Last year I had the privilege of presenting three Thinkquest courses to teachers around Cape Town. Thinkquest projects is an amazing interface and the children love it because of its mini-Facebook (as they call it) appeal. Teachers love it because of its online safety approach. I was very keen to enter a team into the competition this year. When I asked my Head for permission he wanted ALL the Grade 6s and 7s to enter. Well, I know that is an almost impossible task, I mean around 50... but why not get them all doing Thinkquest projects I thought. So that is what we are doing. They have all thought of their own fascinating projects. Every break the computer room is buzzing with enthusiastic project workers. As it turns out I have a very good one emerging for the Digital Media event, and about three others in the Thinkquest projects event that I will enter. The other groups will get a Technology mark. It has been a good way of teaching them about plagiarism, royalty free music, not only using the internet for project but also finding out from experts, field trips, and polls, not to mention working in a team, sharing the workload, brainstorming, uploading information, repecting other people’s right to privacy of information, and online safety etc. Here is a slideshow of some of the budding Thinkquest teams. The prizes for the winners are awesome - a trip to America (with one parent each) and an apple laptop for each winning team member is the main prize on offer.
Here is a Picasa slideshow of the Grade 6 and 7 teams
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