Virtual Christmas Tree

A virtual run through California is jumping off point for learning at ...

Guadalupe Elementary School's fifth grade classes are running and researching following a program developed by fifth grade teacher Steve Bethune.

Hearts in Motion involves an 800-mile run the length of California; math and various calculations; research on charities, various locations and national and state parks; speeches and reports. It covers physical education, math, science, social studies, computers and language arts all at the school.

Bethune is a runner. He spent several months in the fall of 2006 running across the United States from ocean to ocean for the American Heart Association. He came up with the idea for the kids program in February 2007, after taking over a Noddin Elementary fourth grade class, whose students were suffering from a surfeit of substitutes.

"The students had had a hard time with substitutes; after their teacher left at Christmas they kept getting different teachers until I was hired in February. The principal asked me to find a way to do something special and I came up with Hearts in Motion," says Bethune.

The eight-week program itself is simple, but brilliant. The kids collectively run the length of the state, 800 miles, around the school track. Twice a week, they run and/or walk, for 20 minutes and receive a Popsicle stick at the end of each lap. Each 5 ½ laps equal a mile. All the sticks go into a bucket and are counted the next day. Math is involved as the students calculate the speed, number of miles the class has run and determine how many more miles they have to go. Bethune says they average about 50 miles per day. He is now teaching at Guadalupe.

Some of the students set running goals and push themselves to reach them. Lauren Coleman, for example, has a goal of 9½ laps. "I like it; I'm not a natural runner. But I set a goal for myself and I try to achieve it. Last time I did eight laps," she says.

"Usually I like to run 11 laps," says Justin Amstadt. "I don't always meet the goal, but I always try," he says.

Olivia Foreman loves to run. At the school's Grizzly Day Walk-a-thon, she managed to walk nearly 20 miles.

Each student also picks a charity. "They run for it in spirit," Bethune says. They use computers to do research about the charity and can, if they want, raise money for its support. They turn their research into a one-page report and give a short speech to the class describing the charity and its actions.

Mission Australia: Jingle Bells in a Virtual World!

The eGifts range from a Christmas dinner for a family doing it tough, to phone cards for the homeless to help them get in touch with family. Once you have selected your eGift tags, you can choose to send a link to your friends asking them to donate on your behalf. You also have the option to add eGifts to your shopping cart and deliver those gifts via email to family and friends. For those people who prefer to print their card, you can download and print your own version of each tag, filling in just your purchase information. Welcome to the news blog for Mission Australia, an empowering and compassionate community service organisation. Commentary is available for feedback about issues affecting Mission Australia or our clients. We may remove comments if they are advertising, SPAM, discriminatory, misleading or offensive to others.

To contact us in your local area please visit www.missionaustralia.com.

Virtual Incarnation?

Internet law and regulation

Multimedia, hypermedia, and virtual reality, models, systems, and applications

The social life of Avatars, presence and interaction in shared virtual environments

Virtual reality and the built environment