CESI Conference January 2002 St.Patrick's College

Martin Fogarty,Firoda National School,Castlecomer,Co. Kilkenny

Introduction
This report will strive to give an accurate account of two years work by a small Primary School in researching and presenting an area of Local History that has captured the imagination and interest of people for decades. An integral part of the project was the use of Information Technology and to demonstrate how such technology, can not just be used in the classroom, but can enhance the delivery of the curriculum and in particular make it more interesting for the children.

The participants in the project were sixty one pupils, the older children being more involved than the younger children, three teachers and a group of twelve adults comprised of parents of the pupils and people from the wider community.

The project resulted in the production of a Website, a Compact Disc and a 320-page book on the topic. A large model of one of the mines was also constructed.

Background to the project
Our involvement in the project happened for a number of reasons:

· Our great interest in ICTs.

· Our interest in researching and presenting our chosen topic.

· The opportunity to deliver part of the curriculum in a different way.

· The possible opportunity to improve or add to our ICT equipment in school, which would result in further benefits to our educational opportunities.

We had been using computers for many years and when the NCTE announced the Schools Integration Projects (SIP) we were always going to be interested.

We had often in the classroom discussed tackling such a project, possibly in a smaller way. We had already put in place a school website and were constantly adding little projects to it.

The opportunity or indeed the “push” to approach local history in a different way was appealing to us and indeed the wide cross-curricular learning that would happen as a result of involvement in the project would be most beneficial.

A large problem in small schools is getting resources. SIP promised to provide resources to participating schools. This was an opportunity we could not afford to miss. The opportunity also to engage in a project where there was going to be plenty of external support was very inviting.

We had some concerns about the work load, the disruption to classes, our capability of completing such a project, the day to day instruction that the pupils might miss out on and much more but we decided that in all probability the advantages would far outweigh the disadvantages.

Methodology
We had a number of planning concerns before we embarked on the project, namely:

a) How big or small was it going to be? How much could we manage?

b) What did we expect as an end product? Was there going to be an end product or was the product going to be the on-going learning that we would experience.

c) What were we going to learn by doing the project, would it be worthwhile?

d) What aspects of coalmining were we going to study, how would we do it?

e) Who would do what? How would we structure the teamwork so that as many as possible would be involved and everybody would learn as much as possible.

f) Would people other than pupils and teachers be involved - if so then in what way and how would we choose them?

g) When would we begin and what deadlines would we set.

h) How would we cope with broken deadlines and possibly having to change direction?

The Project
The project had a traditional start, a discussion between pupils and teachers complimented with the main points being written on the blackboard.

We decided to involve some parents and people from the wider community. There would be a number of advantages in this:

1. They would have contacts for getting information.

2. They would be able to help in organizing interviews and trips.

3. They would be able to help us with various aspects of the project in a sort of teachers assistant capacity

4. It would be important for the parents to be involved so that they would know first hand what work was being done, the benefits to the pupils education and that it was not just going to be one big doss.

5. The adults would learn IT skills from the pupils and this could be the start of a two-way learning exchange where long-term adults might come in to school to help out.

From the outset we decided that the pupils and teachers would make the plans, decide what was going to be done and how it was going to be done. These decisions were made prior to assembling the adults that were to be involved. Our reason for this was that we were going to be doing the most of the work and we wanted to do it our way. We were wary about getting the parents involved, as we did not want to be side tracked and end up so to speak with the “Tail wagging the dog”.

We decided to do a website on “Coalmining in Castlecomer” Even at that early stage we agreed that when the website was done that it would be a pity not to also put it into a book or leaflet as all the text would be written. We also agreed that if money allowed it would be good to put the contents on a CD for people that might not have the Internet. Our final wish - if time and our ability allowed - was to make a model of the main mine in the area, working from old photographs.

A number of days were spent discussing the project and how we would approach it. We decided to take a “chapters” or “topics” approach to it. In other words we selected areas that might be of interest to children and adults alike and that we might be able to get information on. We did not want anything too serious or technical - it had to be information that could be understood by children. Dozens of topics were written on the blackboard, some were discarded, others merged and eventually we agreed on a dozen or more areas that would form the basis for our project.

Notice was given to the parents and locals inviting them to get involved in the project. Those that took up the offer were invited to a meeting, briefed on the details and plans were put in place to give them some I.T training.

The pupils were split into groups, each group taking a topic or two. The groups would then be responsible for getting the information on their topics, compiling it, writing it up and editing it. A certain amount of swapping over took place to ensure that all children got to experience all aspects of the I.T. work such as digital photography, image editing, scanning etc.

The main work involved the following:

· Researching the topics and collecting information

· Interviewing and recording people

· Collecting photographs, artefacts and news cuttings

· Visiting mines and places connected with mining

· Taking photographs and scanning

· Searching the internet for information

· Writing up information & editing images

This took months and when it was done the parents worked with the children editing the text and making sure it was grammatically fairly correct. Each topic was kept separate. All the images were edited and prepared for the Web. They were organized also according to topic. The next stage was to design the web pages, insert the text and graphics for each topic and link them.

The single greatest problem we encountered during the project was that it was very difficult to reach a cut off point. We continued to find more information and ways to make our project better and as a result the work increased. However, we did eventually reach a cut off point and decided, “that was it - we would finish the project based on information gathered to date”.

