Why Is The Mona Lisa Smiling?

Age Range: 14-Adult
Platforms: Windows and Mac
Medium: Internet
Cost: Free

Description:

Why is the Mona Lisa Smiling was created by my Bronx High School students in collaboration with their partners in Borlange Sweden as part of the Thinkquest Contest. Our multimedia-infused, interdisciplinary, arts driven project explores the mystery behind the smile an features the work of two distinguished women, Dr. Lillian Schwartz and Rina de Firenze, author of Mystery of the Mona Lisa. Students investigate and compare the researcher's differing perspectives and through Scientific Inquiry help provides a potencial solution to a question that mankind has asked for 500 years.

Activities

Students can discover a dozen da Vinci diversions through random research, take or develop an online quiz, create and send digital musical postcards in one of sixteen languages.

Support

Our guestbook was signed by a visitor from Mongolia on August 23, 1997 and has been signed each and every day since that time. We received a comment from Calcutta on July 14 and would be delighted if you sign our guestbook to contribute to our worldwide supporters. Your feedback would be meaningful to my students who created the site using 15 year old computers.

Project Growth

Teachers enrolled in my Internet Training Class, funded by the Bronx Superintendency, have produced web pages which they have been contributed to our project. English, Mathematics, Social Studies, Health, Special Education, Business, School-To-Work and Special Needs resources have been added.

Notoriety and Acclaim

Our Why is the Mona Lisa Project is now part of the Getty Museum's Digital Experience, the Exploratorium. The Franklin Institute, the Global SchoolNet Foundation has selected our site for their Teachers Choice. The Well Connected Educator has published an article about our site and our lesson plan for Why is the Mona Lisa Smiling is part of the Encarta Collection.

Project Dissemination

This project was presented at the Make It Work Conference, supported by the Board of Education City of the City of New York and AT&T at the Grand Hyatt, and at the SchoolTech Expo at the New York Hilton in the School of the Future, Web Publishing Panel and ThinkQuest Overview workshops.

The John F. Kennedy High School Web Site

Our school web site was placed in the School Discovery Spotlight, was selected as the Our Town Winner for New York State by the Computer Learning Foundation, and was cited by CCCNet with their School of the Future distinction.

Highlights of the school web site include student portfolios, individualized RCT and Regents information for our 5000 students, listings of our course offerings, active Parent Teacher Association and community outreach meetings are presented through pictures.

The JFK web site includes Educational Resources, Library Links, School Calendar and Team Sports. Our active Art department, under the leadership of Deborah Effinger, has presented FAME and a Talent Show which is documented online as well.

For further information, click here

We hope you found what you needed on this page. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me.

Howard J. Bender, Ph.D.
President
The Education Process Improvement Center, Inc.
P.O. Box 186
Riverdale, Maryland 20738
hjbender@epicent.com