School: West Side Elementary
    Mauston, Wisconsin, United States

14 students, ages from 9 to 10 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 15, 2001. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2001

Classes and Teachers: Brandon Luehman

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.mauston.k12.wi.us

1. Description of Our Community

West Side Elementary is Mauston, Wisconsin, USA. Our school has about 400 students grades k-4. Mauston is the county seat in Juneau County. Juneau County is located in south central Wisconsin. Much of the landscape in our area can be attributed to the Ice Age. During this time Wisconsin was covered with glaciers which grew to be over a mile thick. It left behind rivers, bluffs and lakes. The earliest known people to this are are the Winnebago Indians, now called the Ho-Chunk. Today Juneau County is a rural area marked with several small towns. Many people visit our area to take advantage of our abundant wildlife whether it be to hunt and fish or just observe. Farming, cheese production and a military base employ many of the people in our area.

2. Summary of Our Project

Our project is about Juneau County and several of it's natural and man made attractions. We will share information on our bluffs, ancient writings, effigy mounds, cheese making, wildlife, Volk Field and farming.

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:more than 6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:4-6

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

West Side Elementary is linked to the internet through a T1 line. Each classroom has a cluster of three computers which have all the internet as well as a 23 station computer lab. 

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Each student was assigned a certain topic for our project. Some of the students were overwhelmed by the amount of information they found while others had a hard time finding enough. We also felt that it was hard to keep all of our information organized. The deadline also made things a bit of a struggle, but in the end we were able to pull it all together.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Our students enjoyed visiting and learning more about parts of our community that they would not otherwise have had the opportunity see.

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

Wisconsin State Standards require that students in fourth grade take a Wisconsin studies class. Choosing Juneau County as our topic gave students the chance to learn more about our local community which would not have been as thoroughly covered in the Wisconsin studies curriculum. Through this project students were exposed to new research techniques, new software and hardware, and also interaction with many different types of people. As a group we learned to work with and rely on one another. We also learned the benefit of having other people to share ideas with. We spoke with many people in our community about our project. They were very impressed with the idea of young students taking pride in the area we live in. It was even suggested that our official county page have a link on it to our site. Some of the places we covered in our site are summer attractions. Visiting them at this time of the year (winter) would not have been very helpful. However, with the internet we were able to experience these places through virtual reality. Much of the information on our site was found using internet.

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

The tools we used to complete our Cyberfair project included: 23 computers, telephones, tv, video and digital cameras, computer software, libraries, books, newspapers, and oral interviews. These tools played different roles in helping us complete our project. We used books, newspapers, interviews, libraries and telephones to help us gather our information. However, we did have a representative from our local newspaper visit and she brought along a copy of each issue from the last year. Students were then able to scan the papers for helpful information. Once the information was gathered we used our computers, software and digital cameras to help us begin putting our site together. Many of these tools were found here at our school. The three most valuable tools we used were books, interviews and the telephone. Books and brochures helped us gather facts about Juneau County. Our interviews gave us first hand experience to help us learn how things work. The telephone allowed us to get permission from different business to use information from their brochures and websites for our project. The digital cameras helped to make our website a first hand experience for those that visit.

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

Our students had a lot of person to person contact. We were able to visit most of the places we covered. This allowed the students to show our community how interested they are in our community. At many place we visited our hosts were overwhelmed by the number of questions the kids would ask. They were very patient with us and very, very helpful. Nearly every business or entity we were in contact with has asked us to get in touch with them so they can see our final project. Some were as excited as we were because they do not yet have information about themselves on the internet. We were very impressed with how friendly they were to us and how willing they were to help in anyway they could. This project helped to create a strong bond between the school and our community.

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

At the present time our county does not have a website that gives information about its major attractions. Our current site gives factual information. If the county does decide to link to our site people who are looking to visit or move to the area would have a better understanding of the type of community we have. We have contacted all the community members that helped us out. Hopefully, they will share this information about our site with other people. In the coming weeks our newspaper is going to publish an article about it. It will also be published in our school newsletter.

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

We can not say THANK YOU enough to the people that helped us out! Thank you to Miss Powers for the great art work that is found on our home page. Thank you to Jody Kibler from the Star Times for bringing newspapers for research and for the article that is going in our local newspaper. Thank you to Al Boothby at Volkfield who set up our tour. Also, thank you to the men and women at Volkfield and Hardwood who answered all our questions, set up the training and asked the fighter pilots for a special fly by. Thank you to Carr Valley cheese for letting us tour their cheese factory and for letting us sample different types of cheese. Thank you to the Necedah Wildlife Refuge, Noahs Ark Water Park, Kalahari Resort, and the Dells Boat Tours for send us brochures and information about their business. Also, thank you for access to pictures on your web sites. Thank you to New Lisbon Chamber of Commerce for the information and location of effigy mounds. Thank to the Mauston Chamber of Commerce and the Juneau County Court House for their help. Thank you to Victoria's parents for taking her to get digital pictures of the petrographs. And last but not least thank you to the teachers for providing us with time, information and encouragement to help complete this project.