Time was against us at this stage (just as well) - we were close enough to having the website (our original aim) completed but such was the work we had put in and such was the quality of the information we had gathered that we realized that the optional extras we had discussed at the outset, the book, CD and model, just had to be done.

The CD was reasonably straightforward; it was a matter of putting the web files on disc, designing a label, and mass-producing it. Of course nothing is straight forward in reality as the disease struck again, we wanted to put some audio files on the CD and we wanted it to auto run so we involved ourselves in some technical learning that we had not planned on.

The model was a rushed job though only we knew it - forcing papier-mâché to dry with fan heaters presented the greatest problem though the carpentry and art elements of the model making were quite interesting.

With a launch night planned due to the end of year approaching, the book gave us some sleepless nights. It had to be done however and unfortunately we had to traipse back through all our digital images and photographs as the format we had prepared them for the web was not suitable for the printers - a hard lesson was learned on archiving. Cost was another major factor, every page and every image costs extra. We did not want to leave anything out nor did we wish to leave the School in Stubbs Gazette so a last minute frantic effort was made to get some sponsorship. There were the usual printer problems and panics (at least the girl in the office told us they were usual) proof reading to be done, the printer thinking they could not reach the deadline but they did.

While all this was happening we put together a very hurried plan for the launch. We actually decided on having three launches, one in the school, one in the local town and one in the larger County Capital. Invitations were sent out, the local media were badgered to give us some coverage and we settled on a rough format for the evenings in question.

Everything worked out well, of course we could have done everything better if we had more time - but more time is a myth. We were delighted with our project, the book was ready on time and two of the launches were a resounding success. The third, which was the one in the County Capital that we had arranged more or less for the schools of the county and the general public was a disappointment as very few turned up. It was ironic as we had a better set up for that launch than for the others. Part of the launch included a Coalmining museum and that particular launch was in a hotel where we had a fine set-up - However, as the song says “Two out of three ain’t bad”.

Significance of the work
We put more work into the project than we had ever intended. We unearthed more information than we intended and we gave more time to the project than we intended. However, we learned more than we thought we would, we had more fun than we thought we would and the parents thought that the work and learning was excellent and that we should do something like that every year.

The children involved have memories that will be with them for life. They have seen and enjoyed learning about an aspect of their local history that they hardly even knew existed.

An awakening has been experienced in the locality and old miners who were cast aside onto the dole queues years ago have become heroes. To see those old and worn faces smile with pride when held in awe and interviewed by the attendance at the launches made it all worthwhile.

The end product? Does there have to be an end product to a project. No, of course there does not, but in this case the end product is a treasure.

The web site, which is what our project was all about, is there for the world to look at and already the emails are coming in from emigrants and strangers alike as they click their way through the Castlecomer Coal Mines. We have since had several visitors to the school, some from abroad that had stumbled across the site and wanted to see more. This has been a further great experience for the children.

The locals have marvelled at the resurrection of the Deerpark Mines - our model, “ye even put in the aul bike shed” they said.

The “Jewel in the Crown”, however is the Book. You can hold it, open it, look through it, and enjoy it. The children published it, they wrote it, their photographs are in it and they are proud of it. Of course the way of life of a community for centuries is between its covers and everybody in the community is glad that we recorded it - we are glad also.

The following is the text of one particularly complimentary email we received:

I would like to address this to everybody involved in the preparing of this particular project. My name is Daz Beattie and I live in Yorkshire in a town called Barnsley that for many years was the very heart of coalmining in the York, Derby, Notts.coalfield, but not unlike your area the pits have all gone and the memory of mining is rapidly being lost. I worked on longwall coalface equipment all of my working life (a mere 30 years, compared to some of your interviewees), as did at least four generations before me. My father worked most of his life in the local coalmines but choose to take his labour to the St.Patrick’s Copper Mines at Avoca, where he was killed in an underground accident in the early 1960’s and is in fact buried in Avoca. These factors therefore made your project more than of general interest to me. I knew vaguely of some coalmining having taken place in Ireland and was generally ‘surfing the net” as they say when I came across your site. Enough of the introduction now to the praise. I have spent all Sunday morning trying to absorb all that you have managed to cram onto this wonderful site. I found it extremely easy to use (important to me as I am not very bright when it comes to using such things as computers), it was informative to the greatest point, interesting, factual, correct in technicalities, nostalgic, emotional in the proper places and reverent to the people it relates to I have indeed been surprised by the extent of the coalmining in Kilkenny and without your project to have identified this to me and no doubt to many others I would never have realised the same sort of trials and tribulations that have been experienced in my home town have also been lived through by the people of Castlecomer. It is not my normal style to write anything to this extent, nor to ramble on in this way, but I have been so impressed by your work and effort in producing this ‘historical document” I thought I must say something. I visit Avoca frequently and should be there in a few days, ferries and weather permitting, I will drive over to Kilkenny and hopefully look around with now opened eyes, I would also like to hand over a copy of a paper back of the Barnsley Mines and Miners, whilst it has been professionally produced it is not a patch on your site.

Very best regards and thank you very much.

Daz Beattie (Yorkshire)