Global Kids' Online Leadership Program

The MacArthur Foundation's Spotlight blog recently featured a video story on the "I Dig Science" program conducted by Global Kids and the Field Museum of Chicago this past summer. Produced by Benjamin Wolff.

See the complete video on the MacArthur Spotlight Blog.

Posted by Rik at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the other recent MacArthur Foundation Spotlight on Digital Media and Learning posts, highlights a video about the I Dig Science Programs that Global Kids ran in partnership with the Field Museum in Chicago.

You can watch the video below or view the original post here.

I Dig from Spotlight on Vimeo.

Teens in Chicago and New York went digging for fossils in Zambia this summer, without leaving home, thanks to a technology enhanced science camp run by Chicago’s Field Museum in partnership with Global Kids. Watch the video produced by Ben Wolff.

Posted by joyce at 2:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Friday was the conclusion of the "I Dig Zambia" virtual summer camp, co-organized by the Field Museum and Global Kids. I Dig Zambia was a two-week camp that brought together 19 teens from Chicago and New York to learn about paleontology, biology, and Zambian culture and politics in the virtual world of Teen Second Life.

Now that our teens have solidified their Second Life skills and learned how to work with their teams across cities during the first week, we ramped up our activities to be more intensive and collaborative.  It was by no means an easy week for our virtual campers, but I think it was engaging, surprising, and often fun.

This blog entry follows up on my previous post about Week One of IDZ. What follows is a recap of some of the main activities during Week Two of I Dig Zambia and an overall summary of IDZ. Read on...

Continue reading "[IDZ] I Dig Zambia Wrap-up: teaching about Africa and science using virtual worlds" »

Posted by Rik at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I came on as the Chicago facilitator for I Dig Zambia after hearing so much about the I Dig Tanzania program. When I first heard about I Dig Tanzania I was elated. Kids that get to virtually dig for fossils while interacting with paleontologists on an actual dig?!? Why wasn’t this happening when I was a kid! Looking at it through my educator glasses I could instantly see that the possibilities to engage kids with science were endless. I was more than excited to facilitate for this program.

The science activities for I Dig Zambia were similar to those used in I Dig Tanzania. In addition we were able to add more cultural activities. We planned to work with a school/students in Zambia as a way for our teens to learn more about Zambian life and culture. This was an excellent opportunity for our teens to learn about the country they were virtually working in and see that science is never done in a bubble. On a personal note, I am always very frustrated with Americans’ general lack of knowledge with the rest of the world, and any opportunity to learn about another country is an opportunity that should not be passed up. I felt that we had a very robust curriculum planned, and was excited for camp to start. I had little to no experience in 2nd Life and that did worry me a bit, but I felt confident that we could over come any difficulties.

Continue reading "Chicago Reflections on I Dig Zambia!" »

Posted by Beth Sanzenbacher at 1:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)