There are so many ways you can use video conferencing to discover new educational opportunities, from visiting world-class museums and zoos to diving on the coral reef! Still, often as a teacher you get your training on how to use the newly installed VC system and then you’re left to your own devices to work out the intricacies on how to use it. If your school timetable means that you don’t get to use your system for a couple of months you can quickly forget some of things you need to know to make your experience much more enjoyable (for both your students and for the far end site working with you).
To help, here’s a few tips that can help out when preparing for a virtual excursion, plus some simple hacks to make you look like a pro.
Setting up your room
Connect a computer to your system with a HDMI or AV connector. You’ll then be able to share all sorts of content with the remote students. If you want you can use an adapter to connect to your iPad so that you have a document camera with extra functionality.
Have a remote mouse and keyboard at the table near you. That way you can access photos and applications easily. It’s useful to have a Google page open so that you can look things up on the fly as needed. Additionally it can be helpful to have the batteries easily accessible so that if you run out of charge you can quickly change them over.
Consider your placement of your audio. Try to get the microphones as close to the middle of classroom as possible. Sometimes this is not feasible so in that case you can have someone next to the microphone to relay questions and answers coming from the back of the classroom. VC systems come with a variety of noise cancelling microphones. If you choosing to run a web conference via your computer instead of a H.323 VC system it’s worth purchasing a USB noise cancelling microphone as the sound quality for the remote sites is far superior than what you usually get with your inbuilt microphone on your computer.
Put a white board right next to your TV or projector screen and list down the different schools who are attending (especially if you’re leading the conference). That way you can quickly glance to the list and know who you’re speaking with. It can really help if you have a magnetic button to that a volunteer can quickly slide along so you know who spoke to last!
Before the conference
Set your camera presets before joining the conference. This means a view of your entire classroom, a view of your experiment table and perhaps 3 separate views of the left, middle and right-side of the classroom. It can also help to have a whiteboard view as well so you can quickly write down things to show the other schools. How do you do this? Generally if you zoom your camera to view you need you can hold down a number button on your VC remote and a preset will become stored for later use. Check your usual manual on how to switch between views (Polycom is slightly different to Cisco for instance).
Learn how to toggle the various layout views from self view and ‘Brady bunch’ view. I personally like the self-view option as I can see exactly what the other schools are seeing and I simply toggle back to active speaker view so I can see the other schools when they speak back to me. It certainly helps me see what’s going on!
If there are windows in the room, close any drapes or blinds. Daylight is a variable light source and can conflict with interior room lighting. Try to avoid ‘back-lighting’ as you will come across as shadowy figures with your faces hidden.
When adjusting your camera, try to fill the screen as much as possible with people rather than with the table, chairs, walls, lights, or the floor. People want to talk with people 🙂
For microphones not fixed to the ceiling or table, ensure they are at least 1 meter away from the video conference camera/endpoint and not near any other electronic equipment otherwise audio will be severely affected (think audio screech).
Have the experiment materials and volunteers ready in your room so that the conference can be more interactive. Your student’s experience in video conferences is affected greatly by what they get to do. Imagine if you were a student and have to sit by and watch another school do fun science experiments in their room without you getting to have a go, all because your teacher’s plan is to run the experiments later. You wouldn’t have much fun and certainly would report to the teacher that you don’t like distance learning as much. Give your students the best chance to get the most out of the conference.
Prime your students so that they’re ready to ask and receive questions during the conference. Some teachers get kids to research the content quite deeply and have a question written down so they don;t forget, just make sure that they don’t spend the time worrying about their time to speak and rather engage in the general conversation that occurs in the virtual excursion.
During the conference
Keep microphones muted until invited to speak by the presenter. Mute your microphone directly after speaking. There is always peripheral noise at schools and the microphones pick up everything. This is a big distraction to the presenter and other participating schools.
Use your presets you setup earlier to show the other schools your students, your experiments and your classroom itself. It’s great to have a view setup for outside your window too – kids love to see outside as a peek into your world.
Due to the nature of some school’s allocated broadband speed there is a chance of reduced clarity in picture. If a ‘dropout’ occurs simply redial into the conference.
After the conference
Like any lesson, this is the time to consolidate learning by asking questions with your students about the content presented and to run aligned follow-on lessons. The more you align a video conference with your standard learning sequence the more valuable it becomes.
