By means of on-line communication via computer networks, a classroom in Chicamaugua,Georgia can be conncted to a classroom in St. Petersburg, Russia and classrooms anywhere can tap into large data bases on mainframe computers.
The globalization of the science classroom enables students in one culture to communicate with students in another. Students can use the computer network to send E-Mail to students in distant lands. Students can investigate problems together, such as comparing the levels of pollution in streams and rivers, share information on acid levels in rivers, or conduct a joint study to analyze trash removal systems in different cities.
Many schools around the globe have turned some of their rooms into global classrooms by particpating in telecommunications/collaborative projects on the Internet. Projects such as EnvirNet, GLOBE, the Global Thinking Project, and Global Lab have enabled information to be shared and students to explore environmental problemb (acid rain, global warming, air pollution, stream analysis) by conducting research experiments. Classes in one region compare their measurements and data with students in different parts of the world.
In the Global Lab project, a collaborative effort between TERC, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based think tank, and the Institute for New Technologies (INT), a Moscow-based research center, students share information about phenomena unique to their local enviornment with students in the other country. Russian students, for instance, who live close to Chernobyl measure readioactivity and share the data across the network.
A team of teachers in Georgia and science educators at Georgia State University and Agnes Scott College have collaborated with teachers and researchers since 1989 in Russia, Spain (the Barecelona Region) and Australia to develop a computer network and curriculum materials called the Global Thinking Project. The project links classrooms to study common enviornmental problems, and is designed to foster global thinking.
Both the Global Lab project and the Global Thinking Project are using the technology of the Internet to create a collaborative learning environment for teachers and students.
These and other efforts make the notion of a global science classroom a reality and therefore a powerful tool in helping students connect with peers in other countries, thereby developing an awareness of other people.
As Margaret Riel points out, networking activity, not network connections, should be the driving force in the creation of global classrooms. The technical connections need to be used by creative teachers to provide another vehicle for human communication. In this case, human communication is among students from diverse cultures, continents, and ethnic groups.