ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 25, 1996 TAG: 9606250026
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE (AP)
SOURCE: ELIZABETH BLUEMINK THE DAILY PROGRESS
Six fifth-graders discovered voices from the past while learning about new communications technology during an Internet project held in conjunction with a local Senior Center.
The Senior Biography Project ended this month when several of the fifth-graders, who had corresponded via electronic mail with pen pals at the Senior Center and published biographies about them on the World Wide Web, got to meet their pen pals at Red Hill Elementary School.
The students spent five months interviewing senior citizens about their childhood memories and historical experiences. According to Albemarle County instruction technology specialist Jaradi Hochella, who initiated the project, it was the first of its kind on the Internet.
Last June, Hochella contacted two Albemarle County schools and began planning the project. Several companies, including Microsoft Corp., helped the school system by donating a computer and equipment to the Senior Center, off U.S. 29 north of Charlottesville.
After six seniors were assigned to fifth-graders at Red Hill and Virginia L. Murray schools, Stacey Howe, a masters degree candidate in instruction technology at the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education, held an Internet training session for the seniors in January.
Students and seniors began corresponding the following month.
According to Hochella, the biography project was an enriching experience for both the students and senior citizens.
``Students found out that senior citizens have a lot to offer,'' she said. ``It allowed them to learn from primary sources'' instead of secondary sources like textbooks.
``It also allowed the seniors to be introduced to technology that did not exist when they retired, as well as giving them the rare opportunity to instruct students,'' she added.
``It was pretty good training for the kids,'' said Earlysville resident Don Hemmer, who corresponded with 10-year-old Lily Moore. Hemmer, who had never used the Internet before the project, added that he was able to tell Lily about aspects of his childhood such as one-room schoolhouses that ``most kids today have no concept of.''
``It was cool to use modern technology,'' fifth-grader Will Carr said. ``I liked being able to communicate without phone or the mail.''
``I thought it was interesting,'' said Ed Hineline, who corresponded with Murray Elementary School fifth-grader Priyanka Bhatia. ``This is the first time I've done something like this. ... I was happy to help the kids out.''
Hineline said he told Priyanka mainly about his military service in World War II, and in particular his role in the Iwo Jima invasion.
``He told me tons of stories about World War II,'' Priyanka said, adding that learning about the war was ``the most fun part'' of the biography project.
``I love finding out about other people's lives,'' said Kate Wilson, also a fifth-grader at Murray. Kate said her pen pal, Noreen Black, described her family, hobbies and details from her childhood.
Nancy Damon, program director at the Senior Center, said feedback from the six seniors who participated was essentially positive, adding that she believes the senior biographies were a ``wonderful inter-generational project.''
``We got really good feedback from the seniors who participated,'' Howe said. ``Three or four of them weren't familiar with the Internet, but then began talking to their own children and [friends] over it.''
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Lily Moore, 10, meets Don Hemmer of Earlysville atby CNBRed Hill Elementary School in Albemarle County. The two have been
electronic pen pals for three months.