When we're thinking about ways to use technology to enhance the excitement of content we shouldn't forget the telephone. In one 8th grade class I was in recently the students were working on year long research projects including interviews of experts in their area of study. One student is doing his research on the Tuskegee Airmen from WWII. To help students share what they're learning as well as help them develop interviewing skills we hooked up a speaker phone and the student interviewed an 85 year old Tuskegee Airman veteran during the class. After the initial interview, members of the class asked additional questions. It turned into a high interest lesson.
Getting a speaker phone hooked up wasn't trivial. The wall phone was wired into the wall with no speaker, but we took the jack from the handset and plugged it into an old speaker phone and "lo and behold" we pushed the speaker button and there was a dial tone. We also videotaped the conversation so we'd have an audio record. It's easy to forget that just using the telephone to bring experts into the classroom can create a memorable experience for the students.
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