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http://www.reachtheworld.org
Reach the World (RTW) is a nonprofit educational media developer and provider of school-based training in instructional technologies whose mission is to link students and teachers in low-income communities with real-world, global expeditions that have the power to expand learning beyond the four walls of the classroom. Funded by private foundations, RTW's first online expedition was the 1997-1999 circumnavigation of 43-foot sailboat "Makulu." The second circumnavigation of "Makulu" launched in November 2001 and will conclude in May 2004. Aboard ship, four expedition crewmembers serve as eyes and ears in foreign ports for students and teachers in New York City. Together, teachers, crew and students develop resources that supplement the curriculum and make learning come alive.
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RTW currently works with ILT to support a network of 25 partner classrooms in severely under-funded public school districts in Harlem, the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn, New York. Partner classrooms receive the following services, free of charge:
- The opportunity to use their curriculums to drive the ship's course by having their students give assignments to the crew, both in port and at sea.
- Access to graduate student interns trained by the Institute for Learning Technologies, who assist teachers as they learn to teach with technology.
- Technical support from ILT staff.
- Field trips and public speaking opportunities for students.
RTW is a visionary effort to re-imagine the curriculum and its delivery. Together with students and teachers, RTW and ILT work for excellence and equity in the creation and delivery of educational resources that introduce children to the world beyond their classrooms, and to the world of potential in themselves.
ILT is responsible for providing technology and curriculum support for all the RTW classroom teachers.
A research component of the project is using freehand map drawing to help understand how children see the world, as well as how RTW affects their knowledge of geography.
Shawna Bu'Shell is Manager of the project.
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