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photos by J. P. Wickel

Students in Trinity teacher Mr. Marlon Francis’ anatomy and physiology, and earth & space science classes connected with high school peers in Bordeaux, France, via Skype on Thursday, Jan. 22.

“We were talking about the weather,” Francis said. “There were about 20 of our students and about 30 of theirs.”

With the assistance of Director of Instructional Technology Mr. Andre Meyers, the students in classes separated by the Atlantic Ocean were able to share information about their perspectives on climate and weather in their different locations. This partnership is also intended for THS students to assist their French peers in learning English.

Administrators from both schools were present to exchange greetings during this initial session. Trinity senior Raymond Dibaya, a student in advanced French, served as translator, while members of the class stood and spoke to the camera.

Students are already communicating with each other through emails and other social media, but this Skype session was for students from both schools to share their experiences and ask questions about high school life. What they discovered were similarities in the weather, dress codes, sports and activities, and other factors that influence them. This collaboration will continue until the end of the school year.

This learning beyond the classroom is part of a larger project-based learning opportunity for Earth & Space Science students involved in the Global Precipitation Measurement in collaboration with NASA.

“Trinity was selected as one of the schools in Kentucky to monitor rain and snowfall, then report that data back to NASA,” Francis said. “One thing I wanted to do was expand this project to other schools and students. I figured out that in France they had a school that wanted to partner with us.”

The main goal of the project was to get data from them and send it back to NASA and use it as comparison. For example, Kentucky is part of the tornado valley, but in France they never get tornadoes.

The Skype call took on a little more of a personal focus to some students.   Francis said, “It turned out that there were some people who had pen pals. Most were exchanging emails and texts, so it was a great opportunity to get to meet them face to face.”

Peter Senn said,  “It was interesting learning about a culture that we’re not used to. We got on the topic of food, and there are so many other dishes over there than here, so it was interesting to see that difference.”

Trinity students will have other opportunities to collaborate and communicate with students in the Caribbean and Central America.

Francis said he thinks every teacher should call up another school from another part of the world. A call to Barbados is planned with another class, but the focus will be more on energy.

He said, “Education is global. It’s meant to be shared globally. What could be said here could be said completely differently in China, so it’s important that we learn from them and vice versa.”