She has digitally bridged "Divides" through ThinkQuest contagiously engaging learning.
AUTHOR: Steve Feld
SCHOOL:
JOHN F. KENNEDY HIGH SCHOOL
99 Terrace View Avenue
Bronx, NY 10463
SUMMARY OF PROJECT:
As the ThinkQuest project Why is the Mona Lisa Smiling? nears the completion of its third year, its timelessly captivating 500 year old lengendary smile is more expansive than ever. Why? Over a three year period, through the ongoing efforts of John F. Kennedy High School students under the facilitation of coach Steve Feld; she has digitally bridged and dissolved various divides. Among these: digital, social, cultural, academic, linguistic and economic ones.
Digitally, the student team who originally created the Why is the Mona Lisa Smiling web site, dissolved international divides of geography and culture through being invited to submit questions and designs about the Miho Museum in Japan... /13681/data/museum/trees.htm
They also used these digital designs as the catalysts for crosscultural conversations with Japanese student peers.This OvationTV ArtsZone inspired project actively fostered JFK students' involvement in a global community of knowledge workers.
The original art/social sciences and language arts multidisciplinary thrust of the ThinkQuest project, original team members and the growing cadre of new students achieved multiple subject integration.
With the support of Social Studies and Art History teachers, they responded to and designed questions for Japanese peers.
Through the support of their Foreign Language instructors, during spring 2000 the students and Mr. Feld were pleased to respond to a Millenaire invitation (issued by Deborah Phelan - Millenaire's inspirerer) to become knowledge workers in an international translation project. This project focused on Multilingual translations of the MikSike Estonian Web Site to be done by students http://miksike.com/space/index_esp.html
JFK students produced requested eWorksheet translation of the material (space module) In addition to the translations they produced illustrations for these pages which were linked to other images by the students. Their work was shared through the MikSike Virtual Student Factory, a cyberspace knowledge workers/collective located in Estonia.
Not only did the the initial team of Mona Lisa web site student ongoing maintainers and new page designers expand into recruitment of student translators, but students initiated outreach to an Estonian student, 13 year old Sabena, who admired their work. She voluntarily translated into Russian of the Mona Lisa Morph page, and our scientific inquiry. /13681/data/rulink2.htm /13681/data/rusci.htm
Students delighted in being part of of a collaborative with an isolated digitally challenged third world partner on a low end of the divide.
In the process of working with peers from the lower end of the digital divide, John F. Kennedy High School, innercity disadvantaged students expanded their boundaries for learning, crosscultural conversation, and understanding the strata of technology around the world. As they worked with Estonian students in this virtual student factory, they dealt with addressing gaps of Gender, Geography and Race, in a real and authentic fashion. /13681/data/nyc/africa.htm
Through an outgrowth of their fascination with Leonardo and his Codex, JFK students examined ArtsZone produced videotape and created "Codex comes to Kennedy"
Prompted by OvationTV and their own study of Leonardo's Notebooks, as an expansion to their original ThinkQuest problem construct, JFK students compiled their own observation journals with delineated cause and effect schoolbased observations /13681/data/museum/codex.htm
The Codex study led JFK students to become interested in Leonardo's inventions and vision of the future.
One of his visions, his Bronze Horse Colossus. was realized in late spring 1999 by Japanese Artist Nina Akuma after Leonardo's model. The students and Mr. Feld were invited to the Tallix Foundary in Beacon New York to its unveiling. The students journeyed with Mr. Feld to document the event and digitally photograph the horse.
The New York Times carried its own photo of the event, but the JF Kennedy students' photographs grace their web site. /13681/data/links/flash.htm
Future follow-through of Leonardo was resonated again when the JFK students were invited by Ovation TV to participate on an Arthur C. Clarke project they instantly made the connection between Leonardo and Clarke's talent to envision the future. Indeed the students immediately linked Clarke and Leonardo's future vision in class discussion. This link was concretized through a wonderful computer graphics drawing in which one student placed Arthur's trademark glasses on Mona Lisa. /13681/data/links/clarke.htm
Technology served as a tool to literally "art"iculate learning.
Mona Lisa had served to engage students in an intensive case study of Leonardo as artist, futurist, scientist, inventor and writer. Students have linked him with a 20th century futurist as well. Leonardo was their Hero.
The My Hero web site was identified by several students on their daily internet search They wrote about their hero Leonardo for the web site.The writings were so rich and detailed that they were given a separate page and awarded Genius tshirts. Of course the team tshirt photo was placed on the page as well. /13681/data/links/hero.htm
With Leonardo as their Hero it is not surprising when Microsoft issued its challenge for students to design a web project predicting art in 2100; the JFK students immediately identified Mona Lisa as a pivotal masterpiece of art past and present. Their work on the project, including copyright and intellectual property issues, enriched, inspired and enabled their development of this new research challenge.
The new project functions as a broad multidiscipinary expansion of the original Leonardo Renaissance focused ThinkQuest project.
Since the students and their coach Steve Feld were "graduates" of the ThinkQuest experience they were able to use their scripting, Graphic Arts, Multimedia and web design expertise to craft a web site that drew on the original vision of the original "Why is the Mona Lisa Smiling?" project to encompass a broad study of art history past. Quizzes and rewards on ArtiFAQ 2100 reflect students' Mona experiences. /13681/nyc
Mona smiles as she traverses past present and future.
Her smile reflects the fact that although she was painted in 1506 she is the 20th century inspirer for students to forecast the world of 2100. Mona is confident that her smile and mystique will promote internet learning style, empower students to dissolve the boundaries of time and the Digital Divide through contagiously engaging internet style technology learning.