Students are so creative and just run with any type of technology-related assignments. I would love to work with foreign language classes and have them do a mystery quest about Spanish-speaking or French-speaking countries.
I am thinking that this would be a great way to prepare for the 4th grade science test by having classrooms between my district elementary buildings prepare and solve mysteries containing 4th grade science curriculum.
Since many of my districts are just getting started and are quite spread out, I am going to use this with teachers as an introduction to the districts that are participating in videoconferencing.
I love this. I am going to incorporate this into my interdisciplinary project with my English teacher that I work with. I will have students research and have their peers guess the topics they are researching. When students are required to guess, the level of engagement increases. We can then expand that to work with the other middle school in our city, then move to conferening with other schools.
This would be a perfect way for our fourth grade students to connect with other fourth graders in NYS as part of the Social Studies curriculum. Our first unit is called, "Where in the World is New York State?" Since we are in the lower hudson valley, it would be great to connect with students in the other regions of the state to learn about its geography and history in a fun and engaging way. Students would be proud to present information about their own part of the state and learn about other geographic areas.
I think in a foreign language classroom, this could be done with different country capitals. Students could take clothing, accents, dialect, and environment into consideration as well as using the target language!
Would love to use this in an English classroom. Possibly thinking about using the mystery quest as an anticipation guide for students before starting a new work of literature? It might be useful for kids to do with summer reading, to get students in the grades below them interested and excited about the book they will be reading the following year. That way we could keep it in district as well.
I loved the Mystery Quest, I can see many applications for this already! I work w/grades 1-5 as a media specialist. Right now our 5th graders are studying states, I plan to have one of the elem. bldgs. present clues to students in other bldg. It's also a good way for them to get to know each other. Paula Levandoski, E2
I am thinking this would be great to do with our Earth Science class. We could do a mystery quest with only Earth Science material- what rocks and minerals are found in the area, the lat a long etc.
I noticed that just about every site has at least one Library Media Specialist attending - yay! Such an important thing to include the library in the research end of this - a great way to collaborate with the classroom teachers.
The other nice thing is that a project like this could include a number of different special area teachers as well. As a former music teacher, I always found that the kids gained and retained the information when it came at them from the classroom, the music room, the art room, the library - all at once!
I will be using the MysteryQuest to explore artwork. I will show a piece of artwork and give hints to the students to discover the name of the painting and the artist. This would be a great opportunity for districts we service because many classrooms could participate. Also with the cutbacks in art education this will help keep meeting the standards.
The Robert H. Jackson Center is committed to sharing the life and work of Supreme Court Justice, and Nuremberg Trials designer. To that end, the Center has developed a series of presentations for local school children. In addition, the center has been supporting and promoting the middle level biography of this man born and raised in the Frewsburg/Jamestown area. His work and letters are extraordinary. Through this 'mystery quest' we are looking at ways to: *share the work of Gail Jarrow, author and her presentation of her work and study for the biography * tours of the center and its exhibits, including "The Perpertators" And more. Very excited given the connections the center has to WWII and Holocaust sites around the world
Because it is important for students to effectively use documents and primary sources, it would be an interesting exercise to have those groups involved in the process to only provide documents and images that would serve to identify a region. A document camera would be helpful - but email would work.
Even as a first grade teacher, I can see the possiblities of using a MysteryQuest in my classroom. We will be physically researching our community now that the weather is turning nice. I would like to connect with another school to quest their community. Cindy, GST
This type of activity would lend itself to elementary Social Studies curriculum very easily. It might allow fifth grade teachers to work together to prepare their students for the NYS Social Studies test in November. Also, our students have pen pals in a Rochester area school. This would allow them to interact with their penpals on a collaborative project in real time.
I can see how this can be used in our placed-based education program, called SELBORNE (to me) - now known as Teaming with Nature. This program was developed by the Roger Tory Peterson Institute (rtpi.org) The director of education there is Mark Baldwin (mbaldwin@rtpi.org). I plan to explore videoconferencing with participating school and do a Mystery Quest within our square kilometers.
this could be used for geography review in a Global Studies class, as a geography question is often the focus of either the DBQ or thematic essay on the Regents
Great fun, safe and cost effective way for students to learn about other areas of our state, country, or world. Super research skill activity. Best thing -- no need for buses. Also, great way to network with other schools.
This could be very useful in most subject areas. In all areas I think a game could be made (ei. jeopardy). Also, in 6th grade social studies students could mystery quest an ancient civilization, person, or location. More specifically, students could mystery quest a greek god or goddess. I would like to develop a way to incorporate math. Any ideas? Christina, GST
Students could pose open ended questions about the text, then each class could research and formulate responses. The classes could then reconnect to discuss and their ideas.
From the primary grade-level perspective, I would like to explore opportunities involving story, or character identification. I would really like to see how second-graders would use this. My particular class would surely find any opportunity to act out information with skits, songs and signs.
Have any of the primary school teachers participating today ever joined in on a Mystery Quest?
THIS is what I have been looking for! What a great way to integrate a "way cool" technology in a meaningful and productive way.
I will utilize this in my science classes for many different "identification" activities.
Right now we are working in our classes to identify 22 different "mystery" rocks and minerals. I would love to "divide and conquer" with another location. We could present the results of our research and have others help us find the correct match. Or we could challenge each other with descriptions that could be researched and solved.
Is there anybody out there who might be interested in something similar in the 5th-6th grade level?
One thing on the technology front.....I would definitely want to start out with a point to point connection. The complexity of a multi site connection still seems VERY daunting.
I found several ideas in the projects booklet and that were shared this morning during the sharing portion of the mystery v.conference. I particularly like the literature ideas...character mysteries,maps and continent studies,author studies,etc. I also do a lot of nonfiction with the reading program and think it would be a great way to cover science and reading content together in this format as well. This would be very motivating and exciting for students! I can see how they would really get involved and a great way for me to do some differentiated instruction! Can't wait to see more.
I have five K-5 buildings in my district and I hope to have teachers get excited about doing a mystery quest. There could be so many areas where this concept would be useful - not just social studies and science. Also, having students learn about and make "buddies" from the other schools for the move up to middle school, would help ease the anxiety of leaving their elementary school. Deborah
I can see utilizing this for competitions between Automotive schools. I can also see connecting to schools so a direct connection can be made between industry and education.
As a building technology facilitator in a elementary school, I can see how the MysteryQuest format can be adapted for different content areas and grades. For example our 2nd grade students explore community, neighborhood to town to region to state to country. Research needed to prepare for sharing in a MysteryQuest would allow 2nd grade students to develop the needed understanding of community and then share that information in fresh and exciting format.
I thought this was the conference requiring the easiest modifications for my primary grade. I could think of so many ways to use this format! It could be used in every subject area and would be very motivating to all students especially those hard to reach kids and those needing differentiated instruction.
If you would like to become part of our distance learning network, scroll to the bottom of the page and fill out the form. Check out our NETWORK to find a collaborative video conference partner!
Welcome!
The New York State Distance Learning Consortium is offering an Empire State Videoconference Collaborative Project involving multiple NYS BOCES locations.
This two day workshop will guide participants through several video conference experiences. At the end of the two day workshop, participants will select a collaborative project they would like to pursue or choose a content provider with whom they would like to work.
Participants will share their plan for the use of interactive video conferencing with everyone participating in this course.
This blog will be used to gather feedback from participants about the connections we do during the sessions.
39 comments:
Please comment on the following questions:
How can I adapt and apply this to what I teach?
What are some creative ways students could share information during a MysteryQuest?
Students are so creative and just run with any type of technology-related assignments. I would love to work with foreign language classes and have them do a mystery quest about Spanish-speaking or French-speaking countries.
I am thinking that this would be a great way to prepare for the 4th grade science test by having classrooms between my district elementary buildings prepare and solve mysteries containing 4th grade science curriculum.
Since many of my districts are just getting started and are quite spread out, I am going to use this with teachers as an introduction to the districts that are participating in videoconferencing.
