when you have a long term relationship with another class." "That's really where empathy and compassion get built. "You get to build relationships and those relationships allow learning to happen in a different way," he said. This way, the game fits into his science curriculum and his students can video conference other classes more than once. The game has improved her students' performance on geography tests, Ruffcorn said, but she also believes Mystery Skype has better prepared her students for an increasingly global workforce.Īt Wallenpaupack South Elementary School in Newfoundland, Penn., teacher Michael Soskil has created variations of the game, including Mystery Animal: Instead of guessing location, fifth-graders in his science class must guess the other class's chosen animal. But, when they spoke with a class in New York City, they learned that some of the students' parents didn't even know how to drive. Ruffcorn says that learning about other places gives her students a perspective on their own hometown.įor example, it sometimes takes her students' parents about an hour to get to the grocery store. "Are you guys in Hilton, New York?" asks student Rawan Nasir.Ī chorus of replies comes out of the computer speakers: "They found us! Yes we are!"Īcross the country - and even around the world - teachers are using this educational game to improve students' comprehension of geography, a subject students in this country struggle with.Īccording to a 2014 study (the most recent data available) from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 73% of eighth graders are less than proficient in geography.įifth grade students at West Harrison Elementary School in Mondamin, Iowa play a game of Mystery Skype. "Is your state one of the original 13 colonies?"Īfter about 45 minutes of back-and-forth, the students think they have it. The rules for playing Mystery Skype are simple: Students can only ask "yes" or "no" questions, and whichever class guesses the other's location first wins.Īt Glasgow Middle School in Alexandria, Va., an eighth-grade class plays through video chat with another classroom. Rawan Nasir speaks to another classroom over video chat during a game of Mystery Skype at Glasgow Middle School.
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