General Information Project Overview

  Project Overview

500 years ago, one of the most beneficial discoveries emerged because of the efforts of one man. 500 years later, literally thousands of new discoveries have arisen due to the collaborative effort of many individuals. These have proven so effective that we can now proudly boast about our province and the technical advancement that it promotes. Cabot was totally amazed when he walked the shores of Newfoundland almost 500 years ago but for a moment let us reflect on the astonishment that awaits the return of The Matthew and her crew. Newfoundland has become one of the leading provinces in terms of technology and computer services. Let us hope that the crew has a PC aboard when they set sail this time. If for some reason they do not, they may feel left out.

Spectacular celebrations are planned for this one time event. The re-enactment of this historic discovery will begin forty-seven days of Cabot's exploration of our province. It has been 500 years since he last arrived. Wouldn't you want to see all that you could and compare it to the year 1497? However, plans have been set aside for Cabot and his crew to visit only seventeen ports of call. Organizers have not given any scheduled time for Cabot to make some new discoveries, especially the interior of our wonderful island. Cabot deserves the opportunity to see Newfoundland as it really is - a complete view of our inland communities, our wilderness, the beauty of our rivers and takes and the abundance of wildlife that he forgot to discover. All that m akes us a unique province and one of the most beautiful in the world. We need to make a provision so that ........

This project is intended for school age children to introduce John Cabot to their community. We have to make our communities accessible to his voyage, even though his time arrangement does not afford him the opportunity to visit us all. We must make pro visions so that Cabot can tap into one of our new discoveries and say "hello" to us. We propose that schools from various communities around the province create a homepage that would serve as a representation for their community. Students have an apprec iation for their community and would love to make it accessible on the internet. The main objectives of this project would be that:

1. Participants would be able to manipulate various means of research to find out val information about their community.

2. Participants should be able to use a variety of multimedia to display their community presentation.

3. Participants should be able to make a connection and raise an awareness to their community that it is a significant member of our provincial history.

4. Others can discover a means where by they can discover our province.

5. Participants would, along with others, communicate information and ask questions of interest about other communities around them.

6. Collaborative partnerships would be created as students gather information concemi their community, from various organizations and groups within the town.

Students would be the main organizers of this project, with guidance from a lead teacher. Using HTML, an appropriate homepage would be created to display their community.

Students would be asked to gather information about their community, while keeping in mind the purpose of each project is to create a community awareness of others. We must assume that our potential audience has never seen our community and that we want to attract them with the best possible interest level available.

The main gateway for this project will be the internet. Basically, it will have a two-fold purpose. First and foremost, it will provide a resource for participants to gather information about their community. But more importantly, it would be the essen tial provider for participants to share with others their projects and ideas. Other classes within a school could be a potential contributor, while other classes from other schools would provide the agency to compare communities. As a result, everyone w orks together to introduce our province to the world.

One of the main intentions of the project as stated in objective number six, is to promote involvement among as many parties as possible. This project has to be a collaborative effort of the students and resource facilities. Even though the community wo uld serve as the input of information, it will be the responsibility of the students to maintain a current homepage. In so doing, another objective will be reached in that other schools will do likewise and a sharing process will occur. All students inv olved will be learning from each other.

Participation will result in not only Cabot making wonderful new discoveries about our province, but most of the world, as we make each of our communities accessible through the internet. "Technology for today..... a gateway for the future"