Videoconferencing technology opens the way for schools once limited by distance to experience BRIT via virtual field trips. Through a grant from the USDA Rural Utilities Service administered to the Region XI Education Service Center, informal education centers like BRIT broaden the scope of their programs and deliver quality services across the airwaves to students in rural schools across the state and beyond. The system emphasizes interactive broadcasting where children can see and communicate with BRIT staff who challenge them to think like scientists as they engage in creative activities. Virtual tours of the herbarium and interactions with real science and scientists broaden their horizons from the Peruvian rainforests to the natural wonders of the world in which they live.
Bella and Nonnie are begonias living in the rain forest of Peru until one day a research botanist collects them as part of her research with the Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program. Specimens are sent to the Botanical Research Institute in Fort Worth, Texas. Thus begins Bella's journey to become a valued specimen in BRIT's herbarium. A video made at BRIT starring botanists on staff, a coloring book, student journal, interactive questions and answers and a teacher packet with pre/post activities make up this charming broadcast.
This program introduces students to photosynthesis, its two main products, chemical energy in the form of Glucose and Oxygen, and the food energy flow within a simple food chain. The program begins with a reading of an exerpt from Pass the Energy Please by Barbara Shaw McKinney. The framework of the broadcast is an interactive power point presentation accompanied by engaging and motivational games to reinforce the concepts.
The king can't stop sneezing and no one knows why. The royal doctor decides he is allergic to plants. "Out with all plants," commands King Quigley, "And all things made from plants!" The story reinforces the concept of how plants and the many products made from plants impact our lives. The broadcast package includes a teacher packet with pre/post activities, a class set (30) of Thank You Plants student activity books, and a class set (30) of cotton bolls for an investigation activity.
Clean out your craft closet and get ready for a videoconference that combines art and botany. "Plantzilla", a fictitous plant is allowed to go home with Mortimer Henryson for the summer in Jerdine Nolan's delightful book, Plantzilla, with amusing illustrations by David Catrow. The program includes a reading of the book, a discussion of plant morphology and adaptations and a demonstration of techniques to create a "plant creature" puppet. The program includes a paper back copy of the book, Plantzilla, and a teacher packet with post acitivities designed for fun and learning.
