Electric Lincoln Elementary
Electric Lincoln is the collaborative result of an idea of Dr. Teri Franks, the technical expertise of Dr. Jeffrey Galvin and his lab, The Electric Differential at the University of Iowa, and the enthusiasm and hard work of Lincoln Elementary's sixth grade students and their teacher, Mrs. Anita Hutton.
Each year, Lincoln students, staff and parents participate in an all-school project. Developed around a central theme, the projects involve extension and enrichment experiences for students in grades kindergarten through sixth and promote a sense of school community as we all participate in common activities. This year's project, "Math and Science: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow", provided students a wide range of experiences which heightened their awareness of the roles math, science and technology play in our lives.
The development of the electronic book was one component of this all school project. The idea of students creating an electronic book sprang from a discussion between myself and Dr. Franks as we talked about the all school project and the explosion of technical knowledge related to the use of computers and multimedia sources.
The work of the University of Iowa's "Electric Differential" under the leadership of Dr. Galvin was intriguing to me because the concept of the teaching tool being created by this team will most certainly become a common learning tool of our children in their future school and adult learning experiences. I believed that actually creating the tool would give children a sense of control over something that is often quite nebulous to all of us, yet is of wondrous interest to young minds. The possibility of our sixth grade students creating and developing their own electronic book was a window of opportunity made possible because of Dr. Franks' and Dr. Galvin's expertise and interest in providing rich learning experiences for these children.
The project developed over a seven month time span involving sharing the technology first with staff, then with students and determining a topic theme for the book which would allow students to focus on the process rather than on the content. Students gathered information, synthesizing their research into the written material and gathered the media to support their written text. Finally, their work was technically transferred into the final product by Teresa Knutson at The Electric Differential Lab.
!ElectricLincoln will be shared with our school community and with others who are interested in learning more about how this technology can assist educators and learners. Through this experience, these sixth grade students have participated in learning about and creating a piece of their future. We hope that you will share in our fascination of the amazing technological wonders of this tool and our pride and enthusiasm for our school as you read, !ElectricLincoln.
Chris Kolarik, Principal