As with all things, the more you use it the more familiar you are with what you can do and therefore the better your experience in virtual excursions. Learning to run one of these systems can be fun if you contact a colleague in another school to try some test runs with you. Even better, get some of your own students to learn the controls which means that you won’t have to always rely on having to set it up yourself plus the students will get extra technology learning outcomes and confidence with using modern communications.
If you need any help at all please feel free to drop me a line or you could have a in-depth read of my Churchill Fellowship report which details best practice in science education via video conference.
It is time to start planning for SciFest and National Science Week. The SciFest video conferencing festival is in August and provides a great link to National Science Week. Now in it’s third year SciFest is a great opportunity to engage your students in a variety of science workshops and events.
Minibeast Magnified explores the exciting and diverse world of invertebrates. Students will learn how to identify common groups of invertebrates and why they are important. Minibeast Magnified brings the world of invertebrates to your students
Minibeast Magnified explores the exciting and diverse world of invertebrates. Students will learn how to identify common groups of invertebrates and why they are important. Minibeast Magnified brings the world of invertebrates to your students
This engaging workshop offers students a chance to learn real time programming in a fun atmosphere. Using laptops and the Lego Mindstorms EV3 robots, students are asked to complete a variety tasks whilst learning about basic programming.
This engaging workshop offers students a chance to learn real time programming in a fun atmosphere. Using laptops and the Lego Mindstorms EV3 robots, students are asked to complete a variety tasks whilst learning about basic programming.
The Geology Rocks video conference will look at the dynamic earth forming processes. Students will learn about the layering of lava flows, see if rocks float and learn how to make a gas and find out about the rock cycle.
The Geology Rocks video conference will look at the dynamic earth forming processes. Students will learn about the layering of lava flows, see if rocks float and learn how to make a gas and find out about the rock cycle.
This engaging workshop offers students a chance to learn real time programming in a fun atmosphere. Using laptops and the Lego Mindstorms EV3 robots, students are asked to complete a variety tasks whilst learning about basic programming.
What do sound waves look like? Do soundwaves always travel at the same speed? How does the Doppler effect work? What is resonance? How does a soundwave change with pitch and increasing volume?
Explore chemistry in colourful art creations you can make in your class! Your class participates in a number of activities as a series of group activities run in class during the video conference.
What do sound waves look like? Do soundwaves always travel at the same speed? How does the Doppler effect work? What is resonance? How does a soundwave change with pitch and increasing volume?
Is there life on other planets? The Earth is in the “Goldilocks Zone”. Like Goldilocks tasting baby bear’s porridge, humans live on a planet that is not too hot and not too cold – it is just right!
What is the difference between series & parallel circuits? What does the Earth’s magnetic field look like? What technologies are being developed for the future? How is electricity generated anyway?
What is the difference between series & parallel circuits? What does the Earth’s magnetic field look like? What technologies are being developed for the future? How is electricity generated anyway?
Find out how solids, liquids and gases change when rapidly heated and cooled.Smash a squash ball! Shrink a balloon instantly! What happens to living things if they are frozen? How can Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion explain a liquid nitrogen sprinkler?
Find out how your primary classroom can be transformed into an interactive science environment without breaking the bank. Learn how to use easily obtainable materials from the local shops to run hands-on experiments that cover chemistry, forces, light and sound. During this session you will run a number of simple experiments in your location. Schedule this as part of your staff meeting!
Students will learn how scientists devise experiments and develop their skills in applying the processes of working scientifically as they plan a fair investigation into the factors which influence seed germination.
Students will learn how scientists devise experiments and develop their skills in applying the processes of working scientifically as they plan a fair investigation into the factors which influence seed germination.
Students will learn how scientists devise experiments and develop their skills in applying the processes of working scientifically as they plan a fair investigation into the factors which influence seed germination.
Students will learn how scientists devise experiments and develop their skills in applying the processes of working scientifically as they plan a fair investigation into the factors which influence seed germination.
Join Dr Ellen Jorgensen renowned New York TED speaker as she talks about Genspace, a not for profit community laboratory dedicated to promoting citizen science and access to biotechnology.
Find out how your primary classroom can be transformed into an interactive science environment without breaking the bank. Learn how to use easily obtainable materials from the local shops to run hands-on experiments that cover chemistry, forces, light and sound. During this session you will run a number of simple experiments in your location. Schedule this as part of your staff meeting!
