Drawn into the net by Alaskan weather

SNOWY Alaska and sunny Tasmania were recently linked with rainy Donegal in an innovative project in which primary school children swapped weather information over the internet.

The children of Dromore National School, Crossroads, Killygordon, Co Donegal, are enthusiastic about the experience.

"I loved sending the letters to Tasmania and Alaska and them writing back and I loved drawing the maps and flags," says 10 year old Ciara Cullen. The most interesting finding for Patrick McGowan was that the water swirled down the toilet in our direction in Tasmania and another in Ireland and Alaska. It is the fact of being in different hemispheres, he explains.

Dromore school has 180 pupils and six teachers and is situated in an isolated rural part of Donegal. Despite initiating the internet project the school does not have a computer or a modem. Michael McMullin, the teacher of first and second class, has a computer at home and he came up with the idea of getting in contact with other schools via the net. Schools in Tasmania, Alaska and South Africa responded to his message but the school in South Africa was unable to participate for technical reasons. However McMullin has recently received a message from them asking if they could join in now. He hopes to include them in phase two of the project, which gets under way after Easter.

But, why a project on the weather? "The reason we focused on that was because we wanted to make it as real and concrete as possible," says McMullin. The children in fifth and sixth class, under the direction of their teachers, Maire Masterson and Eugene. Quinn, recorded the weather each day.

Eleven year old Graham Dullaghan explains that the caretaker painted a large compass on the tarmac in the school yard. "We had to place an arrow thing (a home made weather vane) on the compass to find out the wind direction. We also did the temperature and the cloud cover," he says.

The results were recorded on a form each day and the school kept a copy of the form, while McMullin sent the information to the other schools. At first, observations were swapped on a daily basis, then on a weekly one. Some of the questions in the project came from their new partners. It was the Alaskan children who wished to know whether the water swirls down the toilet in the same direction all over the world. In addition to these basic facts, the children swapped stories of life, sport, and their favourite TV soaps.

Masterson, who is also school principal, says that it has been a fantastic experience for the teachers, the children and, indeed, their parents. "The project has brought these places to the children in a way that books never could," she says.

Most of the children had no experience of computers and now you regularly hear phrases such as "surfing the net" and "e-mail". One child's father got so involved he went to the secondary school to get information on Alaska and Tasmania for his son. He dug out an old typewriter and his son learned to type.

A lively class debate took place and the children had to decide whether they would prefer to live in Alaska or Tasmania. The school secretary videoed the proceedings. Yvonne Costello, in sixth class, is firmly of the opinion that she would prefer to live in Alaska because "it has a nice climate. It is snowy in winter and the summer is nice and warm." She says Tasmania is too hot. Gerard Byrne, also in sixth class, holds an opposing view. "It's too cold in Alaska," he says. Masterson says that the debate was a useful way of checking how much the children had absorbed.

The present project is due to end on St Patrick's day when the Tasmanian students are planning a special Irish celebration in honour of this new found link.

IT TURNS out that several of the teachers there have visited Ireland so they're looking forward to a traditional hooley, says McMullin. He is now seeking other schools around the world to join in phase two of the project. To date, he has had 10 replies, so phase two promises to be even more exciting.

The school has also learned recently that it was chosen by Ireland On line, an Internet provider, to receive a free Internet account.

Ireland On line has offered is providing free access to 300 schools and 200 public libraries. "This is great news for the school as, amongst other things, it will allow us to design our own web page. This means that we will have a `permanent' space on the net to show off the children's artwork and writing and to report news of happenings in the school," explains McMullin. There is just that one snag, since the school doesn't have the necessary equipment to use the internet in the school itself.

"It's been a good start," says McMullin, "but far from ideal. The main disadvantage is that the children aren't getting hands on experience of using the computer for themselves. It also makes the whole thing very abstract from their point of view. If the enthusiasm that has been built up in the project so far is to be maintained they need to see things happening at first hand."

The parent's committee has recently raised funds for a TV and video for the junior section of the school. "At present, the cash simply isn't there for further spending on new technology."