Critical Thinking and Collaboration Through Mystery Skype

Have you been wondering how you can foster critical thinking and collaboration on a much larger scale than just within the four walls of your classroom?  If you've answered "yes" to this question, you might be wondering how to do this.  One answer: Mystery Skype!  Mystery Skype is a way to connect with another classroom in another school, state or country.  Most teachers find partner teachers through Twitter, where connections are made during Twitter chats or just with a quick tweet asking for interest.  Most of the time, the ultimate goal is to guess, using questioning, where each other are located.  However, there are variations on this. (see page 51-52 of the linked page for variations.)

At Ashley River Creative Arts Elementary, Mr. Carrington's 4th grade class participated in their first Mystery Skype just this week with a sixth grade class in Kansas.  A shared Google Document was created where Mr. Carrington's students could add possible questions and also list the answers to the questions that were asked.  Students used Google Maps on their iPads as well as atlases to help support their search.  Students were only allowed to ask "Yes" or "No" questions to narrow down their search.  As the Skype progressed, students went from asking questions such as "Are you in the United States?" to "Are you one of the 13 original colonies?" to "Are you North of Myrtle Beach?"  They began to realize how specific they needed to be to get useful information.  Kudos to Mr. Carrington for providing this engaging, authentic learning opportunity!