The iCollaboratory team is pleased to announce that Bonnie Thurber, as project leader, has been awarded funding support for "How Big is Earth" from IAU-OAD under Task Force 2: Children and Schools.
Here is a description of the project we will be doing February-July 2015.
We will provide online learning activities in the iCollaboratory environment where students will be able to do science the same way
Eratosthenes did. A notable project in which this was done was The Eratosthenes Project, conducted in 2005 as
part of the World Year of Physics; in fact, we will be drawing on the teacher's guide
(http://www.physics2005.org/projects/eratosthenes/TeachersGuide.pdf) developed by that project. The
difference between that activity and How Big Is Earth? is the online learning environment provided by the
iCollaboratory where teachers and students can collaborate, share data, and reflect on their learning of science
and astronomy. We will also maintain and share an ongoing database of student measurements. We will collect
data on both teacher and student learning from surveys, discussions, and self-reflection done online. Students in
each school will collaborate with students around the world; during the first year, schools in six countries will
participate. We will share our research about the kinds of learning that takes place only in global collaborations.
If you are interested in having your middle school students participate, please contact icollaboratory@gmail.com
Thank you,
Bonnie Thurber and iCollaboratory Team