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February 15, 2002
Electronic Pen Pals and Online Projects
By Jeffrey Branzburg
This page is designed specifically with the new-to-technology educator in mind. Please feel free to reproduce it for use in your teacher training sessions or other staff development efforts.
Besides being a great source of information, the Internet also serves as a wonderful communications device. Through it, your class can interact with others throughout the world. Two popular ways to do so are "e-pals" and online projects.
E-Pals
E-pals are pen pals, frequently from around the world, who connect through the Internet-sometimes in addition to pen and paper. Most commonly, e-pals use e-mail to write each other, although other electronic methods (such as voice, video, or chat) could also be used. Students will enjoy the exchange with peers, and the cross-cultural aspect of international e-pals can benefit them immensely.
Online Projects
Online projects afford students the opportunity to participate in meaningful collaborative learning activities with students from around the world. One of the first online projects was the Great Penny Toss, coordinated by Paul Reese from the Ralph Bunche School in Harlem, N.Y. In this math and probability project for sixth-graders, visitors to the site were invited to flip pennies and submit their results on a Web form. The students saw how the results approached "50-50" as more and more pennies were flipped.
Recent online projects have become more complex. For example, the Critical Issues Forum (sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy for grades 9-12) offers the Global Nuclear Visions project. High school teams prepare and present position papers of their conclusions and recommendations on critical issues to a panel of scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory. A popular elementary-level project has been Flat Stanley, based on the book by Jeff Brown in which Stanley Lambchop is squashed by a bulletin board and then mailed to his friends in other parts of the country. This is a literacy and communications activity in which students create and send journals to people throughout the world. Communication is via both "snail mail" and e-mail.
Where to Find Other Teachers Looking for E-Pals
Other Sources of Online Projects
- Loogootee West Elementary School has a list of projects.
- Classroom Connect offers subscription-based projects.
- The Net Happenings mailing list frequently posts projects that teachers and classes can join. Sign up for this e-mail list.
- The Global Classroom Project has projects for students of all grades.
- Scholastic Publications includes online projects and activities at teacher. A recent project for grades 3-5 is "America Unites," in which news, analysis, first-person reports, and expert advice on how to deal with fear and anxiety are provided. Students can send in their own thoughts and statements to show their support for rescue workers, victims, and families affected by September 11th.
- Besides matching classes as e-pals, the ePALS Classroom Exchange also links to online projects such as "No Two Snowflakes," an activity promoting global citizenship and multicultural education; and "Space Day 2002: Adventure to Mars," in which grade 4-8 students use creative problem solving, critical thinking, and teamwork to invent a device that will facilitate living and working on Mars.
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