Kindergarten children who live in rural areas have little
contact with other cultures. Therefore, teachers need to orchestrate
cultural exchange through various media. Books, posters, music, and
discussions of multicultural holidays have been used with some success.
However, understanding of other cultures is most powerful when students
can communicate and subsequently form a relationship with real people
from that culture. This research project proposes to identify the
cultural benefits of having students engage in exchanging e-mail.
Questions such as how using technology fits into the curriculum will
also be addressed. Other considerations will be the abilities of
younger students to use this media as well as examining other benefits
that are byproducts of this cultural exchange.

1. ED372757 May 94 An Introduction to Internet Resources for K-12
Educators. Part I: Information Resources. ERIC Digest.
Author: Morgan, Nancy A.
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed372757.html

As the title states, this article provides resources on the internet for
classroom teachers. It includes guides, lesson plans, keypal/penpal
sites, acceptable policies, technology plans for schools, internet
projects, grant information, and government document information. Also
listed are sites pertaining to electronic books, reference resources,
and library catalogs. Since it was written six years ago, many of the
listed sites are outdated. However, the next article is an update.

2. ED42959399 An Introduction To Internet Resources for K-12
Educators. Part I: Information Resources, Update 1999. ERIC Digest
Author: Morgan, Nancy
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed429593.html

It's interesting to see the changes of six years. There are more
resources and the text implies that users are more experienced using
the net. I noticed that in 1996 the IP was gopher rather than world
wide web.

3. http://glef.org/learnlive/book/technology/snapshots1.html

This site is the George Lucas Education Foundation which is a non profit
organization. It is headed by the famous film maker who is committed to
promoting learning "where students are challenged and engaged, learn by
doing, have access to interactive technologies, and are supported by
teachers and members of the broader community." The site allows schools
to share their success stories of living and learning through
technology.

4. http://www.unesco.org/education/pdf/etxt_idx.htm
Education For The Twenty-first Century: Asia-Pacific perspective.
Bangkok, UNESCO, 1991
Author: Roy Singh, Raja

UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural
Organization.
Roy states that in the twenty-first century science and technology will
significantly shape society. It must be broad-based and accessible to
all students.

5. ED395573 1995 Internet For Kids
Author: Frazier, Deneen, And Others
This book is a resource for internet sites with a forward from Senator
Bob Kerrey. It includes a chapter which provides guides to finding
international keypals as well as other topics which encourage global
awareness when using the internet.

The following sources are from educational journals which need to be
accessed from the library:

6. EJ554421 1997 E-mail Leads To New Friends
Authors: Durost, Dennis D., Hutchinson, Sue L.

The article describes a project in which two Kindergarten classes
exchanged e-mail for the purpose of enriching literacy and communication
skills and to encourage long distance socialization.

7. EJ522108 1996 Developing written Communication in Mathematics
Through Math Penpal Letters.
Author: Philips, Eileen; Crespo, Sandra

This project was designed to determine whether fourth graders improved
their mathematical communication after exchanging letters online with
pre-service teachers.
 

8. http://www.teachers.net
This site has a bulletin board on which you can list your
class as potential e-pals and/or contact another class which is already
posted. There are many other uses of this site which include
discussions, lesson plans, webrings, and more.

9. http://www.epals.com
The main goal of this site is to provide students and teachers
with a "sense of everyday life" with students from another culture.

10. http://www.iecc.org
This site provides partner intercultural classrooms and
e-mail projects as well as a place to post your own requests for the
same.

1. Research ERIC and other databases for information regarding the above
and reviewing that information.

2. Obtain and review further information through other sources including
libraries and book stores.

3. Establish study group's previous experiences with children of other
cultures through interviews and/or surveys of parents and children.
Include questions that determine attitudes about those experiences.
a. What is your cultural background?
b. Where has your family traveled?
c. Do you have multicultural friends or acquaintances ?
d. Which cultural groups would you like increase your
interaction?
e. Do you have a computer? Do you explore multicultural sites on
the world wide web?

4. Contact e-pals through http://www.teacher.net or similar websites
such as http://www.epals.com or http://www.iecc.org

5. Send initial letter from whole group introducing geographical setting
and cultural make-up of group.

6. Begin to exchange weekly e-mails between e-pals. These e-mails would
be dictated by students.
 
 

7. Have each student keep a folder in which e-mail exchange is keep in a
sequential order.
 

8. After exchanging 1-2 letters, have students predict what their e-pal
looks like and draw a picture.

9. At the end of the school year, collect data from the letters which
make cultural references. Note similarities and differences.

10. After rereading the letters, have students draw a picture of
e-pal. (Provide multicultural crayons and pencils.) Students will
then dictate how their e-pal is alike and different from themselves.

11. Exchange photos of e-pals. Videotape students' reactions to the
photo of his/her e-pal. Record answers to questions about the students
reactions and how their picture compared with the actual photo.

12. Survey parents' reactions to the project.

13. Exchange similar data with other Kindergarten teacher.

Success of this project would be determined by comparing the
attitudes of parents and children towards members of other cultures
before and after the project. Questions such as "Was the data collected
sufficient?" and "Were the surveys useful?" will be considered.
Finally, it is important to determine if using computer technology for
cultural exchange was a useful tool to promote intercultural exchanges
for this age group.

Next Steps
After the preparation , this project would cover a one school
year. The students/parents would then decide to continue this
relationship over the summer and into the future. A plan would also be
made between the two teachers to continue the project with the incoming
Kindergarten class. The results of both years could be compared. If
the project continued into a third year, perhaps a pattern would
emerge. In addition, the project could be posted on a web site created
by both teachers.