By Sophia Chang
Instead the students from grades 5 through 8 were piled in front of computers arranged around the classroom, tweaking background colors and adding graphics to the Web sites they were building for the citywide ThinkQuest competition. The eighth-grade team was assembled in front of a television that broadcast a large image of their Web site in progress, entitled “Welcome to the Fascinating World of Forensic Sciences.” Inspired by the popular crime television show “CSI,” the six teammates researched all aspects of forensic science, even recruiting professionals for show-and-tell demonstrations. “An actual investigator came here and recreated a crime scene,” said teacher Diane Stuckey.The school, located at 202-00 35th Ave., has entered teams into the national Web site building competition for the past three years, spurred by computer teacher Antoinette DiStasi's belief that students would learn team building on top of valuable computer and educational skills.”I wanted to do more project-based learning,” she said. “They learn teamwork, they see the product which is great. They get cooperation and new research skills.”The 27 students are divided into five teams, building Web sites on subjects ranging from dream interpretation to marine life to the U.S. Mint, in addition to the forensic science project.”We tried to find something that people would be interested in,” said eighth-grader Thomas Flores, while scrolling through a computer directory containing files named “throw up” and “fingerprintz.””Kids pick a topic. They build Web sites and do the research and become experts,” DiStasi said. The Web sites become part of the Thinkquest Web site, now one of the largest online educational libraries available to the public.The big competition was scheduled to be held in Manhattan in April, followed by an awards ceremony in June. For the students, the Web sites offer a chance to do in-depth research on topics that strike their fancy but may not crop up as classroom material, such as the gory criminal sciences.”There are different topics like ballistics, DNA and actual crime scenes,” said eighth-grader Erica Coston, noting that each topic would get a separate page on their Web site.”We spend months and months on this because you have to get all the information,” her teammate Felix Toro added.Last year seventh-graders Thomas Flores and Allen Fok's Web site on roller coasters (“The ultimate thrill machines”) won “Outstanding Web site” in the competition. The two are spearheading the eighth-grade team in hopes of snagging the first-place prize, a new laptop, this year.”They personalize it, make it their own,” Di Stasi said. She said the students have an hour and half of classroom time each week to work on the Web sites, but some of the more devoted spend their lunch hours, recesses and after-school time on the project as well. “It becomes a part of their life, some of them,” she said.”I spent 15 hours on this last week,” Flores said.Reach reporter Sophia Chang by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
