School: Lisin elementary school
    Yilan, Yilan, Taiwan

23 students, ages 11-12 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 14, 2008. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2004,2005

Classes and Teachers: Deck Lin, Grace Chou, Levi Lian, Fengyu Guo

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.lses.ilc.edu.tw

1. Description of Our Community

Yilan county is in the north-east side of Taiwan. The neighbors are Taipei and Hualien. The county is surrounded by the mountains, so it's not easy to come and go. But for the same reason, it has the very different air. There's no airport in Yilan in the past. So the passengers had to move by the bus or the train. Taking train is a better idea, because is quicker. So it's always hard to get the ticket. After the High way No.5 is opened, there're more way to go to Yilan.

2. Summary of Our Project

The teacher had told us the stories of visiting the station in Yilan. We really interested in it. So we want to learn more about the stations. We wrote down what we saw and what we thought. It's the peregrination of the trips of visiting the stations. And it shows that stations are not only for transportation. Each station has it own story for us to read. Besides, we collected a lot of pictures to show the change of every station. Hope you enjoy it!

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:21-50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:1

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

The internet education of Taiwan began in 1998. The computer and the equipment of internet came into every school at that time. But the equipment is only in the computer lab. So the teacher had to bring their students to the lab for learning computer. Teachers and students can log on the internet in their homeroom in 2005. So everyone can log on the internet right away.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

We had lots of problem on the project. The most difficult challenge is the time. We can only visit the station on the weekend, and the schedule is up to the train's time table. So we divide in 5 group. Every one looks for the information of one station. So we can get as more information as possible in such a short time. Sometimes it's hard to get information on the internet. So we have to search more data from the library, and the interview with the staff of the stations.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

We learn a lot after we visited the stations. We thought the station is only for transportation at first. But we knew every station has it's own story and it's own meaning now. It will be a wonderful journey if you visit the stations with a different view just like us.

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

The new things we know in the project. 1.The living skills: We know how to buy the ticket, how to read the time table, and how to take the train. It's the basic living skills. 2.The social studying: We know that trains play the role of improving the transportation in Taiwan. And the station is important for the citizen. 3.The internet: We learned how to make a website, how to use the digital camera, and how to edit the phptos. 4.The science studying: The CTC system control all the trains on the way. And the technology helps to let every train move favorably. We watched the ticket coming out of the printer, it's amazing!

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

The tools we used: 1.NVU:Nvu is a web authoring system. We use the freeware to complete our pages. 2.Photo Impact:Edit to photos 3.Camera: We took photos of every stations. 4.Book: There's a book published in 1999. It's shows the information of every station in Taiwan. We learned the history from the book. 5.Wikipedia:We got lots of information such as the stations, the express, and the railway.

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

November 17th 2007, when we're on the trip, we met a friendly train master. The master is a funny person. He told us many stories of the train. Some of them are fun, some of them are sad. The train we took is over 20 years old, so sometimes the door can't be closed. The master show us how to close the door, he kicked the door, and it closed right away. It's so funny! January 11th 2008, we visited Yilan station. The station master showed us the operation of the station. And we visited the ticketing, we learned about how they keep everything in control. So we asked many questions, and the master answered them patiently. Some of our teachers lived in Suao before. So we had a interview with the teachers, and learned many things that we never heard before.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

The highway replace the function of railway recently. The railway is no more important. We tried to remind people the wonderful memories about taking trains through this project. The experience can not be replace by anything. And we also hope the people who never take trains can have fun with our website.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

We began to search the information after we decided the topic. Our teachers in the school also gave us many suggestions. They suggested us to write the travel note. Because anyone can find the information on the wed, but the travel note is original. Some of the teacher also told us their experience about taking trains.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

For many students, the experience of taking trains or visiting stations is very special. Because they never did it before. Most people take train for transportation. They don't want to stay in the station. But through the project, the students learned how to look the station in a different way. And they learned many living skills like how to buy the ticket in the project. No matter the end is good or not, the memory is forever!