Pathways and Perspectives to Learning About Leonardo
Last updated:
October 10, 2000
Introduction to the tour Pathways and Perspectives to Learning About Leonardo will take the visitor through two researchers perpective views on the identity of the Mona Lisa model, additional research links on da Vinci and Mona Lisa, visitors contributions from the field, digital multilingual musical greeting cards, interactive quiz, and our guestbook. Our guestbook has been signed each day for over 17 months
What's New?
What's NewOur tour was developed as a result of winning the GII US Semifinalist Award in Education.
Our Site is accessible to all browsers and require no special pluggins.
- STOP 1
Homepage We begin our tour at the Why is the Mona Lisa Smiling? Homepage. The scrolling message welcomes all visitors to our interactive arts driven web site which explores the mystery behind the smile, and features original music composed by Leonardo da Vinci. Site is programmed to be accessible to all. By clicking on the Vitruvian hands you are transported to various components of this ambitious student collaboration. Image mapping allows you to click on the graphic to provide the link for users with newer browsers. A text menu is provided for older browser users. The easiest way to navigate the site is by using the jumpbox or site map found below. This will bring you through our project components: By clicking on the first hand, visitors can discover a dozen da Vinci diversions through random research. The second hand brings you to the morphing of Leonardo da Vinci to the Mona Lisa. The third hand click will allow you to hear the original music score composed by Leonardo da Vinci. The fourth link allows you to learn about the research of Dr. Lillian Schwartz.
Leonardo Links presents a baker's dozen of delightful diversions which relate to da Vinci on the web. All were carefully researched and selected for their design and content. Visitors are greeted by the spinning compass. Clicking the compass will randomly link to one of the dozen resources found on this page as a surprise discovery. To see the site credits, click on the spinning globe. To see our Partners' Pages click the link below the table.
Why is the Mona Lisa Smiling? A question pondered for nearly 500 years is explored through this Internet inquiry by my multiethnic students using 15 year old computers. Using a DOS-based program called RMorf (cost $1), students morphed the self-portrait of da Vinci with the famous painting. This collaboration resulted in the Morphing of Mona Lisa. This project is based on the research of Dr. Lillian Schwartz, a computer graphics pioneer. Her theory proposes that da Vinci painted himself in the painting.
As our project evolves and we collect additional verifiable data, we add new theories of the mystery of the smile. Contributions from the field will bring you to this link.
Since our site was featured on RadioNet's Human Factor on January 8, we provide a link to hear this broadcast.
The Da Vinci Dispatch link gives our visitors a gallery glimpse of da Vinci on display.
Leonardo Lecture link will give visitors a chance to hear a live library lecture which may be coming to their town.
An interactive guestbook link as well as a Site Survey link is provided for visitors to leave their feedback and reaction to our project.
Our Da Vinci Dissemnation process for our school project at the AT&T Make It Work conference and at the School Tech Expo in NYC can be found at this link.
Read about our research and comparision between the theories of Dr. Lillian Schwartz and Rina de Firenze through the Scientific Inquiry link.
Did you know that da Vinci wrote music? As a result of intensive research, students collected, transcribed and digitized the melody and provide a wav and midi version. This da Vinci score is an Internet exclusive. Page is accessible to the hearing impaired. Hand signing and sign language animations welcome these visitors.
For older browser users, there is a non-frames version of this page.
Links are provided for participants to create and send a digital musical postcard, in one of 17 languages, or take an online quiz with any browser. A reward is given for a perfect score.
They may also create their own quiz for their friends to try out as well.
Learning about Dr. Lillian Schwartz offers extensive information about the researcher and innovator who inspired this student project.Links are provided to her homepage to learn more about her work and a press release about her contributions.
Permission was secured from those who own the copyrights to the graphics on display.
The creative collaborators are presented on this page with their responsibilities highlighed.
Email links are provided to the coaches and students to allow direct communication with the makers of this site. A link is also provided to our award winning John F. Kennedy High School Website.
Visitors may wish to download free software to help them build their web page. Links to compress graphics, image mapping, creating transparent backgrounds and animation shareware programs are provided here, and a link to secure free web space. Click on this link to bring up the Da Vinci Directory window.
Visitors may also add or view our guestbook
There are thirty-three pages to our guestbook containing comments from visitors from 45 countries and 43 states across America. Our guestbook has been signed each day, every day since August 23rd. Over Sixteen full months. Schools libraries, universities, cultural institutions, museums, professors and school children add their feedback and reactions to our site. Many leave their email links and provide links to their web site homepages.
Links to all our Guestbook Pages can be found at the bottom of the page.
We are delighted and honored to receive over 200 awards and distinctions from international foundations, corporations and institutions for content, design and navigation. We are grateful for this recognition and acknowledgement. A chart displays all the countries and states our guestbook signees represent. A link to our Trophy Room reveals what our benevolent award givers had to say about our site. A link to our Gems and Highlights Page, through the Trophy room, gives our visitors a view of our additional citations. We have recently added da Vinci Diamonds and the Vitruvian Vault to hold additional awards and distictions. More Awards for Mona, Highlights Mona Memories holds our Latest distinctions.
We hope you enjoyed our brief tour introducing and showcasing the experiences, accomplishments, key components, facets, and dimensions of our project. My multiethnic students would appreciate your feedback. Here is your opportunity to sign our guestbook. Thank you for taking the time to review our site. Your comments would be inspirational to my students who created this web site using computers without the benefit of Windows, a mouse or hard drives.
It serves as an exemplary scaleable model of the ways in which visitors can investigate multiple perspectives and viewpoints of a given complex problem construct and/or enigma.
Educators can use this site as a pilot module for multidisciplinary, Internet interactive curricula models.
In recognition of our educational achievements, the following partners have featured our site as a definitive da Vinci resource:
The Getty Art Museum's Digital Experience as part of their cultural Tour-o-Rama. San Francisco's Museum of Art and Science, and the Franklin Institute also features our project.
The Seattle Art Museum's Leonardo Lives. The Global SchoolNet Foundation has selected our site for the Teachers' Choice and the Well Connected educator has published three articles about our site. MidLink Magazine as a catalyst for soliciting International student collaborators also is featuring our site.
Please visit our Partners' Pages.
Here is our Site Survey. Visitors are encouraged to leave their thoughts and opinions in regard to how they would like to see us expand this project and ways in which to improve our efforts. They are also given the opportunity to evaluate our project and tell us how they came to our site.
This quiz is a java script which scores and tabulates the number of correct answers after participant answers three questions. A reward is given for a perfect score.
Quiz for older Browsers For users of older browsers we provide a CGI Perl script version of the same quiz. Any score places you in the Hall of fame daily listings. which includes an opportunity to leave an email link.
STOP 13 Leonardo's Bronze Horse See the 24 foot Horse designed by Leonardo da Vinci. Read about Charles Dent who made Leonardo's Dream a Reality.
STOP 14 ArtiFAQ 2100 Visit our latest addition to our site which achieved First Place in the Microsoft Challenge.
STOP 15 Rina de Firenze Stop 16Rina de Firenze, noted author and historian comes to our site with news of her new book The Mystery of the Mona Lisa, and her library lecture.
Links are provided to read the comments of the readers of her book and to Amazon Books where she is being featured.
Here you will also Find Curricula Resource Links to English, Social Studies, Math , Business Education, Health links and
Site Map Here you will find the 36 main categories of our project.
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