Scientific Collaborations between Geographically Dispersed Sites: A Nontraditional Approach to Environmental Education

Abstract

Telecommunications can enhance environmental education by bringing the classroom to the outside world. Students and teachers from geographically dispersed locations can participate in collaborative interschool projects. In effect, the technology eliminates the classroom walls as a barrier to interacting with peers and with the outside world. A computerized conferencing system, the Electronic Information Exchange System (EIES), has allowed students and teachers from schools across northern and central New Jersey to participate in an acid rain deposition project. The students collect rain and snow samples and report the pH of their samples, which are collected and stored in an electronic conference on EIES. Results are compared for different school locations. Teachers used the electronic conference to tell how the acid rain deposition data is used in their science classes. In addition, they used EIES to share science activities and classroom management procedures with their colleagues. Activities prepared in support of environmental education have become part of an electronic information retrieval system now under development.