Hernando: Long-distance learning

Long-distance learning

A fourth-grade class has a reading, writing and researching adventure through interactive exploration with a team of scientists studying seals in Antarctica.

By LOGAN NEILL

Throughout the fall, students in Sherrie Raymond's fourth-grade reading class had their minds half a world away.

It wasn't the strife in the Middle East or the troubles in North Korea. Rather, their attention was focused on a small band of researchers working in the frigid wild of Antarctica.

For nearly three months, the J.D. Floyd Elementary students kept tabs on the daily endeavors of Montana State University professors Jay Rotella and Robert Garrott and a team of scientists while they studied the lifestyles of what is known as the Weddell seal.

Twice each week, the class sent and received e-mail detailing the research team's work, information on where and how they lived on the sub-freezing polar continent, and, of course, lots of facts about the creatures they were studying.

"The kids became pretty good experts when it came to Antarctica and Weddell seals," said Raymond. "You ask them just about anything, and they'll rattle it off the tops of their heads. They truly loved it."

Credit for the idea to hook up with the scientists should probably go to 9-year-old Mac Chapman, whose father is a longtime friend of Rotella.

Rotella, who has led three National Science Foundation research studies of the Weddell seal population, invited Raymond's class as one of six elementary schools in the country to be part of an interactive exploration project.

Each week, the researchers would e-mail the class, sending photos, maps and charts pertaining to their work. The researchers tagged animals daily, and performed exams to study their age and overall health.

"It was really cool," said Danielle Magill, 10. "The seals are so cute, and it was fun learning about what they ate and where they lived. I think everybody wanted to go down there to see them."

However, a few weeks after the project had begun, the students realized they had gone several days without hearing from the scientists.

"We all got worried not knowing what had happened to them," said Alexandra Coscia. "The e-mails just stopped."

Finally, the team sent word that it had been trapped for three days in a blowing snowstorm and had been unable to make its way back to its base camp near McMurdo Sound.

"At times, it was a bit difficult to get them to think about anything else in class," said Raymond.

The global adventure provided a unique springboard for classroom lessons. Each student kept a journal of the experience. Also, they all helped research the continent, and even collected the photos and e-mails into a permanent keepsake for the classroom.

Although the researchers returned to the states in December, the class remains involved in the project. Because most of the students will return to Raymond's reading class next year, they hope to reunite with the research team during its fall expedition.

"It's one of the most fun things I've ever done," said Ryan Buckley. "Most fourth-graders don't even know where Antarctica is, but we do, and now we know some people who work there."