Field trip never leaves the classroom

Students at Independent Day School met Winter the dolphin on a field trip where they never left the school gymnasium.

Instead, they peeked in via the Internet on the well-known dolphin with a prosthetic tail.

The private school used Skype to talk to Winter's trainers at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium on Monday. Through the computer, students could ask questions and watch the trainers and a fourth-grader, Mia Torres, in the pool. Mia won the "Wade with Winter" experience through a school auction.

Winter and Panama, another dolphin, obliged their audience across the bay by showing off their dorsal fins and chattering and chuffing for the microphone.

Though Independent Day uses Skype frequently for class work and conferences, the experience was a first for the aquarium. The aquarium is launching CMA L.I.V.E. - Linking Into Virtual Education - which will allow other schools to learn about marine life through real-time chats with trainers over their computer webcam.

The presentation went smoothly, except for some problems adjusting the sound levels and a hiccup where the feed went dead briefly. The aquarium also sent staff members to the school to give students an overview of Winter's life and step in when the connection got lost.

For the school, the virtual field trip was a chance for more than 500 prekindergarten through eighth-graders to see firsthand the subject of a book they had studied.

Students were participating in Independent Day's Young Author's Conference, which features a different theme each year. Fifth-grade teacher Michelle Hill wanted to introduce students to nonfiction and also teach them about caring for the environment. Animal stories can help hook children into nonfiction writing, she said.

Winter's story, detailed in "Winter's Tail," was the perfect entry point. The book documents for children how Winter lost her tail when she got entangled in a crab trap. She was rescued near Cape Canaveral and sent to Clearwater, where she received a prosthetic tail that helped her learn to swim again.

Students loved hearing about a dolphin overcoming difficulties.

"You could have heard a pin drop when we read 'Winter's Tail,'" Hill said. "We all feel insecurities and challenges of some sort."

They responded with their own Winter-inspired writing and projects.

Fourth-graders shared reports they did on animals with kindergartners, who donned paper dolphin tails they decorated. Sixth-graders explored stories about other marine animals, animals with artificial limbs and environmental topics, such as whaling. The youngest students completed the sentence "Winter inspired me to" with words or pictures.

Each class came up with questions to ask Winter's trainers and lined up at the assembly to find out the answers. Abby Stone, marine mammal program manager, answered from Clearwater over Skype with help from assistant trainer Cindy Farber, presenting at the school.

Questions ranged from prekindergartners wanting to know Winter's favorite toy (a raft) to eighth-graders asking whether Winter would ever wear the prosthesis full time (probably not because of skin irritation).

Krisi Astell, 10, said she liked watching Winter on the Web feed and thought it was neat that the dolphin could use an artificial tail.

"If I were Winter, I would think it was pretty cool," said Krisi, a fourth-grader, "but it would be hard to adjust."