"An educational adventure
through the wilds of Africa"
Overview Concept Content About Me Getting
Involved Who’ll Participate
Overview:
The AFRICAN ED-Venture is an ambitious and exciting expedition
that will cross Africa in a fully Internet capable and satellite
linked Land Rover as a highly interactive, educational project.
The ED-Venture will combine the thrill of an African expedition
with expansive and content rich educational projects, subject modules, special
events, as well as a place to meet and make friends from all
over the world. Schools, teachers, and students can use the Com-link to interact directly with the
expedition via e-mail, voice, and video conferencing. You might
want to see how we are doing, get help with projects, or use the interaction forum to collaborate on
projects with other schools worldwide. You can follow every inch
of the expedition through a fascinating web site where we'll put
everything from the weather at the top of Kilimanjaro
to an explanation of gravity as I jump off
a perfectly good bridge 216m from the ground attached with an
overgrown rubber band. Departing Cape Town in September 1999, the
expedition will journey through 10 African countries, cross the
Red Sea, the middle east and Europe, to arrive in London February
2000 for the start of the new Millennium.
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Concept:
The AFRICAN ED-Venture is a fun, exciting way to introduce IT,
computers, and the Internet to those not familiar with their use
in the teaching environment. For those already using computers
and the Internet, it’s a great reason to use the Internet as
a resource and learning tool. The expedition will function as an
adventurous and stimulating visual learning and motivation tool
to integrate IT with traditional subjects blurring boundaries
between subjects historically taught separately. It is discovery
and thematic learning based, teaches high technology
communications and writing skills, gives an insight into the
outside world, and encourages interaction. It will stimulate
thinking about the world beyond the classroom, and build
confidence in those who join us on this incredible expedition.
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Content:
There are 1O excellent, fantastic, and wonderful ED-venture
themes:
- The GREAT ED-Venture will be the actual journey
and include a travel diary, travel log, mystery pictures,
and the social, historical and cultural characteristics
of countries we journey through. We will share with you
our progress and travel stories as well as expedition
triumphs and tragedies. You can see pictures of the
places we have been, where we got stuck and how we got
out, what we had to eat, who we met, and just about
everything to do with driving a 25 year old Land Rover
almost 20 000 Km through the wilds of Africa!
- The African ED-Venture Live. Would you like us to
come visit you and your school in the expedition Land
Rover? No problem! The ED-venture live will be actual
visits to schools before, during, and after the
expedition to meet students and teachers and give
presentations. It’s also educational too, because
I'll talk non-stop science, everything from fungi (my
favorite organisms) to tropical insects (and how they
taste), and show you pictures and video from the
expedition. If you would like us to visit your school,
please contact me at dwilson@postino.up.ac.za
or xplorer1999@hotmail.com
- Expedition ED-Vents are
high-adventure special events for the thrill seekers.
These will include an ascent of Kilimanjaro (with the
satphone, so give us a call when we're on top!), SCUBA
diving in Lake Malawi, and the worlds highest bungee jump
at a mere 216 meters, (now how many feet would that be?).
There is actually a point to these ED-vents; they will be
used to illustrate a number of serious science concepts.
The bungee
jump is a great way to prove that what goes down
must come up. Hang on, that’s not right. But
if I think about it, once I jump and fall down, I
bounce right back up. Hmm, I wonder why it works
that way? Hey, why not get your students started
on that one right now! Anyway, the bungee jump
will be used to illustrate specific concepts such
as gravity, acceleration, and elasticity. Kilimajaro
is a high mountain (about 19 340 ft, now what
would that be in meters?), and its Africa's
highest. It will be used to show that there is
snow just 3 degrees from the equator, that
temperatures fall with altitude (that’s why
its so cold at the top) and how the human body
reacts to thin air. But wait, there's more, they
grow coffee on Kilimanjaro, and Ernest Hemingway
even wrote one of his famous book set in the
region.
What about SCUBA diving in Lake
Malawi? Well, if I tell you all about the
importance of pressure-density relationships and
the bends in SCUBA diving, or that Lake Malawi is
located in the Great Rift Valley and was
rediscovered by David Livingston (as in Dr.
Livingstone I presume, by the way, for 10 points
who said that famous quote?), there won't be
anything left to tell you when we get there!
- Wild Africa will have special features on
conservation research programs and scientists working on
Africa’s rare and endangered wildlife. This will
focus on the science of conservation biology, but
explained in everyday language. Now be prepared for the
science behind conservation, because this will not be
your everyday "look at the cute cheetahs". No,
we'll go into the importance of genetic diversity and
consequences of small population sizes. We'll go into
what happens when populations get too large and when
animals overpopulate a habitat and relate this to famine
in some countries and abundant food supplies in others.
So sit back, hold on to your shorts, because we're going
to show you the science behind caring for the cute and
furies, as well as how endangered species are managed.
- ED-Venture Modules and
Mini-modules: We are developing a series of
educational modules on lots of different topics. They
will be general enough so you can use many of them. Some
will be small so they will fit in well with existing
lessons or projects; others will be large projects. These
will be content rich and illustrated with pictures and
video form the expedition. For example, we'll have
smaller modules on insects, and one on fungi. Then we
will have a large one on the "Dawn of Humans"
where we will visit all the paleoanthropological sites
from South Africa right up along the Great Rift Valley
through eastern Africa. These are where all the pre-human
fossil ape-men like Lucy (well ape-women to be more
accurate) were found. You see Africa is the cradle of
mankind and full of incredible discoveries. We'll even
tell you what Australopithecus means and show you
where one of the first was found. Your school can develop
a web site on any one of the educational topics and even
win a great prize for the best site.
