Virtual Visits with the New York Hall of Science

It started with our Sports Challenge Virtual Visit for a class in Michigan and ironically ended with the same program but for a class in New York. This past school year has seen new additions to our list of programs offered, new state connections, a program done all in sign language and, the launch of “Hall Around The World“. It truly has been an amazing journey for me and, I take great pride in sharing what we have accomplished this year for Virtual Visits.

Several new additions to our Virtual Visit menu for this past 2008-2009 school year were Journey Inside The Eye, System Science: Intro to Networks, Playground Science, Illustrious Illusions: Secrets Revealed and finally both the Laser and Chemistry Demonstrations. The launch of these new programs helped contribute to an increase in the amount of bookings we had every month in comparison to that of Virtual Visits’ 2007-2008 school year. We even set a record for ourselves with 35 connections during the month of May. One highlight that meant a lot to me was setting up a Fun With Bubbles Virtual Visit with a class from St. Francis De Sales school for the hearing impaired. This was taught by Karen Romano, who is one of our explainers that is hearing impaired. There was such a level of excitement not only from the students but everyone involved at the school and at our museum. It was an experience I will never forget.

Another remarkable moment for me was our launch of “Hall Around The World“. It always has been a dream of mine to deliver Virtual Visits to countries worldwide. After doing some research, I was able to partner with Mr. Simon Lewis and his school in Ireland to share with them one of our programs. The high level of energy and enthusiasm these students had were something I had never seen before. It was an absolute pleasure meeting Mr. Lewis and all of his 1st grade students. We plan to keep to do several programs with the school again next year.

Looking forward to the 2009-2010 school year, we hope to really expand “Hall Around the World” to at least 3-4 other countries, keep increasing bookings, and develop new contacts with schools in the mid-west. Keep checking our site for updates in not only Virtual Visits but the Digital Learning Department here at the New York Hall of Science!

*Share your success story for videoconferencing!

“I’m really thrilled with how the whole experience went”. These are the words of Mr. Simon Lewis, Principal of the Carlow Educate Together school in Ireland. On Monday June 15th, our Hall Around the World initiative was able to reach his wonderful students. Mr. Lewis had this to add as well: “The children learned more from the experience than they would usually do from a similar experiment done in class”. It was such an amazing experience for myself to be able to share one of our virtual visits with a school group outside the United States. The enthusiasm these students had for participating in this program was simply stunning for me. Keep checking our site to see where Hall Around the World will go next.

*Check out a small portion of this “Fun With Bubbles” program.

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Just because summer is approaching does not mean Virtual Visits are taking a break! There are still available dates from early July to late August to book any of our regular programs. Contact Anthony Negron at anegron@nyscience.org or at (718)699-0005 ext 597 for additional information.

Take a look at all the different places Virtual Visits have connected with. The white push-pins equal 10 or less times. The yellow equals 11-19 times and the red is over 20 connections!