" 2007
photo courtesy of Gaetan Lee, used under this Creative Commons license

Using VoiceThreads with Bill Ferriter

Laila Weir writes in Edutopia on sixth-grade language arts and social studies teacher Bill Ferriter and his use of VoiceThreads with his students at Salem Middle School in North Carolina. Ferriter had a hunch it would work since his students already spent time online outside the classroom. With VoiceThreads, he has been able to extend learning and interaction beyond the classroom walls and regular school hours.

VoiceThreads are "interactive media albums" that contain images, documents or videos that viewers can comment on in one of three ways: by typing a comment, recording an audio or video response, or drawing directly on the image, document or video. VoiceThread is easy to learn and use, a boon for teachers new to Web 2.0 tools and for students who may have varying levels of experience with technology. (A secure site for teachers and students, Ed.VoiceThread, has a fee-based service but one that "should pass even stringent school Web filters.")

Ferriter started small, posting VoiceThreads on a number of topics connected to classroom work and letting students respond voluntarily. He got so many responses, he knew he was onto something. Students are more likely to participate in a digital discussion where shyness and fears of embarrassment, very strong in middle school, are eliminated by nature. Students can also think ahead of time about their responses, something that isn't usually possible in an in-class discussion.

Students can participate in multiple conversations, eliminating another in-class discussion problem according to Ferriter: "In a classroom conversation, there's generally one strand of conversation going at any one time, and if you're bored by that particular strand, you're completely disengaged." One VoiceThread on Darfur elicited thoughtful responses and a lot of participation--Ferriter got over 60 comments from 36 of his 53 students.

The VoiceThread site has great tutorials to get you and students started. VoiceThreads can be private or published and can be embedded in a class or teacher website. Because you can use a telephone to leave an audio response, the need for microphones or webcams are eliminated for students or schools that don't have them. And this also makes the discussion accessible to students of varying levels of ability and technological experience. Ferriter has a wiki that has examples of VoiceThreads and lots of great tips for getting started.

SOURCE: "VoiceThreads: Extending the Classroom with Interactive Multimedia Albums" 04/16/08
photo: screencapture of a VoiceThread tutorial

Immerse, Connect, Understand and Excel with NBC's iCue

NBC News has created a free online learning community aimed at students 13 and up called iCue, which stands for "Immerse, Connect, Understand, Excel." Michele Greppi reports in TV Week that iCue has games, "peer talk," and video in a secure environment.

The Cue Card is central to iCue. A Cue Card is

a video player, flash card, note-taking tool, and trading card all rolled into one. With the patented 'flip card' technology, you can watch a streaming video from NBC News, and then 'flip' the card over for additional information from our producers. You can also jot down your own notes, add your own tags, and organize your cards in color-coded categories for easy study. Plus, Cue Cards can be shared with your friends and used in games and activities.

iCue also promises discussion forums, "hundreds" of current and historic news videos, daily challenge questions, essay challenges, and a Student Center that offers non-academic activities. The site is free to use and paid for by advertising. iCue debuted May 1 with a focus on election coverage. There are plan to create collections of resources for U.S. history, U.S. government and politics, and English language and composition, modeled after AP course outlines. The resources themselves, though, can be used to enrich or support non-AP classes.

The site was created based on research from the MIT Education Arcade. MIT will conduct a study on iCue's effectiveness at building critical thinking and communication skills in students. It will be interesting to see how helpful or effective iCue is as a service. Even so, free access to NBC news videos, past and present, can be helpful in any middle school social studies course.

SOURCE: "NBC News Launches iCue for Students" 05/05/08
SOURCE: "iCue FAQ" 2008
photo: screencapture of the iCue homepage

LIVEbrary Lesson Plan #8: The Seige

LIVEbrary Lesson Plan #8:
"Under Attack in
Renaissance Europe"
(for a colorful, downloadable PDF version, click here)

Subject: World History
Age Range: 9-13
Grade Level: 4-8

Contents:
- Reading
- Assignment
- Quiz
- Discussion Questions
__________________________________________________

READING:

"Attack and Sortie"
an excerpt from the book
THE SIEGE:
Under Attack in Renaissance Europe
Written by Stephen Shapiro
Illustrated by John Mantha
Published by Annick Press
Reprinted with permission.

