The Living Schoolbook

The Syracuse City School District obtained a grant from Verizon and decided to implement a similar project in their newly renovated elementary school, McKinley-Brighton.

Two 4th grade teachers, Pat Campbell and Barb Collingwood, came into the LSB in Fall of 2001 to discuss possibilities. The goal of their grant was to get computers into the hands of their students and their families. IMacs were purchased with funds and set up first in the 2 teachers rooms in small clusters and then in March or April 2002 sent home with families. The teachers wanted to showcase their students' work and get them acclimated to computers. Cyberzoo was an idea that fit in with their science curriculum. It was not until January that the teachers had a better idea of when their computers and software would arrive.

At that point, they began to sit down and map out what they envisioned for Biome Safari. Biome Safari was written in PHP by Evan Einstein. Becky Gloss and Jenn McDonald coordinated the construction of the database with the needs of the teacher. The database began construction the end of February and was finished in mid-March, but because of the teachers' schedules, they did not begin testing the site until April.

It was early May before students actually started using it. Students completed a research assignment on a chosen animal, and then posted their report into the database. Both teachers would like to continue this next year and offer it to other teachers. The LSB created this as one of our tools that we hope will be joined by other schools and districts to begin a collaborative student-created content site on Biomes and Animals, with the option to expand to plants.