Designed to cover a broad range of chemical concepts that is accessible to students including kitchen chemistry, physical changes vs. chemical reaction, acids vs bases and indicators, acid rain – properties of solids, liquids and gases and energy changes.
Designed to cover a broad range of chemical concepts that is accessible to students including kitchen chemistry, physical changes vs. chemical reaction, acids vs bases and indicators, acid rain – properties of solids, liquids and gases and energy changes.
Designed to cover a broad range of chemical concepts that is accessible to students including kitchen chemistry, physical changes vs. chemical reaction, acids vs bases and indicators, acid rain – properties of solids, liquids and gases and energy changes.
Students learn about properties of light in this fun interactive workshop- Investigate rainbows using the visible light spectrum, plus learn about colour addition and subtraction .
This session will be presented from the Australian Museum Science Festival with schools attending live and via video conference. Join a CAASTRO astrophysicist as they share their enthusiasm for astrophysicist
Students learn about properties of light in this fun interactive workshop- Investigate rainbows using the visible light spectrum, plus learn about colour addition and subtraction .
Minibeast Magnified explores the exciting and diverse world of invertebrates. Students will learn how to identify common groups of invertebrates and why they are important. Minibeast Magnified brings the world of invertebrates to your students
This video conference provides a glimpse behind the scenes of Australia’s oldest natural history Museum. Become a detective and discover how scientists collect, preserve and display the many extraordinary specimens in their collection.
4 slimes in 30 minutes…. how could you go wrong?!?Join Fizzics Education for SciFest as we dive into kitchen chemistry in this fun yet educational workshop.
Students look at major body systems and how the five senses work in this engaging workshop! Where is heat in your body conserved? How do the lungs work?
Students look at major body systems and how the five senses work in this engaging workshop! Where is heat in your body conserved? How do the lungs work?
Minibeast Magnified explores the exciting and diverse world of invertebrates. Students will learn how to identify common groups of invertebrates and why they are important. Minibeast Magnified brings the world of invertebrates to your students
This video conference provides a glimpse behind the scenes of Australia’s oldest natural history Museum. Become a detective and discover how scientists collect, preserve and display the many extraordinary specimens in their collection.
Your classroom heats up as we explore how heat is propagated through a variety of materials plus how we harness heat for our own use;- Investigate heat conductivity in a variety of materials.
Find out how your primary classroom can be transformed into an interactive science environment without breaking the bank. Learn how to use easily obtainable materials from the local shops to run hands-on experiments that cover chemistry, forces, light and sound. During this session you will run a number of simple experiments in your location. Schedule this as part of your staff meeting!
Minibeast Magnified explores the exciting and diverse world of invertebrates. Students will learn how to identify common groups of invertebrates and why they are important. Minibeast Magnified brings the world of invertebrates to your students
This video conference provides a glimpse behind the scenes of Australia’s oldest natural history Museum. Become a detective and discover how scientists collect, preserve and display the many extraordinary specimens in their collection.
What is air pressure? Why are low and high pressure areas important? How are clouds formed? What is our atmosphere made of anyway ? Students will gain an appreciation of meteorology and gain insight into how our climate operates.
Explore chemistry in colourful art creations you can make in your class! Your class participates in a number of activities as a series of group activities run in class during the video conference.
Find out how your primary classroom can be transformed into an interactive science environment without breaking the bank. Learn how to use easily obtainable materials from the local shops to run hands-on experiments that cover chemistry, forces, light and sound. During this session you will run a number of simple experiments in your location. Schedule this as part of your staff meeting!
Frogs play a key role in many food webs, both as predators and as prey. By observing frog populations, we can get a good indication of the condition of the environment as frogs are sensitive to environmental change.
Frogs play a key role in many food webs, both as predators and as prey. By observing frog populations, we can get a good indication of the condition of the environment as frogs are sensitive to environmental change.
A hands-on science workshop where students investigate all manner of natural disasters. Your students will learn about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, meteorites, cyclones, pandemics and m…
We will investigate various renewable energy sources and compare them against non-renewable energy sources. A focus will be placed upon how a generator actually works and how this is applied in coal power stations, wind farms, hydro electric dams, tidal generators
We will investigate various renewable energy sources and compare them against non-renewable energy sources. A focus will be placed upon how a generator actually works and how this is applied in coal power stations, wind farms, hydro electric dams, tidal generators
We will investigate various renewable energy sources and compare them against non-renewable energy sources. A focus will be placed upon how a generator actually works and how this is applied in coal power stations, wind farms, hydro electric dams, tidal generators
Find out how your primary classroom can be transformed into an interactive science environment without breaking the bank. Learn how to use easily obtainable materials from the local shops to run hands-on experiments that cover chemistry, forces, light and sound. During this session you will run a number of simple experiments in your location. Schedule this as part of your staff meeting!
