For
four years now I have led groups of 6th
graders in building websites for the Dutch thinkquest
competition in which a few hundred schools compete in making
educational websites.
We
usually keep the groups small, 6 to 8 students, all
volunteers but by no means all computer whizzkids. Starting work
in November the students choose the subject, divide it into
chapters which individual (or pairs of) students will research.
At the same time they learn the basics of frontpage software.
Other tasks (collecting of illustration material, over-all
design of the site, progress control, etc.) are divided as well.
From approx. mid January we actually start building. In April we
upload the finished site. Every week a meeting is held on Friday,
while most of the work is done by the students whenever they
have time during the rest of the week.
It is always a wonderful process. The intention
is that the students get to do everything themselves and
therefore they
learn a lot; not just about the subject matter and the use of
frontpage but especially about teamwork, cooperation, individual
and collective responsibility, planning, timing and working with
deadlines. And exactly that is the object. We are not in the
first place aiming for high technical quality or perfect content
but rather for a group process in which each individual can make
the best use his/her own talents, aspirations and skills.
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NB: By clicking on the illustrations hereunder
you will be linked to the thinkquest
website in question
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