- WebQuests. If you've not used, or even heard of
WebQuests, you have missed out. These are wonderfully
creative projects and tasks that stimulate thought,
enquiry, and assimilation of information in contrast to
redundant information gathering. We'll have lots of
WebQuests that will be used as vehicles for processing
and analyzing expedition "data", by drawing
students in to create there own adventure. I'm not going
to say more about these just yet, but maybe I will later,
so stay tuned!
- The Com-Link. This will be
the interaction gateway for communication with the
expedition. Why not send us an e-mail? Or maybe a fax?
But for the really brave, just give us a call,
that’s right just pick up the phone and dial our
number! If you really want to get adventurous, why not
have a go at videoconferencing? You can call just to say
Hi, gather information about a project, find out what the
weather is like, or even find out what a school in the
Tanzanian bush is like. Give it a go! I'll tell you the
cost of the calls later.
- Cyber Gallery. Show the
rest of the world what you and your school can do by
building build a really cool web site on one of the
educational topics. I'll list the topics latyer. The
Cyber Gallery will give schools an opportunity to develop
their own web sites thereby integrating IT with relevant
subject material for display in an international arena.
Choose a topic relevant to the expedition, and the best
site will even win a grand prize.
- Interaction Forum.
This will be where you can chat and make new friends with
other folks following the expedition, maybe a school in
SOWETO in South Africa. By the way, did you know that
SOWETO stands for SOuth WEstern TOwnships? This will
provide schools with an Internet location and the chance
to meet, exchange ideas, collaborate on projects, and
chat about the expedition and questions we ask. It will
broaden anyone's horizons and give you a chance to chat
with a huge diversity of other people.
- Wish 2000. This a very special project. It
allows children around the world to share the things they
wish for in the new Millennium. Children in the countries
we visit can write down their wish and children anywhere
else can e-mail us their wish, which will be displayed
with their picture as a web site postcard.
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Who will participate and benefit?
Schools, educators, outdoor enthusiasts,
and many others from around the world will join the AFRICAN
ED-Venture. It has thus far attracted incredible enthusiasm and
active interest from all walks of the educational community in
South Africa, as well as the UK, and USA. It is especially
designed to benefit schools and school students (grades 1-12),
teachers, and educators in the broader sense. For full
participation, Internet access is required, and at a basic level,
a telephone. I already receive many enquiry’s and
invitations to give presentations each week as news trickles
through the international community.
Beyond the educational community, it has attracted excitement
and captured the interest of Land Rover and 4x4 organizations,
adventure travelers, and other expeditions. The conservation and
wildlife aspects coupled with the hard science element also has a
broader international appeal to the general community at large.
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How can YOU get involved right NOW?
These are just a few of the ways you can get involved RIGHT
NOW, before departure! Send me your schools web site URL or your
schools address and an e-mail contact address. You will then
appear in the Interaction Forum
when the expedition web site is posted.
- Why not help us plan our route? It’s a fantastic way
to get on the internet, look at maps, learn geography,
find out international news, and examine other countries
by helping us plan our route up the eastern side of
Africa. You will need to find out which countries are too
dangerous to cross (because of bombs, bullets and
bandits), where the roads go, and how to cross rivers.
- You can sign up to have your URL or e-mail address placed
on the Interaction Forum
and team up with other schools, students, teachers, and
people worldwide. You can even team up with an African,
English, or American school!
- Why not get cracking on designing an award winning web
site on a specific subject for the Cyber
Gallery and show off to the rest of the world what
you or your school can do!
- Or how about telling everyone you know about what you and
your school is doing with the expedition by writing
letters and sending e-mails to other schools,
governments, news networks such as the BBC, CNN, or the
SABC, or your favorite TV program like the Discovery
Channel, Blue Peter, or 50/50. Its great practice for
letter writing, helps children learn about organizations
in the media and government, and is really rewarding when
they actually get a reply!
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About Me
Meet (Dennis Wilson) the guy crazy enough to do all of this!
Actually, I will have a travel partner, but I'm not going to
tell you who that will be until later.
I was originally born in England; I received a B. Sc. (hons)
in biology from Durham University, then I moved to the USA and
received a Ph.D. in microbiology from The University of Oregon. I
hold an Assistant Research professor position in the Microbiology
Department at Arizona State University and am currently on a
visiting research position at the Forestry & Agricultural
Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria. I am, and have
been, actively involved with outreach programs and education at
the pre-university/school level. I have given many voluntary
presentation and talks at schools and at conferences on subjects
from insects of Amazon rainforest, to poisonous fungi, to the
role of computers in education. I have made several live
appearances on satellite broadcast educational programs and made
an educational video on fungi. I have guided trips down the
Amazon River and traveled throughout North America and Europe.
One of my more fun trips was to hitchhike from the UK almost to
Syria in Turkey. But that’s enough about me.
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"An educational adventure
through the wilds of Africa"
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our NEW website!!
Overview Concept Content About Me Getting
Involved Who’ll Participate