This post by Ben form Fizzics Education has a video and radio interview discussing the video conferencing.
This video covers the variety of educational virtual excursion festivals available for schools arranged by Virtual Excursions Australia. VEA is a network of museums, galleries, libraries, environmental centres, aquariums & more.
As you can see, there are so many opportunities available for schools, libraries, hospitals, remand centers and more to engage learners with real time learning with subject matter experts via video conference. It’s so easy these days! By the way, the interviewer was Jan Zanetis who is the Managing Director the Centre for Interactive Learning & Collaboration and a current International Society for Technology in Education board member.
You might like to find out more about events & learning festivals being conducted Virtual Excursions Australia and the work being done to reach remote learners via web and video conference! Also you might also like to know more about the Churchill Fellowship on best practice in science education via video conference I completed last year and it’s associated findings for Australian educators.
Ben from Fizzics Education connected with Unalaska library to run a video conference on the science of sound. As usual I had a blast working with the kids, but I got a great surprise to find that it got recorded by local community radio station kucb 89.7fm!
Video conferencing offers the opportunity to enrich regional and remote communities throughout the world. If your school or cultural organisation has the bandwidth and the hardware, why not consider running some connections to overseas sites? All you need is to do is to get in contact with a school or library district that uses virtual excursions and simply coordinate time zones using a time and date converter. The local connection time in Sydney was not an issue as the connection was after school hours for the library and this worked out to be 11:00am AEST… much more manageable than the 5:00am connections that sometimes need to happen for sites on the east coast of the USA!
A hands-on science workshop where students investigate all manner of natural disasters.Your students will learn about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, meteorites, cyclones, pandemics and more in this engaging video conferencing workshop. Great for Earth Science Week!
Fossils are fascinating reminders of life in ancient times and provide a window into the past. They can also reveal an amazing amount of information about extinct species and the ancient world. Step inside the shoes of a palaeontologist to use fossil material and modern animals to reconstruct some extinct Australian animals.
A hands-on science workshop where students investigate all manner of natural disasters. Your students will learn about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, meteorites, cyclones, pandemics and more in this engaging video conferencing workshop. Great for Earth Science Week!
The Geology Rocks video conference will look at the dynamic earth forming processes. Students will learn about the layering of lava flows, see if rocks float and learn how to make a gas and find out about the rock cycle. You will also see real specimens and there will be opportunities to ask questions.
A hands-on science workshop where students investigate all manner of natural disasters. Your students will learn about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, meteorites, cyclones, pandemics and more in this engaging video conferencing workshop. Great for Earth Science Week!
A hands-on science workshop where students investigate all manner of natural disasters. Your students will learn about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, meteorites, cyclones, pandemics and more in this engaging video conferencing workshop. Great for Earth Science Week!
A hands-on science workshop where students investigate all manner of natural disasters. Your students will learn about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, meteorites, cyclones, pandemics and more in this engaging video conferencing workshop. Great for Earth Science Week!
A hands-on science workshop where students investigate all manner of natural disasters. Your students will learn about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, meteorites, cyclones, pandemics and more in this engaging video conferencing workshop. Great for Earth Science Week!
A hands-on science workshop where students investigate all manner of natural disasters. Your students will learn about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, meteorites, cyclones, pandemics and more in this engaging video conferencing workshop. Great for Earth Science Week!
A hands-on science workshop where students investigate all manner of natural disasters. Your students will learn about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, meteorites, cyclones, pandemics and more in this engaging video conferencing workshop. Great for Earth Science Week!
A hands-on science workshop where students investigate all manner of natural disasters. Your students will learn about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, meteorites, cyclones, pandemics and more in this engaging video conferencing workshop. Great for Earth Science Week!
A hands-on science workshop where students investigate all manner of natural disasters. Your students will learn about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, meteorites, cyclones, pandemics and more in this engaging video conferencing workshop. Great for Earth Science Week!
