Blogging the Pacific Rim.The Discovery Educator Network took geography and social studies education to a new level last spring. Teacher Josh Wolff Joshua David "Josh" Wolff (born February 25, 1977 in Stone Mountain, Georgia) is an American soccer player, who currently plays forward for the TSV 1860 München of Germany's Second Bundesliga. , a member of Discovery Educator Network, connected to classrooms across the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. as he spent three months traveling through the Pacific Rim. Wolff held weekly live videoconferences from exotic locales like Australia and Thailand to immerse American students in the experience. Kids learned about G-force as Wolff parachuted in New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. and were introduced to an exotic array of produce at a Chinese market. Weekly blogs and "webisodes served a dual purpose: immersing students in the cultural experience and introducing them to the concept of digital storytelling, says Wolff. Kids also participated by logging in A colloquial term for the process of making the initial record of the names of individuals who have been brought to the police station upon their arrest. The process of logging in is also called booking. and voting on sites for Wolff to visit and asking questions about the experience. "This program is a way to encourage and teach kids to transition from passive consumption of media to more active use like video production." explains Wolff. Discovery Educator Network provided support to participating K-12 classrooms with standards-based lesson plans on related subjects like marsupials and the ecology of the Great Barrier Reef Great Barrier Reef, largest complex of coral reef in the world, c.1,250 mi (2,000 km) long, in the Coral Sea, forming a natural breakwater for the coast of Queensland, NE Australia. . The network is continuing its Educator Abroad program and invites classes to log on and tag along on new trips to South Africa and China. www.discoveryeducatorabroad.com |
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