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The Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) recently awarded Professor Judith Green, Gevirtz Graduate School of Education; Gail Desler, Elk Grove School District; and their colleagues in the UCSB Center for the Teaching of Social Justice an award for their pioneering use of interactive video over the Internet for educational purposes. The Center has used this technology to provide new learning experiences for K-12 students by connecting them to their peers in different parts of the state.
Last May, the Center arranged for 6th grade students from Washington Elementary School in Santa Barbara to serve as docents of a virtual tour of an exhibit at the Karpeles Library in Santa Barbara. They "virtually" led some of their 4th, 5th and 6th grade peers in Sacramento's Elk Grove School District through the exhibit, which included artifacts from the Henrietta Marie, a slave ship that sank off the Florida coast nearly 300 years ago. A month later the Elk Grove students returned the favor and led their Santa Barbara peers in an oral history interview with a CSU-Sacramento faculty member as well as undergraduates who told about their experiences as migrant farm workers.
"Not only does this application demonstrate that elementary students are able to grapple with complex social issues when they are encouraged to move beyond the textbook," says Green, "but it also shows how K-12 teachers and students can work with university resources and subject matter experts."
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