Community Service

Below are some of the ways in which iEARN can be used in your community. You may also find other creative ways to become part of the iEARN network.

The premise of iEARN is that the Internet can be used as a tool to enhance education, not only in the cognitive aspect, but also in terms of helping to develop values, critical thinking and attitudes about participation in the community. By creating multicultural, on line communities, students can be empowered to be pro-active in their communities in issues of democracy, class, gender, human rights, ethnic differences and environmental preservation. By creating the habit of getting involved in issues that are relevant to them, kids and teenagers will hopefully be better equipped for future citizenship participation.

On line communities share many characteristics of physical communities, even if their members are geographically dispersed. The members in these communities have a common interest and make up for the physical absence by creating distinct patterns of communication via e-mail. Instead of bodies and proximity, communities on line invent visible language that will do the things needed to build community.

iEARN projects allow students to reflect and dialogue on their local and global communities. Students are often inspired by these projects to take action: cleaning up a local pond, sending blankets to hurricane victims, or letters of solidarity to victims of violence. The iEARN global network of schools makes it possible to for students to look outside, as well as inside their community, for solutions.

The following are examples of iEARN projects that can serve the purpose of promoting community action:

The Bullying Project -In the spring of 1999, one week after two students went on a deadly rampage at a high school in Colorado, a similar attack struck Taber, Alberta Canada. A 14-year-old boy opened fire inside W.R. Myers High School. One student was killed, another was wounded. Within hours after the shooting, stories began to emerge of the relentless bullying the accused had previously endured. (More details from the Calgary Herald). www.bullying.org is our attempt to help young people help each other.

Comfort Quilt- As part of the 1999 iEARN Global Art project "A Sense of Caring". The theme focuses on communicating how we care about one another in our school, families, community and world and how we can care more for one another. By the end of April, artwork and writing was exchanged with schools in Russia, Australia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and the United States (Oregon and Washington). The children use email to respond to the artwork and writing sent by other schools. A caring connected with last year's Global Art Theme was in response to the hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico and Nicaragua. The class had been in email with children in Puerto Rico about the hurricane recovery. The class made comfort quilts and sent them to Puerto Rico to comfort children in shelters. One of the quilts went on display in the Children's Museum in San Juan with photographs and writing by the children in our class. Several of the children helped construct this website as their first introduction to creating websites. Following September 11, 2001, iEARN classrooms worldwide joined the project to send quilts to schools in NYC, DC and to Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan.

Humanitarian Project - Each year, as part of the First Peoples Project, a Humanitarian Project is launched. The project began in 1996-97, when participating iEARN teachers in Australia sent a video of the children behind the Indigenous Arts Project. Students in Zuni, New Mexico were shocked to see the impoverished conditions under which Karen children-members of a minority group from Myanmar-live in Thailand. Students at A:shiwi Elementary School in Zuni, New Mexico (USA), Choctaw Tribal Schools in Mississippi (USA), and Koorie students at Bairnsdale Secondary College in Bairnsdale, Victoria, (Australia) worked jointly to raise almost $3,000 (US). Many individual iEARN members also contributed to the 1997 fund raising effort. With the money raised last year, the Karen village received a generator for their school, wall siding for their dormitory, blankets for all the children, school supplies, kitchen supplies, and other necessities. Siriluck Hiri-O-tappa, an iEARN teacher at the Bangkok International School, coordinated the purchase and delivery of materials in Thailand. Click here to read a Converge Magazine article about the project.

"Schools De-mining Schools" - a project launched by the UN CyberSchoolBus & iEARN which harnesses the power of the internet to bring together learning and action in the real world. Students not only learn, discuss and publish, but actually and concretely contribute to solving one of the most horrifying problems of our times: the scourge of landmines. Participating schools help to rid another school of mines and contribute to the care of mine victim-survivors by launching a Mine Awareness campaign and raising funds.

Disaster Relief - iEARN's ability to quickly reach thousands of people in its international community make it an effective tool to mobilize support for local emergencies. Two examples of this were: the Flood in Sabah, Malaysia and Poland-Czech Republic Flood Relief, and Hurricane Relief in Honduras and Puerto Rico.

Waterways: Local to Global Water Habitats and Resources. This project is designed to provide opportunities for students to learn from, encourage and inspire one another to be actively engaged in restoring and preserving water habitats and resources through scientific knowledge and collaborative action, and to integrate literacy and communication with environmental science learning and action. Click here to see a short video on the Water Habitat Project.

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