Cyberfair 97: /archives/webs/adelaar/index.htm
Our Homepage: /archives/webs/adelaar/home/index.htm;
Cyberfair 96: /archives/webs/adelaar/index1.htm
7 March 1997
Hoërskool die Adelaar
c/o Suid- en Vermooten Avenue
Princess
Roodepoort
Gauteng
South Africa
Postal address
P.O. Box 3170
Witbeeck
1729
South-Africa
E-Mail:pupil@adelaar.jhb.school.za
Teacher:
Me M. Myburgh
Pupils:
Tjaart Kruger
Emil Bihl
Francois van Niekerk
A total of 3 students and 1 teacher were part of our contribution to our community. They are all aged between 16 and 17.
6. Historical Landmarks
We define our local community as Gauteng. Gauteng is one of the 9 provinces of the New South Africa. Gauteng has a rich history, known for the discovery of gold. We live in Roodepoort, a highly populated city of Gauteng. We are surrounded by shopping malls and schools, but also beautifully preserved natural resources like the Roodepoort Botanical gardens , the Kloofendal amphitheatre and the Krugersdorp Game Reserve. The Sterkfontein caves, the focus of our project, are more or less 30 km from where we live and delivers proof of an even more ancient history of communities that lived here.
We chose the Sterkfontein caves as historical landmark in our local community. It dates more than 3 million years back, telling us a fascinating story of the Genesis of man and the formation of caves we would like to share with you, since the story of where all men came from, unites us all. At the Sterkfontein caves unique escavations is done. The caves produced findings, like the skull of Mrs Ples and Little foot and led us to a study of the origins of Man.
With the Cyberfair 1996 we only had a borrowed computer and 9,600 modem, but our entry won us a Router from Cisco which opened doors for us in the past year. We now have 5 computers linked to our own WEB server and uses a 64 KB diginet line from TELKOM. UNINET act as service provider and we are part of the Gauteng schools network. We find it an expensive venture, as we have more than R2000 per month of running costs to pay, yet the experience the pupils at our school is gaining, makes it worthwhile
Problems we had to overcome
The pupils who created this entry attended a course in the use of Microsort's Frontpage in 1996 and then they created our homepage. Frontpage only works on Windows 95 and the computers at our school only uses windows 3.11. A lot of time had to be spent at home working on the project.
We had to make appointments to see people for background information. Some of these people were only available during school hours and our parents had to take us there.
We thought that the creation of our own animated gifs was impossible, but as we found out, nothing was impossible if you set your mind to it. We discovered the program Gif construction set and were thrilled when we succeeded in making our own animated gifs.
We had to learn to use FTP and found it extremely fascinating to see how quickly the files can be sent oversees
We found a historical landmark in our local community, dating more than 3 million years back, telling us a fascinating story of the Genesis of man and the formation of caves we would like to share with you, since the story of where all men came from, unites us all.
How did our Activities and research for this international School Cyberfair 97 project support our
required coursework and curriculum requirements ?
* The Geography department took interest in the formation of caves aspect of our project.
* The History department found our theme of the origins of man, as it serves as enrichment of their sillabus.
* Our Computer Science syllabus requires us to cover Datacommunications. Last year we did
concepts like modems, digital and analogue lines, routers, hubs, INTERNET and Email according
to textbook definitions. we saw pictures in magazines and were told stories by other people about
the excitement of international communication and learning from information on the INTERNET.
This year we have, thanks to our sponsors and friends, the opportunity to gain firsthand experience.
* The students also learned side by side to locate and use resources and use higher order thinking
skills. Active learning and groupwork took place and these skills are of value in all subjects and life
at large.
* We explored other programs, experimented with new ideas like sound files and exiting gif
animation’s.
Cisco provided us with a 2500 router as prize in the Cyberfair 96 competition. We cannot thank them, and in person mr Andre Smit, who installed it, enough for their valuable contribution
Transnet sponsored a computer to our computer science class and provided a printer.
Computer Software used were:
All our family members knows about this project and supports us.
We went to Sterkfontein caves
in our school uniform and told everyone there we were going to create a unique web page about
Sterkfontein. They were all very exited about our choice and was most helpful in giving us
information.
We also went to the Transvaal museum and there we met Dr. Thackeray and told him about our
school and about our project.
At Sterkfontein we have also put up notices about the web pages we have created and where
people can find it on the net.
We were asked if we would give a copy of our project to Krugersdorp museum so that they can
put it in their showcase next to a replica of Mrs. Ples.
Because our school was the one of the first in our area to venture in a project of this kind, other
schools watched with some envy as we made our web project. I am sure we will have more
competition from them next year!
To see discoveries like the original fossils of Mrs. Ples and the Little foot was an experience we will never forget. It is amazing to come into contact with things so old - you suddenly feel just a very small part of an infinite timeline.
Inside the cave, it is cold and damp. There is a underground lake which looks beautiful in the Tour guide’s light.
Some caverns had small openings and we had to crawl through on our knees.
The stalactites and stalagmites that was formed over millions of years looked stunning.
It was an incredible experience we would not forget.
The creation of animated gifs was a major breakthrough for us. So was the moment when we succeeded in including the video and the soundtracks in our project. It was a process of trial and error, richly rewarded when we had success!!
