Big Things Do Come in Small Packages

Elementary Students Receive Top Honors for Educational Web Site

Students at West Blocton Elementary School may be small
in size, but their Big Idea landed them top honors in a global contest
that challenges students to create innovative Web sites. The group of
fourth-graders from the Bibb County School formed a team called C-S-I:
Cahaba Student Investigators as they set out to investigate water
quality and the importance of keeping our water clean. They received
Honorable Mention for their educational Web site, "The Case of the
Mysterious Macros," <http://www.bibbed.org/wbes/CSI/index.html> in the
ThinkQuest International 2007 Competition. Out of the approximate 500
entries, the West Blocton students were one of only 10 U.S. teams who
received recognition. Each student and teacher participant of the
winning teams receives a laptop computer and their sponsoring school
receives $1,000.

"We are just so proud of the finished product," said Annette Harris, the
teacher-coach for the project. "I learned as they learned about water
quality," Harris added.

Students say they wanted their site to be more "kid friendly" with many
drawings, bright colors, and great links. They drew all of the images
and took their own pictures for the Web site filled with colorful pages,
team members, photos, interesting sidebars and impressive academic
citations. The Web site, designed to help teach fellow classmates about
the importance of keeping our water clean, is shared with classmates and
peers around the world. The students hope their site will convince
people to stop trashing and polluting our water.

The West Blocton students collaborated in the research, writing and
creation of "The Case of the Mysterious Macros,"
<http://www.bibbed.org/wbes/CSI/index.html> Web site. They conducted a
water quality study at Caffee Creek which runs into the Cahaba River and
learned about topics such as watersheds, water pollution, aquatic
insects, and aquatic ecosystems. The students said the project was one
of the most fun things they've ever done at school.

Students work in teams made up of three to six kids from across the
world under the supervision of a teacher-coach. Their mission: build
innovative and educational Web sites to share with the world. The
winning team from Alabama is made up of four 4th graders from West
Blocton Elementary, one student from Florida, and a sixth team member
from Slovakia. The young scholars join fellow winners on 30 teams from
17 countries. Harris said she chose team members based on their ability
to work independently, technical skills and proven work ethics.

The West Blocton team and project will be featured in the Working Toward
Excellence journal, about how they are bridging the digital divide. The
team also traveled to Atlanta in June to present their Web site at a
National Technology Conference.

The ThinkQuest competition is a program of the Oracle Foundation, and is
a renowned global contest that challenges students to create innovative
Web sites to share with peers around the world. It is utilized by
teachers to engage students in developing critical skills for life and
work in the 21st century. "The students not only learn about the topic
at hand, but to meet deadlines, envision and complete a project, and
they learn how to contribute to the workforce as a team", Harris said.
"The most important thing I learned is that teachers must be willing to
learn new things right along with their students."

"It is truly inspiring to see what the students accomplish. The
education Web sites that they produce are absolutely first-rate. Equally
impressive, however, is that throughout the competition, they are honing
skills that are key to success in the 21st century workplace," said
Clare Dolan, Vice-President, Oracle Education Initiatives.

"We are hoping to expand by adding another team, and teacher-coach for
next year's competition," Harris said. The teacher-coach said a new
group of students have already started a topic and research for next
year.