Last week we had our first Mystery Skype experience. A Mystery Skype is played between two classes during a Skype call that usually goes for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Neither class knows where the other one is located. Classes take turns asking one another yes/no questions… The first class to guess the other’s location wins the game.
http://education.skype.com
It was a lot of fun! All the children had been given different roles: we had the Google Mappers, the Wall Mappers, the Atlas Readers, the Think Tank, the Questioners, the Answerers, the session Observer etc… The students did a great job of keeping their focus – the session went on for 45 minutes. Our first question was: “Are you in the Northern hemisphere?” We’d been researching smart questions, as this is one of the skills this great game teaches us: to think on our feet and to try and think smart. It’s a little bit like playing Guess Who, but we have to use geographical questions instead.
We lost the game to an experienced class from Hawaii! Our friends for the day were 19.5 hours behind us… another way to think about it is that they were 4.5 hours ahead of us, but the day before! We’re looking forward to our next Mystery Skype.
If you’re interested in organising a Mystery Skype lesson, visit this link and register with Skype to find a partner class. Have fun!