Fossils are fascinating reminders of life in ancient times and provide a window into the past. They can also reveal an amazing amount of information about extinct species and the ancient world. Step inside the shoes of a palaeontologist to use fossil material and modern animals to reconstruct some extinct Australian animals.
The Geology Rocks video conference will look at the dynamic earth forming processes. Students will learn about the layering of lava flows, see if rocks float and learn how to make a gas and find out about the rock cycle. You will also see real specimens and there will be opportunities to ask questions.
A hands-on science workshop where students investigate all manner of natural disasters.Your students will learn about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, meteorites, cyclones, pandemics and more in this engaging video conferencing workshop. Great for Earth Science Week!
A hands-on science workshop where students investigate all manner of natural disasters.Your students will learn about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, meteorites, cyclones, pandemics and more in this engaging video conferencing workshop. Great for Earth Science Week!
Biodiversity Month is held in September each year and aims to promote the importance of protecting, conserving and improving biodiversity both within Australia and across the world.
The Manly Environment Centre presents a series of video conferences to celebrate Biodiversity Month.
The Manly Environment Centre (MEC) was set up as an action and education based environment centre promoting sustainable living practices through practical projects.
In support of Biodiversity Month, Manly Environment Centre is offering the opportunity for students to learn to learn about the importance of biodiversity in relation to possums and the environment in which they live.
Throughout the session students are encouraged to complete a range of creative and research based tasks and watch a number of educational videos in order to learn about biodiversity in Australia.
In support of Biodiversity month, students will undertake a number of creative and research based tasks throughout the session that encourage them to take a closer look at Biodiversity in Australia.
In this session, Manly Environment Centre is encouraging students to get involved and increase awareness about Australia’s unique ecosystems in relation to biodiversity by taking a close look at Australia’s bird life.
Monday 7 September
To recognise Threatened Species Day and Biodiversity Month the Australian Museum is offering video conferences on how you can find more about the animals living near you.
Time: 9.30am
Frogs play a key role in many food webs, both as predators and as prey. By observing frog populations, we can get a good indication of the condition of the environment as frogs are sensitive to environmental change.
Minibeasts Magnified explores the exciting and diverse world of invertebrates. Students will learn how to identify common groups of invertebrates and why they are important.
This video conference provides a glimpse behind the scenes of Australia’s oldest natural history Museum. Become a detective and discover how scientists collect, preserve and display the many extraordinary specimens in their collection.
In support of Threatened Species Day, Manly Environment Centre is encouraging students to learn about our endangered native wildlife and the things that they can do individually and as a class to help protect these animals and their habitats.
In support of Biodiversity Month Manly Environment Centre is offering the opportunity for Stage 3 students to learn about biodiversity in Australia’s marine life.
With a particular focus on sharks, students will have the opportunity to view a variety of educational videos and participate in a number of tasks that encourage them to raise awareness about Australia’s Biodiversity.
Thursday 17 September
Fizzics Education presents sessions on Bees for Biodiversity Month.
Discover the secret life of bees! During this workshop come up close and personal with bees as well as the tools used in bee keeping. Guided by a experienced bee keeper, you’ll learn why bees are so essential in pollination and how they contribute to the global economy.
Discover the secret life of bees! During this workshop come up close and personal with bees as well as the tools used in bee keeping. Guided by a experienced bee keeper, you’ll learn why bees are so essential in pollination and how they contribute to the global economy.
Discover the secret life of bees! During this workshop come up close and personal with bees as well as the tools used in bee keeping. Guided by a experienced bee keeper, you’ll learn why bees are so essential in pollination and how they contribute to the global economy.
It is time to start planning for SciFest and National Science Week. The SciFest video conferencing festival is in August and provides a great link to National Science Week. Now in it’s third year SciFest is a great opportunity to engage your students in a variety of science workshops and events.
Join in with SciFest and National Science Week to enjoy and explore the wonders and benefits of science.
Minibeasts Magnified explores the exciting and diverse world of invertebrates. Students will learn how to identify common groups of invertebrates and why they are important.
The Video conference will look at the dynamic earth forming processes. There will be explosive experiments demonstrated including the step by step exploration of the different phases of a volcanic eruption.
The Australian Museum is bringing our scientists to you! This is your chance to come face to face with an Australian Museum scientist and ask your question.
Minibeasts Magnified explores the exciting and diverse world of invertebrates. Students will learn how to identify common groups of invertebrates and why they are important.
