Spiders and bats and snakes, oh my!

At St. Helen's School in Niskayuna, Fred Festine is instructing 26 excited third-graders in the fine art of videoconferencing.

"They always say to be quiet when you're in a library," says the instructional technology specialist with Project VIEW, a Schenectady City School District grant program open to all local schools. It teaches educators to incorporate technology into the classroom.

Then, to loud cheers from the assembly, he adds: "For the next hour, we get to break that rule!"

Going zoo-ey

Their teacher, Sister Joseph Mary Stedina, PBVM, understands the reasons behind all that racket: Today, everyone's going to the Cincinnati Zoo without ever leaving their seats in St. Helen's library.

"One thing you have to remember -- have good manners, and speak loudly! I want your outside voices!" she tells them.

The children aren't the only ones thrilled about this "field trip." Sister Joseph herself, who has been training for this moment with Project VIEW, moves around the room with an air of palpable glee, making sure the students are prepared to ask questions.

"Everything you're learning now will prepare you for the rest of your lives," she tells the class. "A couple years from now, you're going to have a lot of classes like this, where they'll be able to tell you -- and show you -- what you're researching, instead of just thumbing through an encyclopedia."

Going batty

Sister Joseph and her students have been working on a unit about animals like bats, frogs, spiders and snakes: traditionally "ugly" animals that actually play practical and beneficial roles in the ecosystem.

In the hour-long videoconference with zoo educator Ken Freeman, they will show off their newfound knowledge and learn more about animals that the students like to call "gross."

"All animals serve a purpose," said Mr. Freeman from a thousand miles away. "How would a frog help us out?"

Children raised their hands high as if he were in the room. 

"It eats mosquitoes!" called out one child.

"That's right," said Mr. Freeman. "A lot of people judge animals by their appearance. That's not always a good thing, just like people judging other people by what they look like isn't a good thing."

S-s-s-so cool!

He asked how bats find their food ("echolocation!" shouted one boy), talked about how vampire bat venom is being used to help develop medicines to treat heart attacks, and showed the students close-up images of massive Asian fruit bats in the zoo's Nocturnal House.

Mr. Freeman held a boa constrictor and demonstrated how the snake smells prey with its tongue, something that elicited an astonished "Cool!" from the assembled students.

The students asked if bats flew in groups, if bats attacked people, how many snakes are poisonous, and how many species of insects existed in the world.

Far-reaching effort

Videoconferencing's high-resolution cameras, laptop computers and software gives Catholic schools the ability to break down classroom walls and reach across town -- or across the country.

Fifteen Catholic schools in the Albany Diocese already have videoconferencing capabilities, according to Darlene Cardillo, technology coordinator for the diocesan Catholic Schools Office. She says that many have already conducted similar field trips to museums, zoos and other places that otherwise would be prohibitively expensive to visit in person.

Ms. Cardillo believes that "videoconferencing is just about as good as being there. We're using all the latest resources and integrating them with the curriculum."

(6/3/04)