Inspiration Africa! New Woodlands (EBD) School

INSPIRATION AFRICA!
Project 3
New Woodlands (EBD) School
INTERNET/VIRTUAL BANNER

On days 3, 4 and 5, the Internet sessions were in the afternoon and pupils took it in turns to access the Inspiration Africa! website in groups of three or four.

First of all they looked at the documentation pages for the Introduction day and visit to the Horniman Museum and some searched or used the links provided to look at other sites featuring their key object - the Asante stool.

http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/~bcr/Hampton/Hampton.html
http://www.si.edu/nmafa/exhibits/legrain/ast.htm
http://web-dubois.fas.harvard.edu/dubois/baobab/narratives/asante/GOLDENST.html
http://www.ashanti.com.au/ashhis.htm

To provide a learning focus for the project two multiple choice worksheets were compiled and added to the site - worksheet 1 for Day 3 and worksheet 2 for Day 4. Pupils worked in groups of two, completing the form on-line and posting it back to Cloth of Gold.

Worksheet 2 also contained a form to enable the boys to easily post their messages of welcome to the next schools participating in the project.

FROM: John (NWS) (12/4/00)
SUBJECT: Inspiration Africa!
Hi my name is John and I am from New Woodlands. I have enjoyed this project and I hope you do too! There is screen printing, computers, Horniman visit and we have learnt about respect. Please contact me. from John

FROM: Ben (NWS) (12/4/00)
SUBJECT: Inspiration Africa!
You will enjoy this project. I have had a great time with the Inspiration Africa! team. Hope you have a good time too. (Bye bye and thank you Tony.) from Ben.

FROM: Anton (NWS) (12/4/00)
SUBJECT: Inspiration Africa!
I've really enjoyed the work that you have given us. Many people in my class thought it would be boring but I found it fun. The best thing I liked was the screen printing - it was fun, (thank you Tony) bye bye!

FROM: Michael (NWS) (12/4/00)
SUBJECT: Inspiration Africa!
Hello from Michael,
I loved the project especially screen printing with Tony - I liked the music with Sola and I liked the computers with Jacqui. I liked going to the Horniman with Mr Devlin and Ms Byrom's class but I've already been there but I reckon my school trip was better. Please write back.

FROM: Chris (NWS) (12/4/00)
SUBJECT: Inspiration Africa!
I enjoyed this project. The best bit was when we screen printed with Tony. My word on the umbrella was 'peace'. by Chris.

FROM: Jamie (NWS) (12/4/00)
SUBJECT: Inspiration Africa!
Yes I did enjoy the project. It was fun doing it. I liked printing the banner. It was good fun working with Tony, Jacqui, Viv and Sola. Thank you Cloth of Gold for coming and working with us. I hoped you enjoyed your visit. from Jamie

FROM: Luke (NWS) (12/4/00)
SUBJECT: Inspiration Africa!
I liked writing the poems with Sola.

FROM: Antoine (NWS) (12/4/00)
SUBJECT: Inspiration Africa!
The project was okay and much better than I would have expected. It's all fun - I can't paint but I can screen print because you don't have to be too careful. I hope you enjoy the project too. I will go to the museum to see the African Worlds because I missed the visit. That's all. Goodbye.

VIRTUAL BANNER

On the final day of the project the pupils drew shapes that represented Inspiration Africa! to them.

These were then scanned into the computer, resized and made into bitmaps ready to be placed on the virtual banner in the COGPROG programme. This software, devised by Chris Thompson for Cloth of Gold, has been specifically developed to emulate the screen printing processes used in the classroom on the computer and enables pupils to design their banner virtually.

The pupils took it in turns to use the programme to click and drag their bitmap onto the virtual banner experimenting with where they wanted their image positioned and what colour it was to be printed. Once the choice had been made the banner is saved and the next image is added.