The Video conference will look at the dynamic earth forming processes. There will be explosive experiments demonstrated including the step by step exploration of the different phases of a volcanic eruption.
The Australian Museum is bringing our scientists to you! This is your chance to come face to face with an Australian Museum scientist and ask your questions.
Monday 10 August
SciFest: Light & Colour Science Time: 09:30
Students learn about properties of light in this fun interactive workshop for National Science Week! Investigate rainbows using the visible light spectrum, plus learn about colour addition and subtraction.
SciFest: Light & Colour Science Time: 11:00
Students learn about properties of light in this fun interactive workshop for National Science Week! Investigate rainbows using the visible light spectrum, plus learn about colour addition and subtraction.
Tuesday 11 August
SciFest: Weather and Pressure Time: 12:00
What is air pressure? Why are low and high pressure areas important? How are clouds formed? What is our atmosphere made of anyway?
SciFest: Weather and Pressure Time: 14:00
What is air pressure? Why are low and high pressure areas important? How are clouds formed? What is our atmosphere made of anyway?
Wednesday 12 August
SciFest: Human Body… major body systems and senses Time: 12:00
Students look at major body systems and how the five senses work in this engaging workshop!Where is heat in your body conserved? How do the lungs work?
SciFest: Human Body… major body systems and senses Time: 14:00
Students look at major body systems and how the five senses work in this engaging workshop!Where is heat in your body conserved? How do the lungs work?
TIM JARVIS AM Shackleton Epic Expedition Leader is one of the world’s leading explorers and possesses an extraordinary adventure and leadership resume. He is also a best-selling author, film-maker and public speaker. Intrepid explorer Tim Jarvis has recently returned from Antarctica where he retraced Sir Ernest Shackleton’s legendary 1916 voyage of survival and crossing of South Georgia’s mountainous interior.
TIM JARVIS AM Shackleton Epic Expedition Leader is one of the world’s leading explorers and possesses an extraordinary adventure and leadership resume. He is also a best-selling author, film-maker and public speaker. Intrepid explorer Tim Jarvis has recently returned from Antarctica where he retraced Sir Ernest Shackleton’s legendary 1916 voyage of survival and crossing of South Georgia’s mountainous interior.
Friday 14 August
SciFest: Stars and Planets Time: 12:00
Students investigate our Universe and space exploration techniques in this hands-on workshop. What did the big bang really look like? How are the tides formed? Where is Earth in the Solar System?
SciFest: Stars and Planets Time: 14:00
Students investigate our Universe and space exploration techniques in this hands-on workshop. What did the big bang really look like? How are the tides formed? Where is Earth in the Solar System?
Fast, ferocious and fun narrative writing workshop with the Scattered Bones team. Join author and literacy consultant Paul Stafford in a single session workshop aimed at helping Stage 2 and 3 students build the skills to plan and write short, fun narratives quickly. This session will cover the essential elements of writing a narrative, modeled by an author, using the weird and wonderful dinosaurs as a creative springboard for generating ideas.
Lloyd Godson is an ambassador for ocean exploration and is committed to encouraging more young Australians to undertake science, technology, engineering and maths. He loves to put his wild ideas to the test in the real world.
Have you ever heard of the Vampire Flying Frog? Dr Jodi Rowley is an amphibian biologist at the Australian Museum Research Institute who conducts scientific expeditions in search of amphibians. So far, she’s discovered 14 new species of frog, including the famous Vampire Flying Frog.
Plastic litter is a very visible and well-known problem, particularly for our aquatic animals and birds. Recent research by the ANSTO Plastic Project and its partners suggests that plastic litter also poses a threat to our aquatic animals and birds at the atomic level, with elements from plastics now being found within feathers of sea birds.
Lloyd Godson is an ambassador for ocean exploration and is committed to encouraging more young Australians to undertake science, technology, engineering and maths. He loves to put his wild ideas to the test in the real world.
Narrative writing workshop with the Scattered Bones team for stage 1 students. Join author and literacy consultant Paul Stafford in a workshop aimed learning the basic the skills to plan and…
Join the Sleek Geeks and our 2015 finalists to view the winning films and hear from the students themselves about how they developed and produced their films. This event will showcase some fascinating science, provide an insight into science communication and the insider tips might just help your students excel in next year’s competition.
Bookings and topics are available at DART connections. Simply search SciFest to see all the exciting events from organisations across Australia.
