Information About Our Site

1. Link to our CyberFair 99 Entry
2. Link to our School Home Page
3. Date of Project:Project undertaken throughout 1998 and is still active, final version completed March 27, 1999. This project is updated every year....2000, 2001.
4. School: St. Elizabeth Catholic School
   District: Ottawa-Carleton Catholic District School Board
   City: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
5. Teachers or Classes:
   Coordinator: Dalia Naujokaitis; Grade 4/5/6 students at St. Elizabeth School
6. How many students worked on this project? 25 students were in charge; about 110 contributed
7. Their ages were: 9-12
8. Project Contact Email: dalia@sympatico.ca

Project Overview

1. We entered our Web site in CyberFair Category:
   Community Groups and Special Populations
2. Description of "Our Community"
   Our community includes students, teachers, parents and members of the general public who are interested in promoting peaceful and positive action in helping to find solutions to real-world problems and issues.This community is both global and local.
3. Summary of Our Project
   Students Against Landmines is an interactive website that is not only an online resource created by students for students to learn about issues surrounding anti-personnel landmines, but also showcases activities undertaken by students world-wide, both in raising awareness on landmines and in devising campaigns to help raise funds to help demine schoolyards in Mozambique and Afghanistan. The project is a witness to the fact that when given a chance kids can make a difference in creating a better world.
4. Our Internet Access
   St. Elizabeth School is linked to the Internet via an ISDN/56KB connection. Backup access is provided through 1 telephone line and a 28.8 speed modem. Server space is available for school home pages through Bell Canada Sympatico Internet provider and the school board.
5. Problems We Had To Overcome
   Our greatest obstacle in completing the project was the contraints of time. The students involved in the project attend an enrichment program that meets for one day per week at St. Elizabeth School. This demands very tight planning and organization so that enough time is available for all aspects of the project. There has been great juggling of schedules and activities to make sure that the project was finished on time. To make the situation even more difficult our regular teacher, Ms. Naujokaitis was away on a conference in that last crucial week when there is ALWAYS some technical glitch just waiting to occur. We made it , but the pressure was unbelievable.
6. Our Project Sound Bite
   Kids can make a difference!

Project Elements

This section explains how your project addressed the project elements found in the CyberFair Assignment to Schools.

1) How did your activities and research for this International School CyberFair project support your required coursework and curriculum requirements?

Four major current events influenced the development of our project: the deaths of both Diana, Princess of Wales, and Mother Teresa; the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Jody Williams for her work on the landmine issue and the hosting in Ottawa, Canada of the Global Ban on Landmines Conference, spearheaded by Hon. Lloyd Axworthy, the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs. The concurrence of these events were powerful motivators for students to investigate the achievements of these leaders. The students were moved by the humanitarian issues of world peace, poverty and landmines that came to light as a result of their research. The horror of anti-personnel landmines, in particular, became a major concern for the students. They decided to do more than just learn all the facts. They wanted to do something that would make a difference for those affected by landmines. This was the beginning of Students Against Landmines. The website exists not only to provide an online resource for other students to learn about landmines, but also to serve as witness to the actions undertaken by students world-wide to address this issue.

One of the mandated requirements of the Ontario Curriculum is the integration of computer and information technology across all subjects areas. Our project in particular helped to develop and apply students' skills in information technology, research and writing, through the medium of Internet communications and publishing on a contemporary, real-world topic: landmines.

Throughout the project we learned and applied many skills. Since our research was being published for a "real audience", revisions and constructive criticism were accepted more willingly. We learned what teamwork was all about. Since this was a group project, we all had to rely on each other and everyone was expected to pull their own weight. We learned to work collaboratively and effectively with others on a common task:

Creating the web pages was a very demanding learning experience not only because we had to learn HTML and new graphic programs, but also because of the decisions we had to make as a group as to the design, structure and layout of the site. We believe that the resulting web pages created, written and illustrated by students for students will prove to be a resource that will educate both students and adults all over the world. We became not just the consumers of knowledge but also the creators.

2) What information tools and technologies did you use to complete your CyberFair project?

• Telecommunications: students were introduced to the conventions of netiquette, e-mail, downloading/uploading of files (Netscape, Eudora). Students belonged to the Landmines listserv that the United Nations Cyber School Bus ran.
• Internet Search Tools: students used the World Wide Web to find links and evaluate resources especially when they were creating the Treasure Hunt and compiling related online resources on landmines.
• HTML students were introduced to web page design and construction. A simple HTML editor was used so that students could see the source file and change it appropriately. Many of them became quite expert in using HTML tags. We also learned some Java through online tutorials.
• Graphics Utilities: students were introduced to Corel Photo Paint, Fractal Design: Painter 4, GIF Construction Kit (animated gifs) and LviewPro for illustrating web pages and converting files.
• Scanners and Digital camera: most of the photos on the website were taken by the students either using a digital camera or by scanning photos or drawings.

3) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

As participants in the Program for Gifted Learners, we come from 20 different schools in our school board. As part of the project, we researched and prepared presentations to teach other kids at our home schools the issues surrounding landmines. We connected with United Nations-sponsored Schools Demining Schools project, joined the online discussions that involved students, mine-experts, politicians and landmine survivors; began brainstorming ways to raise money to help the with demining school yards. Using the Internet, we researched the issue of anti-personnel landmines: the problem, the politics, the solutions. We designed, made and sold "Students Against Landmines" buttons to raise money to help demine school yards in Mozambique and Afghanistan. These buttons were sold not only in the schools, but in churches and shopping centres.

On the occasion of the Global Ban on Landmines Conference which was held in Ottawa, Mrs. Nane Annan, wife of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, and Her Excellence Diana Fowler LeBlanc, wife of the Governor-General of Canada visited our class to share their experiences with the landmine issue, while we conducted a virtual tour of our website and shared our action plans to help rid the world of landmines. All this is recorded on our website.

Then in the fall of 1998... more good news!!!

Students Against Landmines 1st place winner! International Society for Technology in Education 1998 SIG/Tel Online Learning Awards

One of the most heart-felt results of the project was the empowerment of kids - 9 to 11 year olds. Students felt they were part of a much bigger picture and when given a chance could make a difference in the world. The signing of the treaty to ban landmines is just the beginning. The BIG job of getting rid the world of landmines will take over 1000 years (according to the experts).

4) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

5) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

The technical staff at our school board supported us by making sure the network was up and running and holding our hand when the technology wasn't cooperating and FTP just didn't function. Thank you for fixing all those "bugs" and making technolgy just a bit easier to manage.

Thank you to Ms. Naujokaitis, our teacher, for her enthusiasm, dedication and sense of humour. There were times when we thought the project won't be finished on time. Her invaluable support with HTML tags and other techie stuff saved us many times.

Thank you to Canada's SchoolNet team for providing moral support and to their GrassRoots team for having confidence in our ability to undertake such a task.

Thank you to all the Internet community especially the folks at Mindworks Alchemy, Netscape who helped by providing excellent documentation for gif graphics construction and html issues.

A hugh thank you to all the folks that helped us with Java script and allowed us to "cut and paste" code to make our site more enjoyable:

• to Eric Harshbarger whose applets were easy to use and made our Interactive activities really move!
• to Joe Burns from HTML Goodies whose html and java tutorials are some of the best in cyberspace
• and snaglpuss@earthlink.net whose javascript made our homepage look "cool"
• Andrei Grigoriev for the applet in our wordsearch

6) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises