International Acid Assessment
Once the students get the feel for the program design and its tools, they begin to tackle more challenging projects. Bonnie Bracey's class started with the Acid Rain Project, one of KidsNet's most popular subjects. For eight weeks, the students explored a variety of issues surrounding acid rain. They designed acid rain collectors, studied energy and powerplants and analyzed Civil War tombstones for rain damage. In addition to these real-world activities, they compiled and critiqued their data and shared it with students from distant schools through email. Classes in Canada and elsewhere did the same. The results of this electronic exchange were more than the sum of its parts; on-line collaborative learning allowed the students to consider different views and sources and debate them in real time.
