School: XIII Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace
    Lodz, Lodz, Poland

15 students, ages 16-18 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 24, 2009. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2005,2006

Classes and Teachers: Ewa Karolewska

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://13lo.edu.pl

1. Description of Our Community

Lodz, the city in the centre of Poland, where we study in the High School number 13. Most of us live here too, others live in surounding towns. This place is called as the city of many cultures because we can see here many buildings which are testaments of people of other countries who had changed the history of the city. In our opinion, the XIX century is very important age in the history of our city. It's the time of the big evolution of the economy in Lodz. During this age, in Lodz many investors were setting up business. One of them, Karol Scheibler had built a complex which is called Ksiezy Mlyn.

2. Summary of Our Project

During XIX century, Karol Scheibler had built a complex which is called Ksiezy Mlyn. The history of this complex, small city in the city, has inspired us to write this project.We wanted to show you one of the most interesting places in Lodz. The Ksiezy Mlyn is a testament of XIX century, the age of factories. Maybe this project would invite you to visit Lodz.

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:1

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

Work was hard, we had to choose the most important information from rich history of this place. Small groups were responsible of each part of work. Some of them wrote texts, after that, the work went to translators. When texts in three languages were ready, our boys, who are interested in the information technology, made our website. During all this time, the team made more than 300 photos. It was really hard to choose the best of them. During all preparations of this project, we had some arguments, because we wanted to do the best project. Fortunately, our teachers helped us a lot.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

The work on this project gave us new knowledge about Lodz and new friendships made during the creation of this piece. It taught us effective team work and how to deal with tensions in a group.

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

This project taught us that we can do many things by yourself. The history which we learn at school doesn't concern the history of our communities, or cities we live in. It's really important to know something about our community. We wanted to show other people, inhabitants of Lodz too, how beautiful is our city. During making this project, we learned how to work as a group, how to organise our time. It's very important in our future life. We hope that it will help us. After this project, we keep good relationships in our group. We know that we can trust our teachers, that they can help us a lot.

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

We were using our private computers at home with Internet connection, and often exchanged info via e-mails. We used some CDs too, as well as pendrives, when we met at school, mainly forexchanging photos to our ste designer. We did some phonecalls and used help from guides. Also, we made a lot of photos of Ksiezy Mlyn. We have conducted an interview with the grandmother of one student who had lived in one of houses at Ksiezy Mlyn for a big part of her life. And finally, we did a survey among Ksiezy Mlyn's society, and presented the info on an easy-to-read diagrammes.

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

We had some phonecalls with people who helped us a lot f.ex. with guides. They're really interested in our project and proud of us. We had some oral interviews with inhabitants of Lodz who told us what they know about Ksiezy Mlyn. It's sometimes funny because people didn't know what exactly is the Ksiezy Mlyn, or don't know the exact locationa and/or borders of it. The most important meeting was with the gradnmother of one of students, who almost her whole life there. She told us some interesting things about this complex, some histories, some anegdotes.

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

Many people were interested in our project-our families, friends, teachers. They said that the history of Ksiezy Mlyn wasn't known by many people, and many had some different bits of useful and fascinating info to share. We wanted to show them, and other people, how interesting is the place where they live. It would invite people around the world to visit Lodz and to know something about our city, full of antiques and history.

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

We would like to thank our great teachers who were really interested in our competition, the topic we choose and shared their knowledge with us. We are aware of the time you spend helping us to make our project perfect. We are also thankful to all the people who took part in our project. They gave us the essential information (special thanks to the Centre of Tourist Information), interviews, they told us the stories of their lives and answered the questions we asked. Normal, average citizens of Lodz are also among those who contributed to our work. In the end we are obliged to thank our parents and friends who were patient enough to listen not only to the story of Charles Scheibler but also to what sort of problems we had to overcome during our work.