Hi,
My name is Rob Sbaglia and I am the ICT coordinator at Castlemaine North Primary School, a school of 163 students in Victoria, Australia. We have a strong focus on ICT, with all our Grade 5 and 6 students having their own netbooks, as well as desktop and netbook access throughout the rest of the school.
As Grade 5/6 teachers, we are writing to invite your Grade 5, 6 or year 7 students to an online discussion of the question “Should food labelling laws be stricter?”. For Australian schools, the story on Behind the News can be found here: http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s2905948.htm. Students research the topic before participating in the discussion.
The online discussion would be held between 11.30am and 1pm Australian Eastern Standard time on Thursday, June 3rd.
The way we have conducted the discussion in the past is that there is an initial Skype video link-up (you will need to create a teacher or school Skype account if you haven't already done so - Skype is only needed on the teacher's computer) to introduce the members of the discussion to each other; followed by 20-25 minutes using etherpad to discuss the topic (students are in groups of 6 that I will organise), then a final Skype video link-up to reflect on the discussion and the process. If you do not have 1:1 computing, you can have two students to a computer or perhaps select a number of students who are interested in participating.
Rather than me letting you tell you why these discussions are important, let one of our students tell you....
"I think inter-school discussions are really important because we get another opinion rather than our own class and some of the subjects we might do will affect different people for different reasons rather than our own. I love inter-school discussions because it is another way to learn and you get other opinions rather than your own and it is great to talk to other students in other places for example we have done an inter-school discussion with a place in Mildura and not even having to go there it’s just through the internet. Other schools should participate in this activity because it a new and fun way to learn about things and opinions can be changed and it is just a wonderful thing to do."
If you are interested in participating, send me the names of the students who will be a part of the discussion and I will set up the links you require to participate.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to ask. We look forward to seeing you online!
Many thanks,
Dr Robert Sbaglia
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