The Grade 9 math class planted leeks, tomatoes, cucumbers, and chives today as part of a data collection and graphing unit. We will be measuring the height of our vegetables over the next few months and then planting most of the vegetables at Evergreen Brick Works in their community garden.
In order to explore the effects of technology on communication, the grade 11 Introduction to Anthropology, Psychology and Sociology class held a ‘virtual class’ today using webcams and Skype. The students presented their findings of their technological deprivation experiments, during which each student gave up a favourite piece of technology for three days to study the effects on their personal lives.
While there were a few bumps getting everyone up and running, students Ben, Raquel, Max and Jessie seemed happy with the overall results of having a discussion online.
Raquel said, “We now know that we are able to have a discussion over the internet, so if anyone is sick they can use this technology to get their work done.”
In regards to the possible downsides of having a virtual classroom, Ben said, “I felt weird during the discussion. This was because I felt like I was not really talking to people but more talking at people. For me it was hard to understand the others, this was mostly due to the fact that the internet was not very stable or fast. When I talked I did not know if I was being listened to, I could not make eye contact with people or see them respond to what I was saying.”
While the focus today was on group discussion, possible applications for the future include learning activities and presentations, and perhaps ‘Skyping’ in a guest speaker who otherwise wouldn’t be able to visit the school. Any volunteers?
The lobby of 42 Charles Street will be transformed into a gallery today as the semi-annual exhibit of student art is installed. Works range from sketches to paintings to Photoshop art to clay sculptures. The show will run for three weeks and is open to the public. Please sign your name and comments in our guest book. Congratulations to all the artists! Check out all the pictures on our Facebook page using the links at the bottom of this post.
The Grade 9 Geography students are looking at our relationship with the world this week. By exploring issues such as child labour, free trade, human rights and environmental degradation, the students have been able to compare Canada to other countries. Today the students looked at the United Nation’s Human Development Index (HDI) and its indicators by using a large Canadian Geographic world map. As Brianna said “we’re all over the map today!”
Here’s what everyone’s been waiting for! Check out the great pictures from our 2010 Talent Show! “What your teachers do after school” video is also hosted! Hope everyone had a great time and thanks for attending! Until next year! Click Here to see all the pictures on Facebook.
