School: Gimnasiun no 3
    Bedzin, woj. slaskie, Poland

5 students, ages 14-16 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on January 24, 2008. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2007

Classes and Teachers: Elzbieta Krawczyk, Izabela Tumas, Kamil Szyc

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.gim3.bedzin.lap.pl

1. Description of Our Community

City of Bedzin is situated in southern part of Poland in Silesian Upland. Through the city flows Black Przemsza River. Bedzin belongs to Silesian administrations but historically it has not much to do with Silesia. Bedzin, as well as nearby Sosnowiec or Dabrowa Górnicza, is part of Zaglebie Dabrowskie. Bedzin is a district city and it has 60 thousand citizens. There are many Primary, Grammar and Secondary and professional secondary schools. Our school is on Krakowska street in pre-war, old building. Befeore war there was Jewish gymnasium for men. Nowadays, it’s a modern school with two computer laboratories, extensive library with multimedia centre. The school exists for 7 years, previously in that building there was a Primary School No. 5. There are 12 classes with 244 learners who are taught by 27 teachers. There are numerous extra lessons which learners attend very willingly.

2. Summary of Our Project

Main goal of the project “Bedzin - Adventure with Culture” is promotion of our city – Bedzin. It is a small city in the south of Poland. The most characteristic landmark of this place is the wonderful castle build in XIV century. One of the most spectacular cultural even takes place on the Góra Zamkowa hill. This attractive party is the chivalrous tournament. Beasties, the festival of Celtic music takes place next to the earlier mentioned castle. This festival attracts a lot of fans of Irish music. Our city has organized “Ogólnopolski Festiwal Koled I Pastopalek” (The Nationwide festival of carols and Pastorals) for 13 years. Moreover the theatre, the library and cultural centre of our city give to its in habitants rich an cultural presale We decided these events are worth being made eternal in the shape of our website. Website is clear and comprehensive; it allows browsing freely for information which you need.

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

After the success in the Cyberfair EP 2006 Competition, we realised that regularity is the most important. The materials for this website were gathered during May last year! The category of this project forced us to participate in all meaningful events talking place in Bedzin. The problem was lack of good photographic equipment. We couldn't take good photos in the evenings or indoors. All pictures and films were made using our own or borrowed equipment.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

The motto of our project is propagating the cultural activity of our city among our citizens and presenting that Bedzin offers a lot of attractions.

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

Our project meets the requirements of Local Culture, Music and Art Forms category. Information and news we found during our work are part of reading and media education. While working on the project students learned to analyze and order acquired materials and select gathered information.

During the first phase our work involved mainly group meetings where we decided upon aims, discussed problems, assigned material to particular people. Our work proceeded in defined way – learner knew what and how he had to do, analyze, and process information.

Learners creating webpage cooperated, contacted each other and teachers, made decisions concerning appearance, setup and content.

Thanks to the internet we were able to gather materials much faster, get the information we needed and contact each other.

During work on the project learners skills has been positively verified. Newly acquired knowledge exceeded educational requirements, both in informatics and reading and media education.

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

During our work on the project we used:

a.) 4 computers in our library with access to the Internet

b.) our own personal computers – all learners and teachers involved in the project have computers with access to internet.

c.) Phone,

d.) Digital camera,

e.) Dictaphone,

f.) Scanner,

g.) Printer.

All graphical elements on our website has been made in Adobe Photoshop 7, articles and other content have been processed in MS Word and whole website has been created using PHP and HTML technologies and it is based upon MySQL database. In edition and writing we used script called HTMLArea. Thanks to Total Commander we were able to send our files to server. As far as internet browsing is concerned we used IE and Mozzila Firefox. Effective enlarging of pictures was possible thanks to innovative script ThickBox.

We have visited Culture Center, theatres and Public Library. We have had some interviews, took hundreds of photos and made lots of movies. We took active part in most important event of our region because character of our project made us work in reporter manner. We have gathered materials from over hundred websites, books and press articles: Wlodzimierz Wójcik: Spotkania Zaglebiowskie. Katowice 2006 , Wlodzimierz Wójcik: Zaglebiowskie impresje. Katowice 2006, Dni Bedzina. 'Coolturalny Bedzin' 2006, No 4 , pag. 11. Dni Bedzina na sportowo. 'Coolturalny Bedzin' 2006, No 4 , pag. 9. Karolczyk M.: Koledy spiewa Bedzin. 'Aktualnosci Bedzinskie' 2007, No 1, pag. 6-7. Karolczyk M.: Historia OFKiP. 'Coolturalny Bedzin' 2006, No 8 , pag. 6. Koledy z calej Polski! 'Nasz Bedzin' 2006, No 5, pag. 1. Nowacka M.: Magia zielonego rytmu. 'Dziennik Zachodni'. Bedzin 2006, No 36, pag. 4-5. Nowacka M.: Przyniesli koledy. 'Dziennik Zachodni'. Bedzin 2007, No 2, pag. 2. Pamieci bedzinskich Zydów. 'Aktualnosci Bedzinskie' 2006, No 9, pag. 3. Wielkie koledowanie [z Ks. Piotrem Pilsniakiem rozmawiala Marzena Karolczyk] 'Coolturalny Bedzin' 2006, No 8, pag. 3. IV Ogólnopolski Festiwal Muzyki Celtyckiej 'Zamek'. 'Aktualnosci Bedzinskie' 2006, No 9, pag. 3. IV Dni Kultury Zydowskiej. 'Aktualnosci Bedzinskie' 2006, No 9, pag. 4. Interviews: Interview with with Lukasz Ostrowski, a member of Knighthood Fraternity from Bedzin, Interview with actors of 'Preventorium' Theatre, Interview with painter Magdalena Lucka.

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

During work on the project learners had to get in touch with lot of people and institutions personally, via mail or phone. Everyone was very interested in our website, they willingly shared information, approved interviews or publication of photos.

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

We are convicted that most citizens doesn’t know in how culturally attractive region they are living in. A lot of things is going on here. Only while working on our previous CyberFair project have we noticed multitude of artistic events which were great material for our next website. That is why we started our work on this project back in the Spring of 2006 during Days of Bedzin. Community of our school was very excited about our venture, especially those, who take active part in cultural life of our city. The plan of action has been worked out in a blink of an eye. We hope that thanks to this website citizens of Bedzin appreciate rich variety of events offered by this city.

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

We would like to give our thanks to:Mrs. Elzbieta Krawczyk - project coordinator who supervised all works, Ms Izabela Tumas who checked and revised all written articles, corrected mistakes and as a school librarian she provided us with necessary literature. Mr Kamil Szyc and Ms Agata Wadas who did their best to translate this website to English and all those who agreed to be interviewed, Ms Beata Warega of District Public Library for sharing her photos of the city, Mr. Dariusz Wiktorowicz for sharing his photos and materials concerning Children of Zaglebie Theatre, Kinga Nowak, Sandra Lubon and Justyna Rebacz for help in gathering materials and Mateusz Kobus for his help in designing our webpage.