Master Teacher Stacey Sebert’s 8th grade students have been studying tsunami’s at Sand Creek Middle School. They have been working with Rutgers University in researching the causes and locations of tsunamis as well as ways to prepare in case a tsunami were to occur.
By studying earth’s layers and diatoms, researchers were able to study past tsunamis as well. The culminating activity was for the students to zoom chat with the research scientists and ask any questions they had after completing the activities. After the video conference students commented:
- “I like how you can talk with someone who has studied all this about earth. It makes me wonder what we haven’t figured out yet about earth. I like that you can see the actual scientist and put a face to all the data we used to see who actually collected that data.”
- “I enjoy having scientists zoom chat with us. It’s better and more reliable than Google. We don’t need to worry about fake news.”
- “I think video conferencing is an interesting experience where you get direct information from a knowledgeable, reliable source.”
- “I like having the chat because you can get live feedback and see things from a scientists point of view.”
- “I like that we are able to talk to the scientists and get instantaneous responses that the teacher might not be able to answer but a scientists that works in the field for a living would.”