Spanish forces encircled the Dutch town and began building fortified trenches, or "saps," they would use to safely move troops to the gates of the city. Professional sappers could extend a trench 6 meters (19.5 feet) an hour, filling five or six gabions with dirt to fortify the trench.

For a month the Spanish trenches continued their advance day after day. For the Spanish, everything was routine -- or as routine as work can be with cannonballs whistling overhead. Early one morning that changed.

~ The Dutch Fight Back ~

The first sign was a terrible cannonade from the Dutch guns. Gabions were torn apart and wagons smashed, and the Spanish sappers huddled deeper in their trenches. After a few minutes the clash of swords and the thunder of muskets could be heard. The Dutch had launched a sortie!

The waardgelders swarmed out of the town, through hidden gates called sallyports. They raced toward the besiegers' trenches. Workers and sappers fled in every direction, seeking to escape the ferocious Dutch troops.

~ The Spanish Forces React ~

Now the Spanish camp was alive with activity, as captains urged their men forward to rescue the endangered sappers. Would they arrive in time?

The Spanish had not been totally unprepared. The trenches were studded with small redoubts every 200 meters (650 feet) or so, each holding a squad of infantrymen. These soldiers rushed out to do battle with the Dutch.

While some of the Dutch soldiers held them off, others tried to destroy the Spanish trenches. Militiamen toppled gabions and set them alight, wrecked equipment, and smashed the sappers' tools. Reaching a few of the attackers' cannons, the Dutchmen drove a metal spike into the touch-hole of each, "spiking" the guns and damaging them beyond repair.

~ The Waardgelders Pull Back ~

Suddenly the Dutch began to retreat. The captain of the waardgelders had seen the approaching Spanish forces. His men had done enough damage for one day; they weren't ready to tangle with those veterans.

The Spanish let them go, protecting what was left of their trenches. The Dutch has done damage, but nothing that couldn't be repaired. They had delayed but not stopped the Spanish assault.

All was quiet for a few days as the Spanish repaired their trenches. But another surprise lay in wait for them.

~ Dutch Reinforcements Arrive ~

Outside the lines of circumvallation, a small Dutch force lurked. They had been sent from the main Dutch army to help the besieged town, but they were far too weak to defeat the Spanish army.

So far they had limited themselves to harassing the convoys of wagons that brought supplies to the Spanish. But now they took a dangerous new step and began an attack on the Spanish lines.

Amid the violent cracks of muskets and arquebuses, the Spanish commander wondered -- was this really an attempt to break the siege? He realized the truth too late: the Dutch attack was merely a diversion!

~ Dutch Horsemen Carry Cargo and News ~

On the other side of town, a hand-picked force of horsemen galloped to the lines of circumvallation. The diversion had stripped the line of Spanish troops, allowing the Dutch reinforcements to swiftly cross the lines and race for the town.

Catching the Spanish flat-footed, they quickly reached safety. A gate opened and they triumphantly rode inside. Although the riders were too few to make a real difference in the defense, they brought with them a small but valuable cargo. Each man had tied a few bags of gunpowder to his saddle -- enough ammunition to sustain the Dutch for several weeks.

Their leader was an experienced captain who had served under William the Silent, the leader of the Dutch revolt. He brought new hope to the town council. The Spanish could be defeated!