Amy, GST
I love this. I am going to incorporate this into my interdisciplinary project with my English teacher that I work with. I will have students research and have their peers guess the topics they are researching. When students are required to guess, the level of engagement increases. We can then expand that to work with the other middle school in our city, then move to conferening with other schools.
This would be a perfect way for our fourth grade students to connect with other fourth graders in NYS as part of the Social Studies curriculum. Our first unit is called, "Where in the World is New York State?" Since we are in the lower hudson valley, it would be great to connect with students in the other regions of the state to learn about its geography and history in a fun and engaging way.
Students would be proud to present information about their own part of the state and learn about other geographic areas.
Was thinking about how to apply this in a professional development setting!
I like the idea of conferencing within the buildings of your own district... maybe even conferencing within one building between classrooms!
I would love to use this MysteryQuest with my student for social studies. I would have my students guess different battles in the Civil War.
Some creative ways students could share information during a MysteryQuest are: creating a poster, a drawing, or by acting out.
Nina, GST
I am anxious to try this out, but I first need to find out how to access the cameras and mics for my particular district. I see real value in this.
I think in a foreign language classroom, this could be done with different country capitals. Students could take clothing, accents, dialect, and environment into consideration as well as using the target language!
Would love to use this in an English classroom. Possibly thinking about using the mystery quest as an anticipation guide for students before starting a new work of literature? It might be useful for kids to do with summer reading, to get students in the grades below them interested and excited about the book they will be reading the following year. That way we could keep it in district as well.
I loved the Mystery Quest, I can see many applications for this already! I work w/grades 1-5 as a media specialist. Right now our 5th graders are studying states, I plan to have one of the elem. bldgs. present clues to students in other bldg. It's also a good way for them to get to know each other.
Paula Levandoski, E2
It would be nice to find a way to prepare for the NYS ELA exam that would be "fun" for kids through a mystery quest.
Jan
I am thinking this would be great to do with our Earth Science class. We could do a mystery quest with only Earth Science material- what rocks and minerals are found in the area, the lat a long etc.
I noticed that just about every site has at least one Library Media Specialist attending - yay! Such an important thing to include the library in the research end of this - a great way to collaborate with the classroom teachers.
The other nice thing is that a project like this could include a number of different special area teachers as well. As a former music teacher, I always found that the kids gained and retained the information when it came at them from the classroom, the music room, the art room, the library - all at once!
This is a GREAT way for kids to "meet" other students in the state and elsewhere! The kids would love it and teachers would too!
Stephanie, GST
I will be using the MysteryQuest to explore artwork. I will show a piece of artwork and give hints to the students to discover the name of the painting and the artist. This would be a great opportunity for districts we service because many classrooms could participate. Also with the cutbacks in art education this will help keep meeting the standards.
Kim Texter E2CCB
The Robert H. Jackson Center is committed to sharing the life and work of Supreme Court Justice, and Nuremberg Trials designer. To that end, the Center has developed a series of presentations for local school children. In addition, the center has been supporting and promoting the middle level biography of this man born and raised in the Frewsburg/Jamestown area. His work and letters are extraordinary.
Through this 'mystery quest' we are looking at ways to:
*share the work of Gail Jarrow, author and her presentation of her work and study for the biography
* tours of the center and its exhibits, including "The Perpertators"
And more.
Very excited given the connections the center has to WWII and Holocaust sites around the world
Because it is important for students to effectively use documents and primary sources, it would be an interesting exercise to have those groups involved in the process to only provide documents and images that would serve to identify a region. A document camera would be helpful - but email would work.
This is a very adaptable activity that could be used with all subject areas. It would be good for the HS 12:1:1 class too.
Students could use their dress (costumes) as a clue during this activity.
makilbourne GST
Even as a first grade teacher, I can see the possiblities of using a MysteryQuest in my classroom. We will be physically researching our community now that the weather is turning nice. I would like to connect with another school to quest their community.
Cindy, GST
It would be benenficial for rural students to learn about other cultures within our area.
