Resource of the month
Google and the Science Museum are conducting a fun online experiment in real time collaboration: Web Lab.
The Universal Orchestra is one of five installations at the Science Museum that can be controlled by anyone, from anywhere in the world, whether the museum is open or not!
Users can create music by controlling a collection of instruments in the Science Museum from their web browser (being a Google project, it works best using Google Chrome). The technology behind the project is explained here
Becoming part of the Orchestra could be a great end of term activity. Although it is generally necessary to queue to take a turn on the instruments you can listen to the efforts of others live while you wait, as people thousands of miles apart attempt to make music together. It is a great example of the potential of technology to connect people beyond borders, and to experiment and create in new ways.