School: St. Elizabeth Catholic School
    Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

80 students, ages 9-11 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 21, 2003. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 1999, 2000,2001,2002

Classes and Teachers: Dalia Naujokaitis and students from 15 schools in Ottawa

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.occdsb.on.ca/~sel/

1. Description of Our Community

St. Elizabeth Catholic School is located in the heart of Canada's capital, Ottawa. It is an inner city school serving a community diverse both in cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. We are a mini United Nations. The school through its commitment in preparing students for the global society encourages not only the mastery of the tools of information technology, but also promotes understanding, tolerance and respect for diverse cultures that make up the fabric of Canada. Our community in that sense embraces all of our country, all the people who have contributed to making Canada the country it is today.

2. Summary of Our Project

Our website will showcase Canadian heroes and heroines- past, present and future from various backgrounds, of different ages, professions and fields of endeavour. The project will encourage students in Canada to reflect upon the traits and characteristics of people who have made a difference, who have excelled in their field of endeavour or have made a contribution to the Canadian or global community. This website will not only be an educational resource for students to learn more about Canadian contributions or Canadian "greats", but it will also provide a multi-media electronic library of student?chosen role models who can inspire kids to all be heroes and heroines, to strive high and be the best they can be.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:21-50%

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:4-6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

One of our greatest challenges in working on this project was learning how to work as a team. Imagine our frustration when some of our peers deleted and overwrote files so we had to do it over...or when we couldn't agree on colours for text and background for our pages...or when we couldn't get the computer to do what we wanted it to. We overcame these obstacles with teamwork and combining all our knowledge of computers to help each other.

We also had a hard time agreeing on what makes up a hero or a heroine. Many of us at first thought that heroes are those who perform heroic acts. But through discussion and lots of thinking we decided that the most broad definition of heroes should be used in our website.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Working together on a common goal, with everyone contributing to their best ability and at the end creating a website that can be shared by millions has been terrific for building friendships and community.

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

Curriculum outcomes/expectations from the Ontario curriculum which will be the foundation of this project.

· Social Studies-Develop Inquiry/Research Skills: through participation in an inquiry-based WebQuest students will locate/analyze/categorize/evaluate relevant information and significance of Canadian contributions to the global community through the use of a variety of primary sources (e.g., interviews, speakers) & secondary sources (e.g.print materials, videos, Internet,CD-ROMs) · Applying Concepts and Skills in various Contexts: the student-created "Gallery" through text and graphics will showcase Canadian men and women from various backgrounds who have made outstanding contributions to the global community through dance, sports, music, literature, art, science, and technology, humanitarism, peacekeeping, peacemaking. · Communication Skills: students will use computer programs to compile, organize and store the data they gather; to write reports electronically in which they present their findings through the creation of a multi-media website celebrating Canadian heroes and heroines · Group Skills: use constructive strategies in small group discussion to negotiate agreement in decision making and problem?solving activities (eg: collaboratively planning, designing; building a website) · Writing: organize information to convey a central idea, using well-developed paragraphs that focus on a main idea and give some relevant supporting details. this will be demonstrated on the website through the student-created "Gallery" where Canadian Heroes and Heroines are highlighted not only through factual information, but also through students' understandings of what constitutes heroism and greatness.

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

Multimedia: we used RealPlayer and RealPlayer Producer to create audio files, wav files for sound effects Java Applets: we used lots of java applets courtesy of Eric Harshbarger to create our interactive activities and cool effects: concentration, sliding puzzles, wordsearches. Telecommunications: we used e-mail to contact websites and people for permissions to use their resources. Internet Search Tools: we used the World Wide Web to find links, do research and evaluate resources for creating interactive activities. HTML: At the beginning we were newbies in using HTML. By the end of the project we were using Claris Homepage with no problems whatsoever. Graphics Utilities: we used Corel Photo Paint, Ulead Photo Impact and Ulead Animator to make title banners and graphics on the website, Scanners and Digital camera: most of the photos on the website were taken by the students using a digital camera or by scanning photos

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

"Canadian Heroes and Heroines" has been instrumental in connecting students not only in the 15 schools that participated in this project but also hundreds of students across Canada. Since our project has been selected as exemplar by Canada's Schoolnet GrassRoots program, we received lots of e-mail, many virtual visits and enquiries from other students who were also researching Canadian contributions to our own or the global community. Our website made visitors question their idea of heroism and the qualities of character that are associated with heroism. The students ended up writing and recording their "hero rap" as an invitation to everyone to follow their recipe and become a hero by doing their best at whatever they pursue. We thought we were being the best ambassadors by creating a multi-media electronic library of student chosen role models who can inspire kids to all be heroes and heroines, to strive high and be the best they can be. And our invitation is not only extended to Canadians but all students across the world to pursue the excellence of which they are capable and become future heroes and heroines.

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

The website has become a resource both for teachers and students for identifying outstanding contributions of Canadians of all ages, from various backgrounds to the global community through dance, sports, music, literature, art, humanitarism, science, and technology. The site has also been instrumental in helping our community- students, teachers and the general public- to look beyond the stereotype definition of hero. Visitors can reflect on the traits and characteristics of people who have made a difference in other peoples lives or in their field of endeavour. Our "Gallery" not only highlights "heroes" and "heroines" through factual information, but also presents students' understandings of what constitutes heroism and greatness. The project has been chosen by Canada's Schoolnet GrassRoots program as an exemplar of online project-based learning. Also we will be presenting it at the Nortel Networks Young Entrepreneur Showcase and at a regional fair sponsored by Heritage Canada.

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

We had many helpers across the Internet who were our guides in this adventure...those excellent websites that provided us with awsome information and the people - our heroes and heroines- that we interviewed either by telephone, e-mail or face-to-face. There were many people that helped us.

The technical staff at our school board supported us by making sure the network was up and running and holding our hand when the technology wasn't cooperating and FTP just didn't function. Thank you for fixing all those "bugs" and making technolgy just a bit easier to manage.

Thank you to Ms. Naujokaitis, our teacher, for her enthusiasm and sense of humour. There were times when we thought the project won't be finished on time. Her invaluable support with HTML tags and other techie stuff saved us many times.

Thank you to Canada's Schoolnet and their GrassRoots Program team for having confidence in our ability to undertake such a project and complete it sucessfully.