Australia Expedition Makes Its Way Into HOM Classroom

By Tanjua Damon

Technology is a big thing in Ken Royal’s fourth grade class at Head O’ Meadow School. Since the beginning of the year, the students have been communicating with a woman who is “circumnavigating” Australia with nine camels and five dogs.

The fourth graders have been writing to Alexandra Hughes Bannister, who is part of CAMELL (Circumnavigating Australia Motivating Environmentalists at Local Levels), about Australia and camels. The fourth grade curriculum includes the study of Australia. This project will last the entire school year for the class.

Debi McNabb at Lightspan.com brought the idea to Mr Royal’s attention in August. Lightspan deals with online expeditions like the one Ms Bannister is doing in Australia.

The contact with Ms Bannister has been through the use of technology – particularly e-mail. The students write letters to her and she responds to them, providing information about her adventure and making inquiries about the events in the classroom.

“We’ve been writing to a lady named Alexandra,” Emily Weber said. “She has been going around Australia with camels.”

Nine camels to be exact. All of which have names: Thackeray, Vectis, PeeWee, Burke, Clyde, Moses, Malcolm, Abdul, and Jaws. The camels are dromedary camels. They only have one hump, unlike the Bactrian camels, which have two.

Haley Keane pointed out that all the camels are male. The camels are male on the adventure because many camels are wild in Australia and the use of female camels could cause wild male camels to approach the group wanting to mate with the female camels.

The students in Mr Royal’s class touch all four of the basic subjects, math, English, social studies, and science, through their contact with Ms Bannister. She provides them with questions, which they investigate and report back to her.

“She’s trying to be the first one to circumnavigate Australia,” Robert Eckenrode said. “We write them in groups because she has to use a satellite to check her e-mail.”

“She is telling us stuff as we are writing letters to her,” Molly Murtha added. “We are learning stuff about Australia and camels. She is being like an honorary class member. We have to tell her what’s going on in the classroom.”

Five dogs – Chloe, Jack, Lass, Bessie, and Acko – have also been making the trip with Ms Bannister. They help with protection and security during the trip. Some of the dogs also help herd the camels.

“So they can keep the camels in the right directions,” Daniel Berlingeri said. “Like herding them so they don’t go off track.”

Nine camels stand on a shelf in Mr Royal’s class right above the computers the students use to communicate with Ms Bannister. The students spent time in art class making the paper mache sculptures of the camels.

Lew Bailey has also been traveling with Ms Bannister, the nine camels and five dogs. He helps work with the camels. As the students in Mr Royal’s class put it, he is a camel expert. Mr Bailey has had a bit of bad luck during their travels so far.

Nicole Bulter explained that Mr Bailey received a push from a camel that caused him to break his leg.

Cody Kellogg added that a camel caused Mr Bailey to get lost from the expedition crew and required a search party with helicopters to find him.

“A camel knocked him out,” Cody said. “He had to crawl to get firewood and things. He had to bury himself in sand to keep cool.”

The Australia crew is traveling the continent counterclockwise, according to Emily. Traveling this way helps the wind blow towards them so they do not get too hot.

Ms Bannister enjoys being an honorary member of Mr Royal’s class and is impressed with their interest in her journey. She is at Mount Magnet currently. In a few weeks, the journey will lead them to Steen’s Point near Shark Bay and Monkey Mia in western Australia.

“I particularly enjoy e-mailing Ken and my Newtown classmates as they are obviously interested in what we are doing. I know from feedback from Ken that they are genuinely concerned about us out here in the field,” Ms Bannister said from Australia. “Once I e-mailed them and told them that I was writing to them from the middle of a paddock, miles from nowhere, with my dog Chloe at my feet. Within a day I had another batch of group e-mails. Apparently they were concerned that I might be lonely! Lew and I feel we have a real connection with the kids. It’s great.”

The expedition has taken Ms Bannister a long time to put together and things do not always happen as planned, but the experience is a great opportunity for students to learn.

“It took me four years to raise the sponsorship to get this project off the ground and now, in the field, it has taken considerably longer to achieve than I had first anticipated. Despite the physical hardships I am incredibly lucky to be doing something I love,” Ms Bannister said. “We travel through some amazing country; the Australian Outback is truly spectacular. Sometimes, though, travelling at 5km/hr can be a wee bit monotonous, but e-mails from my classmates soon pick me up and I really enjoy sharing our experiences with my new friends.”

Ms Bannister reminds the fourth grade students in Mr Royal’s class that things take time and everything in life can be a learning experience.

 “For my part, I hope that by following our trek and exchanging ideas with us, Ken’s class will not only gain a deeper insight into Australia and camels but also a realization that these things don’t happen overnight. They require dedication, persistence and tenacity as things don’t always go right,” she said.  “I hope my classmates will use our example to set their own goals in life, whatever they may be, and have the courage and the determination to pursue them.”

You can contact Ms Bannister by e-mail at alex_the_camel@excite.com or visit the Web site at http://www.atlas.co.uk/camell.

Lifespan.com has been supporting online expeditions since 1993, according to vice president of learning programs and partnerships Yvonne Marie Andrés. It is a clearinghouse designed for teachers and students to participate in adventures around the world without leaving the classroom through technology.

Ms McNabb was impressed with the way technology is being used in Mr Royal’s classroom and the students’ dedication to the expedition.

“Ken Royal is one of those teachers who makes a lifelong impression on a student,” she said. “If I could travel back through time to be in 4th grade again, I would want him to be my teacher.”

To find about more about Lightspan.com visit the Web site at http://www.lightspan.com/expeditions.