The NC Zoo Society is a non-profit organization that works in partnership with the North Carolina Zoological Park. Since 2009, Society has offered Skype programs focused on wildlife and wildlife conservation to K-5 classrooms across the United States, as well as in Canada and the United Kingdom. Now, thanks to a grant from Time Warner Cable, Society is piloting a Skype project designed specifically for middle school (6-8) classrooms in the US.
Middle school educators interested in using Skype to support student learning about wildlife, ecology, zoos and conservation research are invited to contact Mark MacAllister of the NC Zoo Society for more information about participating in the pilot; he can be reached via Skype at fieldtripearth.
Programs offered under this pilot are free-of-charge. However, classrooms must meet two basic criteria in order to participate:
- the school must be located in a geographic area served by Time Warner Cable (USA);
- teachers must be willing to participate in a brief evaluation follow-up interview that will measure the program’s impacts on student learning and/or behavior. These interviews will be conducted by a third-party evaluator, and will be completed via Skype or, if possible, in-person.
In the future it is my hope that this pilot project for middle school students will be offered to students in Canada as well. For now, Mark MacAllister will continue to offer programs to Canadian students in grades K-5 focused on wildlife and wildlife conservation.
North Carolina Zoo Skype in Schools Website
Leigh Cassell
Elementary Teacher, AMDSB
Founder of the Digital Human Library
This post is also available in: English (Anglais)
