Learning About Leonardo

Fascinated with the world of Leonardo DaVinci? This site developed as a ThinkQuest project by inner City students in the Bronx, New York, has spurred interest around the globe.
BY STEVE FELD
April Issue- Download PDF File

Although inner city John F. Kennedy Bronx High school students under the able coaching of Steve Feld developed the Mona Lisa website as a Thinkquest High School project, it has evolved in its ongoing two and a half year history into a virtual enchantment mine of K-12 contagiously engaging educational opportunities and experiences. Interestingly, although some of these k-12 and particularly, K-6 Mona educational opportunities are Mona MOO--Multiple Outreach Options-- were developed by the John F. Kennedy High School team; many of them were suggested by the primary, elementary, middle school student visitors themselves and their parents through guestbook entries, personal E-mails to team members and Mr. Feld, and digital postcards.

As the Mona Lisa website student team and Mr. Feld map the multiple literacy educational activity possiblities here are a few of the innumerable easily infusible ones separated according to grade levels:

K-3

- Students can create a Mona Lisa pop up picture book either sharing the story of Mona Lisa being painted by Leonardo as Lillian Schwartz sees it or as Rina Di Firenze sees it ( with the help of a teacher or parent who will share these researchers' story ideas). These creations can be digitally photographed and shared as electronic art as part of the guestbook or on a special page on the site. They can also become part of a classroom Mona/Leonardo pop up story section with other pop up books focused on Leonardo's music, the story of his horse, and Leonardo's notebooks.

- Young children can learn spacial directions and also how to follow spoken directions by clicking the Vitruvian Man imagemap. They might then quiz one another and see if they can click on the correct arm of the Vitruvian man.

- Children can create their own musical and digital postcards in 23 different languages to invite their friends and family to visit the website or ask a question on Mona and wait for a postcard reply.

- Children can create their own graphic or hand drawn illustrations and /or lyrics in English for Leonardo's music.

- Children may want to rival the Nat King Cole Mona Lisa song by creating their own song to share the mystery of Why is the Mona Lisa Smiling?

- Children can create Mona Lisa website inspired puppetry presentations with hand held or popsicle stick puppets sharing the mystery of the Mona Lisa portrait . They may wish to videotape these puppetry presentations and /or audiotape them for uploading to the site.

- Children may also wish to create Mona Lisa website toys and souvenirs to be exhibited in a classroom Mona Lisa Website museum i.e. Mona Lisa doll, Leonardo easel, Leonardo paint brush, Leonardo notebooks, Leonardo horse models, Mona Lisa toothpaste, a souvenir tee shirt, student designed Mona Lisa postcards, "Mona Lisa Not Just for Adults Only" poster etc.

Grades 4-6

- Children may want to examine the Mona Lisa portrait itself and/or the fictional story explanation of Rina De Firenze which suggests that the Mona Lisa portrait was one of Leonardo's mother. They may want to create a monologue for Mona where she tells her story and reveals why she is smiling.

- Students may want to read either on their own or with a parent and/or teacher, Lillian Schwartz's explanation of Mona Lisa's identity. They should be encouraged to generate at least six questions raised by this explanation (i.e. questions about a prequel, a sequel, omitted characters or personalities in the story, omitted events, other story angles etc.) This list of questions could be kept in the class as a list of Mona Lisa Gaps (semiotic theory).

- Students could be challenged to select from these Gaps that they themselves have generated and author their own Answers based on available evidence and their own creativity. Both the Gaps and the Answered Gaps could be sent to the website team for inclusion on the website.

- Students can use the website components i.e. site map, guestbook, postcards, interactive quiz, research perspectives from the field, artist/inventor drawings/writings, dispatches, upcoming museum exhibit notices etc., as models for creating their own websites on key inventors/ multiply talented leaders in American history-. A wonderful choice for grades 4-6 would be websites focused on the many achievements and talents of either Ben Franklin or Thomas Jefferson. Indeed, Thomas Jefferson who is now a figure of controversy and admiration, was also an architect, musician, author, and romantically involved gentleman. Focus on his multiple talents, interests and ideas would yield an exciting rich web site.

- Students might also want to use the website to identify parallel classes on parallel grades in other countries who have signed the guestbook and respond to those national and international distanced peers comments on the website as either guestbook entries or by writing to the student peers directly via E-mail.

- Students might also movie, TV and CD Rom scout the website, i.e. they could examine the website to see what pages of it could serve as resources for either a television /feature film on Leonardo and Mona, a potential animation series, or an interactive CD Rom/Game. They could create their own proposals for adapting the website/transforming it to these other media formats. The proposals could be sent to the website team and perhaps to even to Dreamworks. Who knows--todays students, tomorrows Chris Carters, Bill Gates, or Steven Speilbergs!

- Students could use the website to author a biography or autobiography of Leonardo. They would select different website pages and expalin how they would use these pages for parts of the biography or autobiography. They could use his notebooks to get some of his own quotes or imagine his ideas based on the evidence on the site.

Grades 7-12

- Students could create a Powerpoint Presentation expressing their personal pespective on the most successful and most plausible theory presented on the website about Mona Lisa's identity. Peers in the class could evaluate their presentation for effectiveness and for degree of forceful argument on behalf of a given position.

- Students can research the links in specific content areas and either identify new ones for a content or subject area or evaluate the amount of useful, pertinent information and its presentation on any given link. Students can also identify links which no longer work or links that should be added to the list.

- Students can create a Leonardo world tour travel brochure with virutal stops around the world where online visitors can learn about Leonardo or visit exhibits/libraries dedicated to him and his many works.

- Students can advertise and design banners in various languages to invite visitors from around the world to the Leonardo site. They also should create an advertising campaign including computer graphics, hand drawn posters, digital photography and with specific approaches for various age, special needs, and business/recretational populations( i.e. senior citizens, hearing impaired, younger children, bilingual children, music lovers etc.)

- Cross cultural reviewers, critics, and discussants--- students should examine the guestbook for entries from students of other cultures and create a dictionary of other language and varying cultural positive expressions/commentary made about Leonardo and other slang cultural expressions of admiration. Students can also analyze and comment on cultural reaction to the site and its representation of various age groups and special needs populations.

- Students and parents/unrelated adults/older siblings, over 21, can visit the site as a team and design a family tour of the site. they can submit this to the site team for potential use on the website.

- Students may wish to create a preK-3 storybook guide or special guide/ version of the site just for younger children. Challenge them to send in suggestions and models for these pages to the team.

The Mona Lisa website, parallelling Leonardo's legendary portrait itself continues to fascinate and provoke teacher and learner commentary, participation, and creativity. The Mona Lisa website student team and its advisor , Steve Feld, invite teachers, students and families to contribute to the ongoing multiple literacy Mona uses of educational enchantment. Mona moves on . . . /13681

AUTHOR: Steve Feld

SCHOOL:

JOHN F. KENNEDY HIGH SCHOOL
99 Terrace View Avenue
Bronx, NY 10463