1. CyberFair 98 Entry
CyberFair School Home Page
2. Project Date: April 6, 1998
3. Philadelphia Elementary School
Loudon County
Philadelphia Tennessee, U.S.A.
4.Teacher: Mr. Patrick Wright
5. 7 students worked on this project.
Their ages were:12-14
6.Project Contact Email:
wrightp01@ten-nash.ten.k12.tn.us
1.We entered our Web site in CyberFair Category:
Historical Landmarks
2.Description of "Our Community"
Really, I could describe our community in one word:Mayberry. For those of you who have seen the old Andy Griffith show, that is about what our community is like.We have a small,friendly community of about 400. Everyone helps one another out, the people are very nice, and everyone knows everyone else by name . We have no serious crimes and this is a very safe community.We all feel very fortunate to live in this small, safe community where everyone cares about you.
3.Summary of Our Project
Our project is about our town and its historical landmarks. We are interviewing many people who lived way back when and looking through many old scrapbooks and pictures to find out more about our town. We hope to have a deeper understanding of our community at the completion of this project.
4.Our Internet Access:
ISDN
5.Problems We Had To Overcome
We had to find time during our hectic schedules to come and prepare this project. We found this time during our basketball practice time (the season is over) and before Mr. Wright's classes in the mornings. Also we had a few people who were not well aquainted with the Internet or a computer, so that presented a small problem. We spent the first few day's teaching them how to use the computer and it's many function's. One of the major historical landmarks we visited did not record on our tape recorder.Fortunately, our school's video photographer, Mr..Bud,was there taping it and we recorded the sound off of that. (The funny thing is outside the house it recorded. Mrs.. Maddox say's sometimes she hears unexplainable noises in the house, like mirrors falling off the wall and shattering. There will be nothing broken, of course. Sometimes she sees glowing blue balls floating in the air. We have decided the reason the tape did not tape was because a ghost did not want to be recorded.)
6.Our Project Sound Bite
It has meant a great deal to all the community of Philadelphia. We are glad that we are finally telling our history about this fascinating community to the rest of the world.
1.How did your activities and research for this International School CyberFair 97 project support your required course work and curriculum requirements?
It adds to our history curriculum, adds new skills to our computer training, gives us a deeper understanding of the community, which is important here at P.E.S.
2.How did this project fit into your required school, district, or state curriculum guidelines.
As I said above, it adds to our understanding of local history and enriches our computer skills.
3.What new skills did you learn?
We learned how to scan, use the digital camera, type faster, post things on the Internet, and ask questions that would get us a lot of information.
4.What group concepts did you practice?
We practiced teamwork, of course, which is a skill we will use all of our lives and we learned how to better communicate our ideas.
5.How do you better understand specific ideas?
We go over an idea again and again until we really understand it, that way we won't forget it anytime soon.
6.How does your project fit into the requirements for your school or class?
In our computer class we are taking an ongoing course on the Internet and this will help us learn more of the skills we will need in the future.
7.What discoveries did you make about your educational system? About the role you play in your school,community?
I already knew this was a close knit community and school system, and this project really reminded me of that. Everyone is willing to help and support us that it makes our project so much easier.I learned we really play an important role in our school and community because we are the leaders of the future.
8.Has using the Internet for teaching and learning been more effective than traditional methods? If so, explain?
Yes, because it is more efficient and less time consuming because everything you need is just a click away, and it is easier to remember because it is hand's on learning.
9.What information tools and technologies did you use to complete your CyberFair project?
We used telephones, video, digital and still cameras, scanners, tape recorders, books, the museum, oral interviews, and old scrapbooks and letters.
10.How did these tools help you?
It cut down on time ALOT.We didn't have to take notes during interviews, we didn't have to manually type in all our book sections and newspaper articles, and the scrapbooks gave us references to people we had not even thought of that might have information.
11.Where did you locate each tool?
Most of the tools we used were at the school as far as technology, and the scrapbooks and letters came from elderly people in the neighborhood.
12.Were any tools donated by businesses or schools?
Almost all the technology things were bought on a grant from the state school system, so I guess that qualifies as donated.
13.What were your most valuable tools? Why?
Probably our tape recorder and our old scrapbooks and letters. Our tape recorder save us alot of time during the interviews.We could really pay attention to the speaker and not worry about taking notes.Our scrapbooks and letters helped us find sources we would not have thought of on our own.
14.Which technologies were the most helpful? How?
Our scanner, no contest. We did not have to type in all the book sections and newspaper articles that we used. We could just scan them in and go back and correct them if neccesary.That saved a lot of time.
15.Be sure and tell any unique or unusual ways your students used information tools and technologies.
On one of our historic sites we had a still camera, a digital camera, a video camera, a tape recorder, and we also had a written report on it , so on that one site we used just about all of our technologies.
Limit your comments to less than 300 words. If you have a compelling story to tell, then create a Web page as part of your project pages and make a link here.
We used computers scanners, computers, old scrapbooks from people in the community, books from people in the community, people came in and talked to us about what it was like when they were little kids growing up in Philadelphia.
16.In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person?
We tell the people what they want to know about Philadelphia.
Are people impressed with the work that you are doing? How did they tell you they are impressed?
We first of all contacted people in all those different ways. People came in and talked to us about Philadelphia and we recorded them. We will be publishing our book , and we also have had several request to buy our book. When we asked people to come in and talk to us they got excited.
17.What has been the impact of your project on your community?
I think the community was thrilled that we were doing the history of this community. The whole town of Philadelphia has helped us in preparing for this project.
I think that the community is really starting to get involved in school activities. Our relationship within the community has grown stronger everyday.
Questions to Consider
How has your project made a difference?
We are so excited that we are learning things that we did not know before. It is so awesome.
What is unique about your presentation within your community?
It is the first time anyone has ever tried to use technology to document the history of this community.
Have people in your community learned new things through your Web pages?
Yes, they have learned alot.
Have other people around the world learned new things about your community?
We hope so.
Have you established some new working relationships with people in the community?
Yes we have talked to several people we have never actually had the chance to sit down and talk to.
Who besides you and your students has looked at your Web pages?
We have heard several people talking about how good our Web pages are so they must have been on our Web pages.
What kind of feedback have you received?
Everyone has told us they really enjoyed our work ,and they are proud of us for doing this project.
How has your Web site helped them?
They have learned quite alot I think. They seemed to have.
5.How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?
We called and asked people if they had history of Philadelphia, if so they came to the school and we recorded their history or we went to their house. We also called Mrs. Maddox, who owns the old Lenoir House, she took us on a tour of her house. We learned and saw some neat things!
All we needed was 1 teacher and help from our community. Some parents of the kids who worked on the team helped us out also.
Tell about your helpers: who they were, how you found and asked them, how they helped. This is a great place to give them a great big thanks. You can even link their stories to some pictures if you have them. (Be sure you have their permission to publish their pictures first, however.)
We would like to thank Mrs. James Harrison for helping us gather information. Mrs. Leroy Mattox for letting us tour her home and telling us stories. Mrs. John Everett for articles and pictures. Mr. Ed Waller for loaning us pictures. Mrs. Henderson for loaning us old scrapbooks. Ms. Billy and Mellisa Davidson for pictures and some stories.
6.Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises
* Optional Question 6: Were there interesting discoveries you made, lessons you learned, or surprises that occurred as a result of this project? If so, take the time to share these insights and observations with your audience.
International Schools CyberFair 97 Winners