School: Zespól Szkól Budowlanych i Ogólnoksztalcacych
    Jaroslaw, podkarpacie, Poland

40 students, ages 16-18 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 9, 2014. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): -

Classes and Teachers: Justyna Kuczkowska, Pawel Miller, LOIIa, LOIb, BIII

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.zsbiojaroslaw.edu.pl/

1. Description of Our Community

Jaroslaw is a town in south-east Poland with an area of 34,46 km² and a population of about 40 thousand people. It is a town whose amusing history dates back to Neolithic times but is frequently unappreciated even by its inhabitants often struggling with everyday problems of economic origins. Nowadays more and more cultural events are being organized to re-establish the importance of the town on historical map of Poland and promote its uniqueness. The Construction and Comprehensive School is one of the oldest schools in Jaroslaw and the Jaroslaw poviat. It is a state school that year after year educates up to 1000 students from Jaroslaw and its neighbouring smaller towns and villages. Though the majority of the students comes from poorer families and their financial situation is unsatisfactory, they are very active when it comes to helping the unprivileged through charity, health promoting and social activities. The impact of their work then affects not only the community of Jaroslaw itself but also smaller communities they live in.

2. Summary of Our Project

Despite of being an attractive tourist area Jaroslaw, located at the meeting points of many cultures and rich in historical sights - the remains of the interpenetrated cultures and their traditions, is unfortunately unknown to wider public and often unacknowledged by its inhabitants. Our primary goal is to introduce the place we live to the world, as well as rediscover its beauty and unique atmosphere to learn to appreciate it. We also hope to prove that history can be inspiring to young people and that when united our effort can be meaningful and joyful. We are going to present the history and the historical attractions of Jaroslaw - the town that is one of the most beauliful in the region.

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:dial-up modem

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:1

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

One problem is that students in our school in general have little time for extra classes or extra-curricular activities for they have to study a lot for their school-leaving exams. The curriculum is loaded and there is little time for pleasures. Another thing, probably the most overwhelming, is that majority of our school students commute (even up to 50 km) to school every day. What is more, the students who worked on the project have classes at different times of day. That created major inconveniences while fixing the dates and times of collaborate research, general meetings, field trips and meetings with experts. Fortunately, some of the activities could be done over the Internet and we received special permission to incorporate some of the other into school lessons. Technical problems were of minor importance for thanks to our IT teacher we were capable of mastering selected tools needed for accomplishing the project.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Most of all, we learnt how to cooperate with each other despite many obstacles that may seem difficult to overcome and that each member of the team’s work is equally important and adds up to our common success. We also learnt that carrying out a research may be daunting but also very inspiring and meaningful. It may widen our horizons and teach many life skills important in our future job carriers. Not many other activities than projects help to practise collecting, searching, evaluating and selecting data, making reports and sharing it with wider audience; acquire knowledge from various sources such as reference books, experts and local people; and use and master IT. Moreover, we hope that we managed to draw the attention of our school community, our families and local people helping us with the project to the beauty and uniqueness of Jaroslaw.

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

Although the topic itself is barely related to the state curriculum, the project supports a lot of state curriculum requirements. This type of learning experience enables to employ a variety of teaching and learning techniques and meet curriculum objectives. Thanks to it we experienced real-life cooperation and responsibility in team work, conducting research and managing data, gathering knowledge from multiple sources and sharing it, IT, interpersonal skills and other life skills. What is more, the project work helped us to develop our expertise and interests in many fields and especially subjects taught at school such as English as a Foreign Language, History and Information Technologies. It gave us the opportunity to learn in less restricted, varied and interesting way than usual and thanks to that the knowledge and skills we gained will stay with us for longer.

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

For some of us commute to school every day and have classes at different times of day, without information technology, we wouldn’t be able to accomplish our project at all. We planned and fixed the dates and times of collaborate research, general meetings, field trips and meetings with experts over the Internet. We stored and evaluated our project data in the cloud for everyone to access it at any times and from everywhere. We used emails to contact each other, our teachers and our experts. We used various computer software and web tools to prepare the content for our website and to build and publish it. We made use of most of the information technology at home so the choice of tools depended mainly on us - our preferences and tool accessibility.

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

We represented the school and our Cyberfair project in many ways. In order to accomplish this project we had to introduce the idea to our principal first, then again and again while talking to our parents seeking their permission, our friends and teachers asking for advice, contacting experts and institutions for their expertise, and other people in our community. We did it in person, as well as, through phone calls and on-line. We have to admit that nobody from the people we contacted knew about the Cyberfair so we consider ourselves not only ambassadors but real pioneers ;) We hope that building the website and connecting it to our school official website will further help to promote the idea both within the community and outside of it.

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

The project has already had a great impact on our community. We indeed established some new working relationships with people and institutions within our community. We will use it for our future projects and as individuals for personal development. Though some of them were careful at the beginning, perhaps doubting if we can do it and if our interest is really genuine, soon everyone got infected with our enthusiasm and they are willing to help us in our future actions. Every day we get positive feedback from the people we meet in person and on-line. We have already managed to promote the history and historical attractions of Jaroslaw among our schoolmates and our parents and neighbours. Working on the topic drew their attention and helped to rediscover the place and its historical atmosphere. Most of the people we spoke to admitted that living in the town or in its close neighbourhood and struggling with everyday problems makes us indifferent to its beauty and exceptionality. Many of them turned out to be unaware of the interesting history connected with it. We hope to introduce a lot more people to our town through the website.

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

Without our principal’s and parents’ permissions lessons in the museum, lectures for the school students and field trips would be impossible. Same with teachers who helped us contact the local institutions, introduced us to long forgotten historical materials and dedicated their free time to accompany us in our trips, our research and promoting our work also over the Internet. Our families and friends helped us by providing their support in carrying our research, evaluating our work, sharing the stories, legends and their memories connected with Jaroslaw. We are very grateful to the workers of the Museum in Jaroslaw for the exciting lesson on Historical past of Jaroslaw and a guided tour around Jaroslaw and its sights. We would like to thank the vice–chairman of the Association of the Enthusiasts of Jaroslaw for a visit in our school and an amusing presentation showing Jaroslaw over the centuries in postcards.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

The project led us to many interesting and often surprising discoveries when it comes to history and ourselves – how we work, learn and deal with obstacles. But the biggest surprise and award to us was that our project gathered such a positive feedback from the school authorities, our teachers, families and neighbours plus Jaroslaw’s institutions.