They could learn about opportunities aroung the area.
Trish GST
This type of activity would lend itself to elementary Social Studies curriculum very easily. It might allow fifth grade teachers to work together to prepare their students for the NYS Social Studies test in November. Also, our students have pen pals in a Rochester area school. This would allow them to interact with their penpals on a collaborative project in real time.
Barb - fifth grade
GST Boces
I can see how this can be used in our placed-based education program, called SELBORNE (to me) - now known as Teaming with Nature. This program was developed by the Roger Tory Peterson Institute (rtpi.org) The director of education there is Mark Baldwin (mbaldwin@rtpi.org). I plan to explore videoconferencing with participating school and do a Mystery Quest within our square kilometers.
Barbara Tordella, e2
this could be used for geography review in a Global Studies class, as a geography question is often the focus of either the DBQ or thematic essay on the Regents
Great fun, safe and cost effective way for students to learn about other areas of our state, country, or world. Super research skill activity. Best thing -- no need for buses.
Also, great way to network with other schools.
Vincent
This could be very useful in most subject areas. In all areas I think a game could be made (ei. jeopardy). Also, in 6th grade social studies students could mystery quest an ancient civilization, person, or location. More specifically, students could mystery quest a greek god or goddess. I would like to develop a way to incorporate math. Any ideas?
Christina, GST
The possibilies are endless with this tool. One idea I had was having multiple gaming sites. (Games such as Numbers League and Antike.)
Christine, GV
Andrew - English 10/12
Students could pose open ended questions about the text, then each class could research and formulate responses. The classes could then reconnect to discuss and their ideas.
From the primary grade-level perspective, I would like to explore opportunities involving story, or character identification. I would really like to see how second-graders would use this. My particular class would surely find any opportunity to act out information with skits, songs and signs.
Have any of the primary school teachers participating today ever joined in on a Mystery Quest?
-Ben, GST
THIS is what I have been looking for! What a great way to integrate a "way cool" technology in a meaningful and productive way.
I will utilize this in my science classes for many different "identification" activities.
Right now we are working in our classes to identify 22 different "mystery" rocks and minerals. I would love to "divide and conquer" with another location. We could present the results of our research and have others help us find the correct match. Or we could challenge each other with descriptions that could be researched and solved.
Is there anybody out there who might be interested in something similar in the 5th-6th grade level?
One thing on the technology front.....I would definitely want to start out with a point to point connection. The complexity of a multi site connection still seems VERY daunting.
Craig - GST
I found several ideas in the projects booklet and that were shared this morning during the sharing portion of the mystery v.conference. I particularly like the literature ideas...character mysteries,maps and continent studies,author studies,etc. I also do a lot of nonfiction with the reading program and think it would be a great way to cover science and reading content together in this format as well. This would be very motivating and exciting for students! I can see how they would really get involved and a great way for me to do some differentiated instruction!
Can't wait to see more.
I have five K-5 buildings in my district and I hope to have teachers get excited about doing a mystery quest. There could be so many areas where this concept would be useful - not just social studies and science. Also, having students learn about and make "buddies" from the other schools for the move up to middle school, would help ease the anxiety of leaving their elementary school.
Deborah
We are new to video conferencing. This is a great exercise to get some of our teachers started with another school in our region.
I can see utilizing this for competitions between Automotive schools. I can also see connecting to schools so a direct connection can be made between industry and education.
Paul Mihalko
LoGuidice Educational Center (E-2)
As a building technology facilitator in a elementary school, I can see how the MysteryQuest format can be adapted for different content areas and grades. For example our 2nd grade students explore community, neighborhood to town to region to state to country. Research needed to prepare for sharing in a MysteryQuest would allow 2nd grade students to develop the needed understanding of community and then share that information in fresh and exciting format.
This would be great for students to practice atlas and almanac skills.
I thought this was the conference requiring the easiest modifications for my primary grade.
I could think of so many ways to use this format! It could be used in every subject area and would be very motivating to all students especially those hard to reach kids and those needing differentiated instruction.
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