GLOSSARY

siege: a military operation in which enemy forces surround a town or building, cutting off essential supplies, with the aim of compelling the surrender of those inside

cannonade: a continuous bombardment of heavy gunfire

gabion: a wicker container filled with earth or stone and used in fortifications

sapper: a worker who builds a tunnel or trench ("sap") that conceals an assailant's approach to a fortified place

waardgelder: mercenaries or paid, professional soldiers hired to guard the entrances ("gates") to towns and protect the Dutch revolutionaries from the Spanish troops

sallyport: a small, easily secured door in a castle wall or other fortification. During a siege, defending raiding parties would "sally forth" or "sortie" from these ports and attack the besiegers

redoubt: a temporary or supplementary fortification, used as an entrenched stronghold or refuge

touch-hole: a small hole in early firearms through which the gunpowder charge is ignited

spiking: hammering a metal spike into the touch-hole of a cannon to render it inoperable

lines of circumvallation: fortifications made by besiegers around a town to keep supplies and reinforcements out

lines of countervallation: fortifications made by besiegers around a town to keep those inside from escaping

arquebus: a small Spanish firearm. At 1.2 meters (4 feet) long, the arquebus was considerably smaller than the musket (1.8 meters or 6 feet)

# # #

Copyright 2007 by Stephen Shapiro (text) and John Mantha (illustrations). Excerpted from the book, "THE SIEGE: Under Attack in Renaissance Europe." Published by Annick Press, ISBN 9781554511082 (library binding), ISBN 9781554511075 (paperback). Reprinted with permission. For more information, please visit http://www.annickpress.com. Thank you.
__________________________________________________

ASSIGNMENT

Let's Play Labelillo!

You've never heard of "labelillo"? You're in for a treat.

For this assignment, you need a color printer, household glue or glue stick, scissors, a piece of paper, and a pen.

Next, print the magnificently detailed illustration John Mantha made to dramatize the action in the excerpt, "Attack and Sortie" from THE SIEGE. You'll find his full-color illustration as a PDF on the LIVEbrary web site or blog. If you go to this link in your web browser, you can download and print the PDF:

http://www.authorviews.com/authors/annick/labelillo.jpg

Next, see how many of the glossary words from the reading you can find in the illustration. Label them. Use the scissors to cut little labels and glue them to the illustration. It might be easier to write on the label before you glue it.

You can do this exercise as a team. One person can write the labels, another person can trim them, another person can glue them. Take turns putting the labels on the illo.

Are there other parts of the illustration you can label that are not in the glossary? How many things in the PDF can you identify? When you're finished, the result is called your "labelillo." Compare your labelillo with others in the class. __________________________________________________

QUIZ:

NOTE: Quiz answers are available to teachers upon request from LIVEbrary@annickpress.com. Quiz answers will be revealed during online classroom visits and will be made a part of the transcripts of those visits.

1) Multiple Choice. What is a waardgelder?

A. Dutch term for a gelding horse.
B. Renaissance artist who welds gourds together.
C. An elder who sits on the town council.
D. Professional soldiers hired to defend Dutch towns.

2) Multiple Choice. What is a gabion?

A. Soldiers who could talk their enemies to death.
B. A wicker barrel filled with dirt to fortify trenches.
C. A fortified section of a trench where troops are stationed.
D. A red sash Spanish troops were required to wear into battle.

3) Multiple Choice. What is a redoubt?

A. When you skip a question you're not sure about so you can come back to it later.
B. What soldiers do with letters from home.
C. A fortified section of a trench where troops are stationed.
D. A method of interrogating spies caught behind enemy lines.

4) Multiple Choice. What is an arquebus?

A. A small firearm.
B. A supply wagon.
C. A fortified trench.
D. A Renaissance dance craze.

5) Multiple Choice. What is a sortie

A. A method for dividing food during rationing.
B. Counterattack from forces defending against a siege.
C. A final attack designed to break through fortified gates.
D. A diversion staged to clear soldiers from a secondary point of attack.
_________________________________________________

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

• What is a "siege" and how does it differ from other kinds of warfare?
  
  
• What recent wars have had famous sieges? Can you find an example from the 20th century?
  
  
• Why were the Dutch revolting against the Spanish from the year 1566 until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648?
  
  
• What were some of the main points of contention between Protestants and Catholics during Renaissance times?
  
