School: San Diego Riverside Charter School
    Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico, United States

2 students, ages 12, 14 worked together to complete this Doors to Diplomacy project on March 24, 2009. They have participated in Doors to Diplomacy in the following year(s): 2008, 2009

Classes and Teachers: Teachers: Valerie Shaw, Prexie Lucero; students: Zoe S., Genea B.

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://sandiegoriverside.webs.com

1. Description of Our Team

We are Zoe S. and Genea B., two girls attending a small Native American charter school on a small reservation in New Mexico. One of us is Anglo, the other is Native, and we are both in the school's Gifted and Talented Education program. In fulfillment of the program's requirements, we chose Doors to Diplomacy as our global collaborative project. We chose Doors to Diplomacy because it gives us opportunities to be creative in many ways while we can at the same time bring some benefit to the world and humanity. We might even earn a scholarship at the same time!

2. Summary of Our Project

The purpose of this project is to let people know about how cloning can benefit the world and society. It's also about how cloning is bad for the world and unfair. It's supposed to express different viewpoints on cloning,as well as allow an opportunity for others to express their different viewpoints. This project is going to alert people about how cloning is beneficial to our moving forward, and how it is also unfair and damaging to humankind. We want people to know how eugenics will help us with many problems such as finding ways to eliminate birth defects. But we would also like people to consider the bad side of eugenics and cloning. We think our project will benefit people by helping them if they need to know about stem cell research and cloning. We think that our Web site can do some good because many people do not know what stem cell research is and how it works, or what eugenics is, and we think we can help people to understand these sciences more.

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:more than 6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

We had a late start on the project because of problems with registration. Then once we finally started, there were problems at the Web site (Global SchoolNet). After that, there were problems here at home with our server. Finally, we have had problems uploading this project narrative. All our problems are technical. We are hoping, hoping, hoping, and praying to the god of computers.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

The Doors to Diplomacy project is a great opportunity to experience multidisciplinary learning, global collaboration, and intercultural relations; and it makes our school and community proud of us!

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

This project addresses the following themes within the National Content Standards: Time, Continuity, and Change (cloning history, eugenics in history); Individuals, Groups, and Institutions (sources of controversy over cloning and eugenics); Power, Authority, and Governance (legal issues surrounding cloning and eugenics as well as major movements related to eugenics); and Science, Technology, and Society (cloning, eugenics, the overlap of these with technology and the ethics concerned with this). The project also addresses a number of standards within the school's language arts, social studies, science, and technology curricula. We learned how to build a Web site using an Internet-based site builder. We also learned to use html, but didn't use it at the site. We learned a lot about cloning and eugenics and have even talked about these things with our friends.

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

We used four computers to complete this project, two in the communications lab, and two in the Gifted and Talented classroom. We also used the Internet-based site builder. The best tool was the computer. It allowed us to build our site and to communicate with each other and other people. It also allowed us to find all the information we needed to put into our site.

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

My students became ambassadors by spreading the word about eugenics as it is coming back into practice in our world. Cloning and eugenics raise ethical concerns and shouldn't be approached lightly, and my students have learned enough to talk about these issues intelligently.

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

The community will learn about cloning and eugenics, but it will also learn about what we are learning to do at our school and what kinds of projects we are doing. They will see that we are advancing in technology and communicating with people around the world about important issues.

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

Zoe talked to her uncle the doctor about cloning and eugenics. Our teachers, Valerie Shaw and Prexie Lucero, helped us through the project. Coach Glenn let Zoe miss classes to work on the project when deadline approached. All of these people and anyone else we may have forgotten deserve many, many thanks!