SciFest event is proudly supported by Virtual Excursions Australia
In May and June 2014 a number of Virtual Excursions Australia members were involved in a video conferencing science club that brought students from across Sydney to do science experiments in an informal after school session in 3 Sydney libraries.
Coordinated by Fizzics Education, Sydney Olympic Park and Greater Western Sydney GIANTS Football Club, the 7 week program linked hands on science experiments with leadership and life skills.
Each week guests from a number of Virtual Excursion Australia members were able to join the sessions whereby the students could learn all about organisations such as the Australian Museum, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, ReefHQ, Australian Fossil & Mineral Museum, State Library NSW, Powerhouse Museum, Macquarie University and the Australian National Maritime Museum.
This science club represented the first of its kind in Australia and showed the strong potential for collaborative technologies to bring together distant communities together to learn about their world and culture in a real time environment.
Ben Newsome from Fizzics Education shares insights from his amazing journey through the United States
Earlier this year, Ben Newsome of Fizzics Education travelled for seven weeks in the United States to investigate the use of videoconferencing in science education. Visiting 16 science centres, museums, zoos, aquariums and school districts across North America as a recipient of a Churchill Fellowship. Ben met with many distance educators who shared insights and techniques on how to produce outstanding science & technology video conferencing lessons for remote learners.
Among Ben’s findings were:
Learning how to incorporate animated games & live dissections into marine biology video conferences at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Los Angeles.
Visiting Alaska to learn techniques in remotely teaching ecology at the Alaska SeaLife Center and Alaska Zoo
Touring the Canadian badlands to learn how palaeontology is taught via IVC at the Royal Tyrrell Museum
Speaking with the talented team at the Centre for Interactive Learning & Collaboration in Indianapolis & the Central New York Regional Information Center on video conferencing installation and best practices
Immersion in the simulated learning environments at Rochester Challenger Learning Center and the Bathysphere Underwater Biological Laboratory plus spending time with the distance educators at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the International Spy Museum, Nina Mason Pulliam Ecolab and the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Complex
Touring Washington DC galleries & museums offered by the Smithsonian Institution
Discovering robotic video conferencing technologies being used at the New York Hall of Science.
Learning how social disadvantage and isolation can be overcome through the use of collaborative technologies
Ben met many video conferencing content providers at the Center for Puppetry Arts as well as leaders of the educational video conferencing community at the International Society for Technology for Education conference in Atlanta.
Following his Churchill Fellowship tour Ben has made many recommendations to improve the delivery of videoconferencing in Australia. These include that professional development in collaborative technologies needs to be ongoing in the school system and should be embedded into pre-service teaching courses at Universities. Video conferencing should wherever possible be incorporated into all mainstream teaching & learning sequences to enrich the K – 12 curriculum, particularly as significant investment has already been made to install H.323 systems in over 3000 Australian schools.
Ben also recommends that where possible mobile H.323 systems also be installed into all schools, libraries, hospitals, retirement homes & juvenile justice sites if funding was available, to ensure better access to educational experiences from around the world regardless of key learning area.
Term 2 has seen the introduction of a science club held via video conference connecting students at Auburn Library, Blacktown Library and Hurstville Library Museum & Gallery to the science presenters at Fizzics Education and Sydney Olympic Park Authority (SOPA). Known as ‘Leadership; It’s Not Rocket Science’, the weekly after school science club integrates character and leadership development exercises by SOPA integrated with engaging hands-on science activities by Fizzics Education in an immersive video conferencing environment. Working with local Council IT and education officers the club was brought to life by meshing tablets and formal video conference infrastructure through the VCme bridging solution. Together with internal WiFi secured and local training conducted on using H.323 software multi-point conferencing with different hardware endpoints works a treat!
Fizzics Education runs the club as a central helpdesk, which means students can work at their own pace on their experiments once the initial guidance is given. This has the additional safeguard on connectivity as any difficulties in connecting the external sites can be solved by pulling them into the conference via the multisite function on the Fizzics codec.
In addition to the science and aspirational aspects of the club, weekly guests from across the Virtual Excursions Australia community also contribute to the mix where guests speak about how they got to work in their job and how might students use science as a possible career path. Open to students in Years 5 and 6 plus their parents or guardians, the science club can be extended into any site wanting to foster community engagement using science & technology via a informal setting as the medium.
Further information on the science club can be found through the website