On Friday November 7th, fourth class took part in their very first Skype call in the classroom. The Project Approach that Ms. Kirby has been trying out involves inviting experts into the class to speak about the topic being explored, however this was a little difficult as we chose space as our focus! Instead of inviting in a guest speaker, Ms. Kirby contacted a man called Professor Paul Roche who works in the University of South Wales to see if he would Skype us and answer some of the questions we had about space. Paul studied astrophysics, massive stars and black holes in university, and his main role now is as a space ambassador promoting space education all over the UK. He is also very interested in telescopes and suing them in education. He really is an expert in this field!
We were so excited to find out that he had agreed to take time out of his busy schedule and speak to us on Skype. The date was set for Friday morning at 11.15am. We couldn't wait! During the week, we planned out some interesting questions that we would ask Paul, and drew names out of a hat to decide who would get to speak during the call. Laura B recorded the Skype on Ms. Kirby's camera and Isabella took photos.
At 11.15am, we called Paul on the laptop and began our questions. We could see him on the interactive whiteboard, and the people who had questions asked them at the laptop screen. Everyone else took notes while he spoke so that we would remember his answers later. These were the questions we asked:
Caoilainn: Were your family interested in space growing up, or how did you get interested in space?
Joseph: We have heard stories about the Mars Yeti. Do you think life exists on other planets? If so, how and where?
Caoimhe: Have you ever been to space? If not, would you like to work as an astronaut and travel into space?
Patrick: Can you explain what black holes are and how they work?
Morgan: What do you think of the one-way mission to Mars? Would you like to go on it?
Ross: What does your job as a space ambassador involve, and what is the best part of your job?
Aoife: What exactly are asteroids and how fast do they travel?
Millie: Have you ever seen anything unusual through a satellite or telescope?
Hannah H: How can a rocket go through the sound barrier? Do you think that NASA will ever develop a rocket that can travel at the speed of light?
Anna: How are rockets launched in space so astronauts can come back down to earth?
We were so excited to find out that he had agreed to take time out of his busy schedule and speak to us on Skype. The date was set for Friday morning at 11.15am. We couldn't wait! During the week, we planned out some interesting questions that we would ask Paul, and drew names out of a hat to decide who would get to speak during the call. Laura B recorded the Skype on Ms. Kirby's camera and Isabella took photos.
At 11.15am, we called Paul on the laptop and began our questions. We could see him on the interactive whiteboard, and the people who had questions asked them at the laptop screen. Everyone else took notes while he spoke so that we would remember his answers later. These were the questions we asked:
Caoilainn: Were your family interested in space growing up, or how did you get interested in space?
Joseph: We have heard stories about the Mars Yeti. Do you think life exists on other planets? If so, how and where?
Caoimhe: Have you ever been to space? If not, would you like to work as an astronaut and travel into space?
Patrick: Can you explain what black holes are and how they work?
Morgan: What do you think of the one-way mission to Mars? Would you like to go on it?
Ross: What does your job as a space ambassador involve, and what is the best part of your job?
Aoife: What exactly are asteroids and how fast do they travel?
Millie: Have you ever seen anything unusual through a satellite or telescope?
Hannah H: How can a rocket go through the sound barrier? Do you think that NASA will ever develop a rocket that can travel at the speed of light?
Anna: How are rockets launched in space so astronauts can come back down to earth?
Paul gave us excellent and detailed answers to all of our questions. He was very good at explaining things and everyone learned a lot, including Ms. Kirby! After about twenty-five minutes, we thanked Paul and said goodbye. Later in the day, Róisín and Darragh R typed an email to Paul to thank him again for his kindness. In his reply, he said that he had really enjoyed the Skype and had never got such a wide range of interesting questions from children before! We are looking forward to using Skype in the classroom again soon, as it really is a brilliant way to find out new information and make a topic more exciting. Thanks again to Paul for his help and time.