School: Clarenville High School
    Clarenville, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

6 students, ages 16 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 3, 2009. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2009

Classes and Teachers: Mr. Winter, Mr. Davidson and the Cyberfair Team!

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.chs.k12.nf.ca

1. Description of Our Community

Rich with history, culture and natural beauty. All these wonders have been here for thousands of years, embraced by those who happened upon them. We feel that around every bend in Newfoundland and Labrador, you will feel serenity, see beautiful sights and experience a playful breeze that will help your journey.

In our project, you will be introduced to our home, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Our school is located in Clarenville, NL a town of six thousand. Clarenville is located in a narrow strip between the coastal ridge and the sea. We have the deepest, most sheltered, ice-free port on Newfoundland's east coast.

Here, we routinely catch a glimpse of icebergs, whales, birds and wildlife. Our project will focus on a historical landmark located in our capital city, St. John's, however we consider our local community to be the entire province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

2. Summary of Our Project

If you ask anyone in Newfoundland what one of the most recognizable landmarks in the province was, they will probably tell you Signal Hill, or more specifically, Cabot Tower. Our inaugural CyberFair project will focus on this historic site.

Cabot Tower was built in 1897 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's discovery of Newfoundland, and Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. In 1901, Marconi received the first trans-Atlantic wireless message at a position near the tower, the letter 'S' in Morse Code sent from Cornwall, England.

Cabot Tower is now the centre of the Signal Hill National Historic Park, Canada's second largest historic park, with walking trails, and an interpretation centre where the visitor can hear very interesting stories about the area. Hikers will be rewarded with spectacular views of the city, the harbour, and the ocean. We feel that this is a worthy first project and a great introduction to an important landmark in our province.

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: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):

At Clarenville High School we are blessed with numerous connections to the Internet in a wireless environment.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

The biggest obstacle our CyberFair team had to overcome was the fact that none of us could build a webpage! To this end, we worked with our Physics teacher, Mr. Winter, and he was able to give us the coaching we needed to create a basic webpage design as per contest rules. It was a great learning experience and by working together, we got the job done!

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Participating in CyberFair has allowed us to realize that we are not alone as a school and that we are a part of something much larger, and exciting, than we realized before. The sheer number of interesting projects we reviewed was simply amazing and humbling for us.

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

In addition to learning to work together as a team to create a project, we also learned a lot about Signal Hill and the Cabot Tower. The information we studied had a lot to do with Canadian History and not only fulfilled the required curriculum, it exceeded it! We learned that all other technologies in the world basically sprung from Marconi and his use of wireless communication. We now truly realize what an important role our area of the world played in a globally life-changing event. We also learned a lot about using the Internet to research and create a project. This was an amazing experience and one we will never forget.

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

The information tools and technologies we used to complete our CyberFair project were as follows: 1) E-Mail to coordinate info for the website 2) The Internet to search for and store information 3) ACEHtml to design our web page 4) Digital Camera to take pictures 6) Printers and 7) library books for further reading.

The Internet was by far our most valuable tool as it allowed us to research and catalog information vital to the creation of our CyberFair Project.

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

In addition to contacting our local newspaper (The Packet) to share our project, we also did some outreach with the Heritage Society to learn more about the background of wireless transmissions in our town and Newfoundland, with an emphasis on Signal Hill. We also touched base with the Signal Hill Historical society and received a lot of valuable assistance. Additionally, we have all been to Signal Hill during our lives and are familiar with the site.

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

Our project was chosen to represent our area in the Education Week section of our local newspaper. This introduced our project to our immediate town and project. This was quite exciting for us and for our community! In addition, we feel our project will make a difference to our province in that to the best of our knowledge, we are the first school from Newfoundland and Labrador to enter a CyberFair competition. Once other students from here are exposed to our website, it should encourage them to also enter the contest and share more of our province with the world. To this end, I think that in addition to providing new insights into Signal Hill and The Cabot Tower, we will also motivate other schools in Canada to get involved.

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

Mr. Winter, our Physics teacher, was a great help with teaching us webpage design and Mr. Davidson, our CyberFair teacher-mentor, really helped us out a lot as well with the organization of the project and ensuring we met deadlines on time. This was so much fun!

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

The most interesting discovery we made had to do with the ghost stories widely believed to be true surrounding Signal Hill. This was a very interesting and cool thing to discover. The biggest lesson we learned is that it is vitally important to protect historical landmarks. They are our link to the past and our hope for a better future. We must all take on the task of preservation if we would like it to continue in the future.