Mystery Skype
The 4th Grade students have been participating in Mystery Skype sessions with classes all over the country and a few in other countries! Below you will find information about what a Mystery Skype is and pictures and videos from the ones we've done!
what is mystery skype?
Mystery Skype is 45-60 minute critical thinking challenge, invented by teachers, played by two classrooms somewhere in the world on Skype. The aim of the game is to guess the location of the other classroom by asking each other yes/no questions before they guess yours. It is a global guessing game that gets kids learning about geography, culture, and the similarities and differences of how children live all over the world.
|
|
Why do we do mystery skype?
Reasons to do Mystery Skypes:
- Creates a global community of learners
- Critical Thinking
- Geography skills
- Listening and Speaking skills
- Student-Led
- Using Resources to find information
- Authentic purpose for research
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Challenge-Based Learning
- Creates partners for future projects
- Gets teachers to collaborate globally
Our mystery skype experiences
During the Mystery Skype sessions there are specific jobs for each student. Students apply for a job they are interested during the class before the actual Skype event.
Tweeter - 1 student - Responsible for tweeting updates throughout the Skype session. Will have access to the Alston Ridge Media Center twitter account. Must be familiar with Twitter and know how to use hashtags appropriately.
Question Keepers - 2 students - One student is responsible for typing up all of the questions they ask us (and our answers) and the other student is responsible for typing up all of the questions we ask them (and their answers). Must have great listening and typing skills.
Photographers - 2 students - Responsible for taking lots and lots of high-quality photos while everyone is working.
Videographers - 2 students - Responsible for videotaping the entire event, especially the dialogue between schools. Never press PAUSE! The only time you should have the video camera on the projection is when they are talking to us. The rest of the time you should get us working. Also, it cannot be so shaky - move slowly from one place to the next. Don't zoom in and out - there's no need for it!
Research Team - all other students - This is the most important job and one that everyone needs to do. The Research Team comes up with questions to ask the other team and looks up the answers to questions we are asked when we don't know how to answer them by memory. They have access to maps, atlases and computers.
Tweeter - 1 student - Responsible for tweeting updates throughout the Skype session. Will have access to the Alston Ridge Media Center twitter account. Must be familiar with Twitter and know how to use hashtags appropriately.
Question Keepers - 2 students - One student is responsible for typing up all of the questions they ask us (and our answers) and the other student is responsible for typing up all of the questions we ask them (and their answers). Must have great listening and typing skills.
Photographers - 2 students - Responsible for taking lots and lots of high-quality photos while everyone is working.
Videographers - 2 students - Responsible for videotaping the entire event, especially the dialogue between schools. Never press PAUSE! The only time you should have the video camera on the projection is when they are talking to us. The rest of the time you should get us working. Also, it cannot be so shaky - move slowly from one place to the next. Don't zoom in and out - there's no need for it!
Research Team - all other students - This is the most important job and one that everyone needs to do. The Research Team comes up with questions to ask the other team and looks up the answers to questions we are asked when we don't know how to answer them by memory. They have access to maps, atlases and computers.