Well, it is happening! So far, we have Skyped with Panda's International, Polar Bears International, and the lead Grizzly Bear expert at Yellowstone National Park. It really is amazing how cool it is for my students to get to have a conversation with someone who darts polar bears from helicopters then radio collars them to track them remotely, or talk to folks who have personally worked with the baby panda that sneezes and scares its mother.
My goal in starting this program was to show my students in a suburban school in Alabama, the variety of ways that scientist work around the world. So far, I feel like this program is meeting this goal.
Tips I have learned that other teachers trying to do this might benefit from:
- For the most part, I have had about a 75% success rate of getting a response from a scientist with initially contacting them via e-mail.
- Most scientist are thrilled to have a teacher reach out to them. They often work for organizations with an education mission and want to be involved in K-12 education but have no idea how to get in touch with the right teacher.
- We do our skype sessions during a club time. All 7th graders have two 30 minute blocks of clubs on Wednesday and Friday. Students are invited to attend the skype that pertains to their species.
- When I invite scientist, I let them know of our time slot.
- We are having some difficulty with scientist who work for the National Park Service and issues with Skype. As a result, some of those interviews will be done through a phone conversation.