  
• Can you name other wars that have been fought in part over a clash in religious beliefs?

__________________________________________________

Copyright 2008 by Annick Press. All rights reserved. Printed here with permission of the publisher. Please request permission from LIVEbrary@annickpress.com before posting this lesson plan in any public place. Thank you.

What Are You Twittering?

Chris O'Neal reports in Edutopia on Twitter's growing popularity with teachers and the varied ways they use Twitter. As a fast way to update and exchange information, Twitter can in some cases replace class blogs and discussion boards while also giving students and teachers up-to-date information and contact almost anywhere they are.

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that uses an instant message interface. The basic question is "What are you doing?" Answers are limited to 140 characters or less. Twitter can also be used with a mobile phone. Once you are signed up, you can follow other people by getting their updates. Profiles give basic information on users. You can also set your preferences to include specific followers. Twitter also allows you to block followers and report spammers.

Many teachers currently use Twitter to keep up with colleagues locally or anywhere in the world, to find and share new ideas or methods, and to get and give information on conferences, to further professional development, and to network socially. But it can also be used in the classroom. Some ways Twitter can be used:

• To set up an account for students and parents to keep everyone up-to-date on class activities
• To create brainstorming sessions for students
• To provide space for students to share information from wherever they are as they work on a collaborative project
• To update parents at the end of the week on assignments, upcoming events, classroom needs, volunteer opportunities, etc.
• To have students group-write a story or other text
• To remind students of assignments and events
• To compel students to respond concisely to a prompt, topic, article or other resource.

It is possible to restrict who is part of your Twitter conversation, making it much safer for class use and especially with middle schoolers. You can also change or adjust who is following you and can disable updates for people you no longer want to follow. And because Twitter messages can't be edited once they are posted, it can focus students on editing and proofing themselves to avoid embarrassment, misunderstanding, or a lower grade. Are you using Twitter? How? What are the best uses you've found or heard about?

SOURCE: "Tweet Spot: Web 2.0 Educators Are Atwitter About Twitter" 04/30/08
SOURCE: "Twitter FAQ" 2007
photo courtesy of trekkyandy, used under this Creative Commons license

Marty Kerzetski: Space Day Design Challenges and Project-Based Learning

Edutopia has a great page on project-based learning with teacher interviews on their use of projects and real-life results. In one Q&A, Marty Kerzetski, fifth grade teacher at Lackawanna Trail Elementary Center in Pennsylvania, talks about her use of Space Day Design Challenges with her students. These challenges "introduce her students to real-life science problems that astronauts face."

Kerzetski says that there are three design challenges, one based on handling emergencies in space, another based on creating an attractive and nutritious recipe for astronauts, and "Stretch and Fetch," in which a retractable arm has to be designed. For the project, Kerzetski and her students used ePals for discussion, questions and sharing of good ideas or resources with each other and students across the nation.

Another great feature of Kerzetski's project was the input of experts. Every week at ePals, students interacted with an employee of NASA, an astronaut, or other expert related to the designs students were working on. Kerzetski says this was excellent because "the experts would come and respond to the children themselves ... and they were very encouraging. They said, 'Great question,' 'Keep up the good work.' And that really motivated the kids."

Kerzetski thinks that some teachers avoid project-based learning because it often seems "easier to read from the book, give a worksheet, and move along that way." She herself, though, is a huge advocate of project-based learning and said in her Q&A that in projects, students

[...] direct their own learning. I set it up for them. I give them guidelines and then I kind of set them loose, but they do what they do best. Like I said, some kids will work on the drawing of the project, on creating the project, whereas other kids might work on the writing. But they work together, they share their ideas. They do the research together so everyone is involved. And then they switch their spots, and it just seems like they work to their strengths, and it gives them an opportunity to show where their strengths are.

SOURCE: "Marty Kerzetski: Project-Based Learning" n.d.
photo courtesy of soldiers media center, used under this Creative Commons license