On October 30, more than 50 8th-grade advanced science students from Algonquin Middle School in the Averill Park School District were on campus to take a tour and learn about the science programs here at Hudson Valley Community College. Dr. Peter Schaefer discussed with them the skills (both academic and “soft” skills) needed to succeed in college and in a science-related job. He stressed that middle school is the time to think ahead for the future and learn about what they might like to do.
Students were broken up into four groups and each group toured the building with a science instructor. They saw labs in progress and heard from students and faculty about what was happening in the lab.
Following the tours, students gathered in one of the large lecture rooms to hear three science students (including one from Averill Park!) talk about their college experience and future career plans. The 8th graders asked them questions also.
In the lecture room, students were able to peek in on a live videoconference of a College-in-the-High School Biology lab that originates from Averill Park High School and connects with Maple Hill High School and Cairo-Durham High School.
Instructional Technologies staff connected a laptop with SCI 120’s multimedia equipment and used Cisco Jabber desktop videoconferencing software to connect to the three high schools. One visitor pointed to the screen and stated “that’s my sister” with a big smile on his face.
If you would like to conduct a virtual field trip, meetings or bring a guest speaker from across the world into the classroom via videoconferencing, please contact Eric Kiel at e.kiel@hvcc.edu or 629-7625.
Published: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 12:15:43 +0000 by e.kiel