School: Kamalii Elementary School
    Kihei, HI, USA

25 students, ages 8-10 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 14, 2003. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 1997, 1999, 2001

Classes and Teachers: Cyndi Rothdeutsch, Marilyn Gilbert

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.kamalii.k12.hi.us

1. Description of Our Community

Our community is the island of Maui and the state of Hawaii. Hawaii is an island state in the Pacific Ocean. We must learn to live with our limited available resources. We must also learn to be good guardians of the beauty of the islands and the surrounding waters. Hawaii is a popular vacation destination and we need to preserve the natural beauty that attracts the visitors to us.

2. Summary of Our Project

Our project focuses on the sea turtles that frequent the waters surrounding our island home. Primarily we look at the Green Sea Turtle. We look at the nesting and hatching of future generations, their migration patterns and the dangers that threaten our turtle populations. We have worked with our local ocean center and volunteers that monitor and track turtle nesting habits to help educate the public of the issues facing the sea turtles.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:4-6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

We fortunately did not face very many obstacles. In doing our research, our main obstacle was in the finding of conflicting facts regarding turtles. We resolved this with our students by having them do even more research. We asked them to either find information that supported one view or another, or in some instances to list facts such as measurements in a given range.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Our project has helped us to learn more about the sea turtles. It also allows us to show how we can use technology to communicate with people. We hope that our project will help to protect the sea turtles.

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

Our project covered curriculum in the areas of Science, Language Arts and Technology. Our students practiced research skills. They worked as a group to complete the various components of the project. The learned new skills in creating websites, animations and video. They practiced problem solving and explored using technology to present their ideas. Our students felt that presenting their information over the Internet with this project was more fun than traditional methods. They also liked that they could include images and video in their presentations.

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

The tools we used in completing our project were the telephone, computers, digital and video cameras, and the Internet. The most important tool was the computers, we needed them to conduct the research on the Internet, to write and create our web pages, and to create our animations and video clips. We used the digital and video cameras to obtain many of the images used on our project site. We even were able to capture still images from our video camera footage to include on our web pages. All of the tools that we needed were available to us in our computer lab at our school. The software that we used the most was AppleWorks, Claris Home Page, iMovie, HyperStudio and the Internet browsers.

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

Our students visited The Maui Ocean Center to learn more about the sea turtles. We worked with several Naturalists at the ocean center. Our students had already conducted some of their research and therefore were knowledgeable and were able to ask good questions. Our students were well mannered and represented our school well. We also worked with a local artist who shared more knowledge with our students. He appreciated the interest our students took in learning about the sea turtles.

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

Our project has not been up long enough for many members of the community to see it yet. However, we feel that it will help people understand more about the sea turtles and help to protect them from the nests found on the beach to the man-made dangers in the oceans.

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

Our main helpers were the naturalists at The Maui Ocean Center and Dale Zarrella, a local artist. We also received valuable information from Dr. Steven Williams and Mr. George Balasz, who provided us with information on turtle nesting, particularly nesting habits on Maui. We were able to use the technology we had at the school and our teachers were able to show us how to do the tasks we needed to accomplish.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

We were surprised by some of the facts that we found. Living in Hawaii, our students thought that they knew a lot about turtles before starting this project, but they learned so much more. We were surprised to learn from Dale Zarrella that all turtles have thirteen plates on their shell, we had not found that fact anywhere else in our researching. However, in looking back at our sources, particularly looking at the images, we found that to be true. We were surprised at how easy it was to create a great project using the facts and the technology that we have available to us here at our school.