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Mark Gura
The Mystery of the Pipe Wreck: an Ed Tech “ah ha”
Who was the last person to hold the clay smoking pipe that nestled in my palm? Was it a
17th century seaman? A Caribbean buccaneer?
I dipped the delicate artifact back in the tub of seawater sitting on the fieldlab table. I had
been warned not to let it dry out, lest contact with dry air, after being submerged for over
three hundred years, do it irreparable harm.
There were other questions dancing through my head as I sketched and cataloged the
artifacts that the morning’s dive had yielded. Why had the vessel we were excavating
blundered onto the shallow reef situated just a hundred yards off the deserted beach I was
standing on? Would we discover where it had come from and what it had been doing in
these waters?
Of all the many questions that filled my sunburned head those two weeks on Isla Cabrita,
one plagued me the most. How could I share the extraordinary experience I was having
with my students when I got back to the classroom in September?
I had been graciously awarded a fellowship to join Dr. Jerome Hall, Maritime
Archaeologist, and his band of volunteers by Earthwatch, the wonderful organization that
puts lay people in the field to work alongside real scientists as they do their research. My
fellowship took me to the north coast of the Dominican Republic to participate in an
expedition known as “The Mystery of the Pipe Wreck.”
The day’s activities included diving on the wreck to collect artifacts, working in the field
lab, and doing the many chores needed to keep our primitive camp of canvas tents and
picnic tables livable. My two weeks apprenticeship as a member of Indiana Jones’
fraternity was the most intense educational experience of my life. I was immersed in
archaeology, diving, analysis and conservation of artifacts, Spanish language and
Caribbean culture to name just a few of the disciplines our field study involved.
As a condition of the fellowship, I had promised to share my experience with my
students. This, however, turned out to be much more challenging than anticipated when I
applied. Certainly, I gave it my best shot. I showed my students photos I took on the
expedition and engaged them in discussions about my experiences. I had them write their
responses to the facts and ideas that emerged. I encouraged my students to formulate their
own hypotheses about the Pipe Wreck and proposed methods to test them. In the end
however, I had to admit to myself that while I may have offered my students an interesting
unit loaded with value, I had not even come close to recreating my experience for them in
class. There simply was no way to do it.
Fastforward nine years. Flying home from the Florida Educational Technology
Conference (FETC) I passed the time by absentmindedly browsing through a thick stack
of software catalogs I had picked up at vendors’ booths. I had seen most of the titles
before but one item in the back of the Sunburst brochure leaped off the page at me. As I
read the description my jaw dropped. It was a piece of software entitled “Mystery of the
Pipe Wreck.” I contacted the publisher as soon as I got home and tried to keep my mind
on other things while I waited for it to come.
When the package arrived, I excitedly ripped open the wrapping and popped the CD into
the drive of my computer. Soon, I was transported back to the summer of ’91. Staring out
at me from the screen was my former tentmate Dr. Hall. I clicked on an icon and once
again heard his voice explaining his field study to a neophyte underwater archaeologist. I
clicked another and another, each one taking me through a stimulating and informative
aspect of the project. Following my own inclinations, I wove my own path through a rich
mosaic of possibilities. I worked with the software to create an experience that was
unique to my needs and preferences as a learner. It was exhilarating. Before I knew it, the
rest of the morning had passed. Unexpectedly, the question that had nagged me so long
ago had finally been answered.
Over the past few years I have sampled a great many software offerings and seen a great
many that provide instructional value. Some titles offer alternative approaches to
presenting material and some, ways to enrich teaching and learning. In my serendipitous
experience with the Pipe Wreck however, I have been given an important insight into a
unique and powerful aspect of presenting content digitally. The recreation of complex,
openended experiences, the kind of thing that well constructed, multimedia supported
software does so well, simply can’t be accomplished easily any other way. Such software
represents a unique resource, and one that provides a very profound level of
understanding, at that.
This piece is obviously perfect for teachers interested in fleshing out social studies units
that deal with the Age of Exploration and the Colonial Period in the new world. The
software represents a technology application that is exciting, appropriate, and that speaks
to the multiple intelligence needs of young learners. What is especially compelling about
this instructional tool is the opportunity it offers to make social studies interdisciplinary,
not only through the usual alignment with Language Arts, but by linking it to Science as
well.
Students I have worked with responded very enthusiastically to the task of formulating
their own hypothesis as to why the ship sank. Broken up into collaborative groups, they
presented their ideas to the whole class holding themselves accountable for supporting
the hypothesis with facts they gleaned from the information provided them and their own
research. These presentations are perfect opportunities for students to practice making
formal presentations that are supported by “slide shows” powered by LCD projectors. In
addition to the text they generate for these, supportive visual materials can be personally
drawn and scanned, generated with a drawing/painting program, or mined from the
software or related web sites they discover. Working with presentation software this way
can be a very rich experience that has students employ almost as many skills and areas of
knowledge as did the scientists who worked on the Pipe Wreck excavation.
Whenever I launch this software I am instantly transported to a magical place under the
undulating Caribbean. There, amidst the coral reef, Dr. Hall and I and countless young
partners are making an important discovery. We are finding a new way to fire youthful
imaginations and educate young minds. I know I’ll be back, again and again. Care to join
us?
Mark Gura, Director
Office of Instructional Technology
Board of Education of the City of New York
Author’s Bio:
Mark Gura is the Director of the Office of Instructional Technology for the public schools
of New York City. He has taught and done staff development for practically every subject
from Fine arts to Science during his 26year career as an educator. Mr. Gura has traveled
throughout New York City assisting the staffs of numerous schools in their efforts to
integrate computers into the instructional program. This broadbased background
qualifies him to head up the city’s initiatives to make the computer an important part of
every student’s education.
Note the above article was written in 1999