Speaker: Sam Smith, K-8 York Region, Ontario, Canada
Sam Smith: We've been using zoolife in the classroom for probably about half a year now, or at least half of the previous year, um, and the students love it. I teach a whole variety of grades anywhere from Uh, K to grade 8, and the students really, really love it as a way to actually view animals live in their habitat.
Sam Smith: are and it almost becomes like they have an emotional connection to these animals, um, which just makes their learning and all that more sort of concrete when they can have that connection to what they're learning.
Sam Smith: I think the upcoming educator tools are going to be. Just incredibly helpful in terms of saving time for uh supporting my teaching and then supporting my students. Um, I love the idea that there will now be activities and lesson plans directly connected to the habitats that my students are already familiar with. Um, it just kind of saves me the cognitive load and having to think about it, having to, um, do all the planning. Um, so I like that there are the lessons and activities that'll sort of directly relate to what um we're viewing in the classroom.
Sam Smith: I would absolutely um recommend zoolife to other educators, especially, um, those who maybe do not live close to a physical, um, zoo or wildlife center that you can, um, visit. zoolife is a really great way to, um, bring learning outside the classroom directly into your classroom walls. So it's kind of like breaking. Down the walls of the classroom, um, without actually leaving, which is great. Um, so it's a really good way for students to connect what they are learning in class and science and language, whatever it might be, um, to the real world, but it also is an affordable way to be able to provide a little bit more of those authentic experiences to students, um, and in a way that Keeps them engaged. I mean, part of the beauty of zoolife is it's live cams, so you never know what you're gonna get. So it sort of allows really authentic and in the moment, learning experiences to sort of evolve and develop throughout the classroom.
