Date: Fri, 07 Mar 1997 15:57:21 -0600
To: satex@mail.ed.uiuc.edu
From: Steve Downey <downey@uiuc.edu>
Subject: Project Proposal

The project I am planning is entitle, "Great Minds Think Alike"
It is available at http://hre.ed.uiuc.edu/downey/minds

Great Minds... incorporates multiple disciplines to tap the minds and
imagination of English-speaking school children around the world in an
attempt to determine how alike or unalike they think.


What the project offers
-----------------------
For the Language field, Great Minds... features the works of
Coleridge, Shelley, and Shakespeare among others while
emphasizing the parts of speech in the English language.

For the Math field, Great Minds... provides statistical tables
for basic math, probability, and trend analysis work.

For the Social Studies field, Great Minds... compiles student
contributions in multiple demographic formats to facilitate
comparisons between genders, grade levels, and regions of the
world.


How the project works
---------------------
Great Minds... begins with a grammar tool common in many
classrooms, Mad Libs. Students are prompted for words from the
various parts of speech in the English language (i.e, noun,
verb). For each prompt, students enter their response in a field
and when all fields are filled, they click the CREATE STORY
button at the bottom of the form. The students' responses are
then inserted into some of the greatest poetic works ever
written. What results is generally humorous, sometimes wierd, and
occasionally profound.

Students also can submit their answers electronically to the
project's database. By doing this, they help to form the data
which will determine how similarly minds in different parts of
the United States, and the world, think.

The database information is compiled every two weeks and tables
are provided showing the total number of all responses for all
Mad Lib stories in each grammatical category as well as the
frequency of the more common responses in each category. Similar
information is provided for responses from different parts of the
United States, different continents, by grade, and by gender.


How to participate in the project
---------------------------------
Great Minds... uses Javascipt on many of its pages. Therefore, you must use a
Javascript-capable Web browser. Netscape Navigator 2.x and 3.x or Microsoft
Internet Explorer 3.x are the most common Javascript-capable browsers.

The project runs through April 15, 1997. Individual students and classroom
groups up through grade 12 may participate. Classroom teachers wishing to
receive additional project information, i.e., an executive summary of the
project, should contact me at the following addresses.

     Steve Downey
     email: downey@uiuc.edu
     University of Illinois
     345 Education Building
     1310 South Sixth Street
     Champaign, IL 61802 USA

After April 15, the CREATE STORY function will continue operate, although
students will not be able to submit their responses to the project's database.
Subsequently, the tables showing the students responses will not be updated
after April 15.