History, linguistic abilities and sciences:
an example of collaborative learning through e-mail
in a secondary school
Background information on the observation site
The lower secondary school "Guido
Reni" (11 to 13 years old) is located in the historical centre
of Bologna, in a recently renovated historical building. It has 16 regular
classrooms, 3 special rooms for handicapped pupils, two special rooms for
artistic and musical education, a library, a gymnasium and 4 labs: the linguistic
lab (25 seats equipped with microphones and earphones), the scientific lab
(chemistry, physics and natural sciences), the audio-visual lab, equipped
with tools for the production of audiovisuals (both still and moving images),
and the computer lab.
The activities here described refer in particular to those undertaken by
the class 3°D (13 years old, 21 kids).
The technological equipment available and its localisation in space
The computer lab, in which the activities related to e-mail and Internet
take place, is equipped with 11 computers. All computers are linked to the
server Kidslink through a UUCP connection system. All the kids have their
own e-mail address. The lab is accessible during normal class area, according
to the calendar established at the beginning of the school year. Each class
has at least one activity per week taking place in the lab.
Description of the activities involving the use of e-mail
The activities started in 1992, in the framework of the Kidslink project.
Launched in 1990 by two researchers in astrophysics in the National Council
for Research (CNR) based in Bologna, on a pure voluntary basis, Kidslink
original aim was to link some of the schools of the city and province of
Bologna, through the server of the CNR, to allow the kids to exchange messages
on themes that particularly interested them, with kids all over the world.
The following activities are now undergoing in the school "Guido Reni".
- A Comenius
project, involving one class, in collaboration with a Portuguese, a Dutch
and two Greek classes. The project focuses on the following subject: "Our
Country in the 20th century". Conceived as an interdisciplinary work,
it entails research and production of texts in French, accompanied by illustrations,
on themes as environmental protection, health (AIDS and blood treatment),
food habits and historical events. In particular, concerning this latter
subject, the school is producing an hypertext on the First World War, which
will be accessible through Internet.
- Fahrenheit, the setting up of a data base of books résumés
and critiques, written autonomously by the pupils and students of the Kidslink
network.
- "Lipogrammi", a linguistic exercise consisting in
re-writing a short text without using a determined consonant. The original
text is launched in the Kidslink network by the temporarily leading school,
which will declare the winner among all participants and publish the results.
- "Esercizi di stile", a linguistic exercise consisting
in re-writing a text sent by the temporarily leading school to all the
schools of the Kidslink network, following one of the proposed style (such
as ironic, dramatic, rap, juridical, poetic, graphical, "footballistic",
journalistic, cinematographic etc. etc.). As in the former case of Lipogrammi,
the temporarily leading school will declare the winner among all the participating
texts and the classification is then made public on the network.
- Participation in the Classe
Globale Francophone, entailing a spontaneous participation to the
thematic conferences that are periodically launched on the network.
The activities involving the use of e-mail are fully integrated in the
school curriculum.
Pedagogical issues
The main pedagogical objectives underpinning those activities are:
- encouraging the production of texts and improvement of literary style
(Fahrenheit, Lipogrammi, Esercizi di stile) and the production of texts
on specific subjects, history, science...(Comenius)
- motivating to research (Comenius)
- understanding other cultures (Comenius, Classe Globale Francophone)
- encouraging the pleasure of reading and stimulating the critique skills
(Fahrenheit)
- improving the foreign language writing, reading and understanding ability
(Comenius, Classe Globale Francophone),
- the acquisition of notions of semiotics (Esercizi di stile),
- alphabetisation to information technologies.
All these activities aim at encouraging the autonomous initiative of
kids and the collaborative learning processes between kids and their peers,
kids and their teachers and finally teachers among themselves, through the
setting up of interdisciplinary activities. For the third grade, they also
aim at the preparation of the final exam, which entails an interdisciplinary
assessment.
E-mail address and contacts
Write to Prof. Giuliano Ortolani.
For additional information, hit the following URL: