1. Talk to your partner teacher via phone or email and negotiate the details.
2. Have students list prior knowledge on the topic.
3. Explore the topic by using the websites and resources listed for that topic and/or supplementing with your own activities & resources.
4. Students prepare a presentation to explain the issue from their perspective(s) and how the issue affects their community. This presentation is then shared with the partner class. Divide the students into groups and involve as many students as possible (see page 36 in this booklet). Use these Tips for Posters to help you prepare any visuals. Possible groups include:
   • Background science knowledge
   • Analysis of scientific method’s use
   • Environmental perspectives
   • Economic perspectives
   • Local perspectives
   • Recommended actions / solutions
5. Discuss and process together in the videoconference what you learned. What conclusions did you reach together? Which issues are still unresolved?
6. After the videoconference, compare conclusions to listed prior knowledge.
7. You may also wish to have the students prepare questions for each other.

Resources

Note: I am not maintaining this list of resources. It is here for reference and archive only.

Teachers should have agreed on a topic.
Use the resources and activities listed to explore the issues and prepare a presentation.
If you want to contribute other resources or topics, click “join” above to request access to this web site so you can edit it too.
For a plethora of green resources, visit Edutopia’s Go Green Database.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions

• Where in the World is Carbon Dioxide?
• Greenhouse Effect
• Carbon Footprint

Climate Change

• Global Climate Change Explore scientific data relating to the atmosphere, the oceans, the areas covered by ice and snow, and the living organisms in all these domains.
• Exploring the Environment: Global Climate Change from NASA & Center for Educational Technologies
• Cycles of the Earth and Atmosphere from the University Corporation for Atmospsheric Research.
• Teaching Climate Change essay

Warming Oceans

• A Changing Landscape: Investigating a Warming Arctic (a short video by the University of Alaska Fairbanks)
• Ocean Currents
• Fisheries in Warming Oceans
• Wikipedia: Effects of Warming Oceans
• Consequences of Warming

Fresh Water

• Exploring the Environment: Water Quality
• Down the Drain: How much water do you use?
• Water Use in the United States
• Earth’s Water
• Who Dirtied the Water? Clean Water: Is it Drinkable?
• Surf Your Watershed by the US EPA (data on waters near you)

Water Bottles

• US EPA Ground Water and Drinking Water
• Bottled Water Basics
• Goodbye Bottled Water? Article from Scholastic.
• All About Water
• Plastic bottles pile up as mountains of waste; Article from MSN
• Safe Water Foundation and Lesson Plan [pdf]
• Lesson/ A Day in the Life of a Water Bottle (includes math)

Invasive Species

• Use your research skills to find and share the following information:
• Where the species came from.
• How & when it was introduced.
• What effect it is having on the ecosystem (i.e. the disruption it’s causing).
• Are there any natural controls on it?
• How are we dealing with it, or are we letting nature take its course?
• Ways to prevent new invasive species in your area.
• National Invasive Species Information Center
• Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health
• National Invasive Species Council

Evaluation

This project used this Google Spreadsheet evaluation form for feedback.

Facilitator Confirmation Letter

Email Confirmation Template

To: Teachers & techs on both sides, cc [coordinator]
Subject: Eco-Conversations [topic] Confirmation: [date]

Greetings and welcome to our Eco-Conversations Videoconference Project. The goal of this project is to present and hear different perspectives on environmental issues.

Dates & Times
[date & time in both time zones]

Technical Information:
[who] will dial.
[IP address]
If there are problems, please call [phone].

Introductions
The lead teacher for this project is [local teacher name, email, phone, school name, city, state, country].

The other participating school is:
[local teacher name, email, phone, school name, city, state, country].

Preparation
Preparation materials and resources are online:

Format
For the actual connection, I recommend this format as a rough guideline:
5 min. Introductions (be sure to prepare a map for each other)
15 min. One class presents
15 min. The other class presents.
10 min. Ask each other questions.

Action Items
Here’s what needs to happen next.

• Teachers: Please email each other to discuss further.
• Techs: We’re trying to do test calls for this event on November 23. Please email with the best time to test.

Let me know if you have any questions along the way. We really appreciate you participating in this project with us!

Janine

Wikispaces to Blog Conversion Feedback

Thoughts on the conversion of wikispaces videoconference projects to this blog format? This conversion is a summer project for me, and feedback is welcome.