Plugged Into the Network : Computer Program Connects Kids Nationwide for Geography Lessons and More

Arthuro Arias, 10, sits at the computer with a large map of the United States visible on the screen before him. His task is to locate his school on the map by latitude and longitude. But on his first try, Arias places the school too far west.

“You’re in the middle of the ocean somewhere. You’re by Catalina,” says Arias’ partner, Jonathan Williams, also 10. “Concentrate on this one. This is the longitude. Now go east. You almost got it.”

Finally, after several tries, the two boys successfully place John Adams Elementary School at 33 degrees and 44 minutes latitude and 117 degrees and 53 minutes longitude.

In the meantime, pupils in Camden, N.J., are trying to find Santa Ana on their computer map. Eventually, children at 14 schools from Oregon to Connecticut will locate each other geographically. The exercise is the first step in an unusual telecommunications project that will link the youngsters via computer during an eight-week learning program called Kids Network.

The program, developed by National Geographic, is designed to help children learn science and geography by working together as a research team. Using computers, pupils in the network share what they learn with each other, sending messages back and forth electronically.

“The program helps them a lot with their geography skills,” says Jeanne Lewis, a computer lab teacher who runs the program at John Adams School.

But Kids Network doesn’t stop with geography, Lewis is quick to point out.

“It also helps them do their work cooperatively, which always helps their social skills. And it teaches them methods of gathering data, graphing and plotting. They use math, science, word processing. They write, and so they get to work on their spelling.”

The program, in its second year at the school, is available to fourth- and fifth-grade pupils, who go into the computer lab once a week in groups of eight to work on tasks designed to teach them to collect and analyze data and to share their findings with one another through extensive use of telecommunications. For example, one of the first projects they have is to gather information on their pets, then enter that information into the computer.

Pupils soon discover that gathering such information is not always as easy as it seems. For example, is a chicken a pet? How do you define a pet? At the same time the kids at John Adams are compiling their pet data, other classes across the country are having the same discussions. Once all the pet information is collected, children share what they have learned with other schools in their network.

While completing the pet portion of the program, kids learn how to use the computer to display and read data on maps, charts and graphs. For example, Jose Espinoza, 11, and Joshua Figueroa, 10, enter their pet information into the computer and quickly learn how to obtain a very scientific-looking graph, showing exactly how many dogs, fishes, cats, rats and birds each boy owns.

“For most of the children the mapping and making of graphs is the favorite part,” Lewis says. But children also enjoy writing and receiving letters from other schools across the country, Lewis says.

“By the end of the second week of the program, they have to compose a letter to send to the other classes,” she says. In return, the John Adams children will get letters from the 14 other schools in the network.

Reading the letters from her teammates across the country is a treat for Manu Bartlett, 10. “We get to learn about other people, where they live, and it’s fun.” Manu’s favorite letter comes from a group of children in Mentor, Ohio, who describe their cold and snowy winters and humid summers.

In a return letter, John Adams pupils write about the varied cultures represented in their school. “If you visit Santa Ana, you will get to taste many foods. There are Mexican seafood restaurants, Vietnamese restaurants and Chinese restaurants. You would enjoy quesadillas, tamales, posole and menudo,” the letter says.

“The letter portion helps the kids with their writing skills, and they have to plan out what they are going to write,” Lewis says. “A lot of our kids are limited English speakers, but they are really making progress. This program helps their vocabulary.”

Frances Byfield, principal at John Adams, says Kids Network participants love the program, which has become a vital part of the school’s curriculum. “The kids are excited to be a part of it, and the parents are just amazed,” she says. “These kids are learning telecommunications skills, keyboarding, writing, organizing their thoughts. And they’re learning how to research and are making friends.”

The Kids Network program is used in 17 Santa Ana schools and is funded by a $122,000 grant from the Telecommunications Education Trust, a fund created by the Public Utilities Commission with money that came from a fine imposed upon Pacific Bell when it was found to be engaging in unfair marketing techniques.

The grant specifically targets children with limited English skills, according to Mayda Carnes, a former vice principal with the Santa Ana Unified School District who now works as California coordinator for the network.

“Kids Network has been in existence for many years around the world, but this is a special grant given to National Geographic to take their program and make it more usable in Hispanic and limited-English-speaking communities,” says Carnes, who helped introduce a Spanish supplement to Kids Network two years ago in the Santa Ana Unified School District.

Since then Carnes has introduced the program into other schools all the way from San Diego to Sacramento.

This year Kids Network is being expanded and will include an Asian supplement, says Carnes, who plans to put the program in three schools in Little Saigon. “We will be working with schools in which Korean, Vietnamese or Cambodian is the predominant home language of students,” she says.

Integral parts of each eight-week Kids Network project are special parents nights in which parents can see firsthand how their children use computers and modems to telecommunicate with students around the world.

Having the program available in other languages is especially helpful on parents nights, Carnes says. “Most of the parents are non-English-speaking,” she says. “And many of them are so intimidated when they come in. Many have never seen a computer before, but by the end of the night we can’t get them to leave.”