Science in Education

[Philip Brown]

I'd like to see a huge increase in the use of the Internet in education. Why don't all schools have regular teleconferences with other schools in other countries, letting pupils share their experience directly? Why can't we have on-line virtual schools to support home educators? Why don't we have the world's best scientists providing regular question and answer sessions for schools?
Come on, minister of education. Show a little leadership!

[EmmaKemp]

There are one or two projects moving in this kind of direction. Teachers often tell me they are reluctant to rely on internet connections in their school for 'live' lessons, though.

Still, here's an example of a project that uses video conferencing online to link schools from different European countries: http://www.estools.eu/estools/discovery/TELESCOPE

[Mike at HETA]

There has been a huge increase in technlogy in lessons over the last few years, School's networks are generally reliable, however organising these on-line activities does involve a huge amount of time. The learning outcomes have to be clear and the benefits to broader understanding and cultural links are not always immediately obvious.

There are some projects that do engage youngsters in these activities. A portal that deals with matching those with similiar aims could do a lot of the donkey work - could do with that big injetcion of cash to fund such a portal and make the links that much easier.