CyberFair Project ID: 5345

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: Dancing with the Nature:Green Architecture of Health, Environmental Protection,and Energy Saving
Category: 7. Environmental Awareness
URL: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2008/gsh5345/index.htm
Bibliography: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2008/gsh5345/index1.htm

School: Taipei Da An Elementary School
    Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwan

11 students, ages 9~11 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 19, 2008. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2006, 2007, 2008

Classes and Teachers: Guo-Qing Yang,Mr. Che-Chang Liu, and Miss Mei-hsuan Lai

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.taes.tp.edu.tw

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

Our school is located in the Daan District of Taipei City. As a basin land shape, the Taipei City is full of green recreation, humanistic art, and culture of historical buildings. City have been greatly increased, especially in the promotion of aspects in environmental greenly, garbage classification, waste reduction and energy saving. The purpose is wishing everybody to work together in constructing a “Taipei Environmental Protection City”.

2. Summary of Our Project

The purpose of this research project is to awaken everybody to establishing an everlasting eco Earth. This is not of a local or national eco environmental issue, but a global one that everyone living on this planet should be concerned with .This activity allows us to learn together about our environment. Through various interviews and visits, we learned much beyond textbooks. Via our research and field study, we wish to bring back the clean and beautiful Earth.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:more than 6

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 IT hardware facilities are complete in the school. Each classroom has a computer. Besides three computer classrooms and a multi-media classroom, there are LAN (with fiber bone and 100M ), internet (outward fiber and 10M ), and internet hard disc space. Therefore, it is very convenient in terms of data gathering, software teaching, and webpage making.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

A.Arrangement of Time

In the entire research process, we needed to use spare time to accomplish the project—from setting up the topic, collecting data, allocating the tasks, communicating and discussion, visiting and interviewing, data sorting out, to writing up contents, as well as webpage design and production. It is indeed painstaking. Plus we still needed to take care of school lessons and tests and examinations; all these works let all the team members especially laborious. Some even faced difficulties or not easy to allocate time and tried to give up. Nevertheless, eventually, we finished the project successfully. The major force was on the teachers' constant encouragement that made us realized “No pain, no gain.” Doing research needs to pay time and efforts. We thus were full of confidence and efforts of continuity to work on until the end.

B.Data Collection and Sorting Out

After deciding the topic, we spent great efforts in looking up for the related data from internet and libraries. In addition, the interviewees were very eager to provide information to us that enlighten our data. In sorting out the data, we also spent plenty efforts. We trimmed the interview contents from the recording pen specifically in details, and then let the interviewees to countercheck to make sure to be completed. Although this may be time consuming; however, we thought this may enrich the project.

For us the beginners of webpage making, webpage design, dealing with pictures, arranging contents, and animation effects were totally new. Hence, teachers usually set up computer courses on Wednesday afternoons to teach us the techniques of webpage making. In doing so, we gradually acquired the skills and knowledge of webpage making. Plus repetitive practices, we have progressively overcome the difficulties.

C.Terminology

Our research topic is on green architecture. There are the related terminologies involved for the related architecture field. Therefore, while writing up contents and conducting interviews, we felt especially difficult. We had to prepare in advance to try to understand the terminologies one by one in order to overcome the difficulties of research.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

From the discussion, information collection, analysis, research to the display of web pages, these are the biggest joy and gains from instructing the students to carry out this topic research.

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

A. Integrating the Environmental Education Curriculum The environmental education emphasizes purposes of the environmental consciousness and sensitivity, notion and knowledge of environment, value and attitude of environment, environmental action skills, and environmental action experiences. The education values even more on teaching students understand the basic concept of ecology, environmental issues (such as green house effect, earth slide, river pollution, and air pollution, and so on), and its impact on human life, as well as understand daily opportunity and action of environmental protection. It also teaches resources reduction and recycling, simple living, and eco design, and so on. The curriculum emphasizes multiplicity and liveliness to let the students obtain more accurate recognition of environmental protection in order to open positive action in protecting the Earth. B. Integrating Local Education Curriculum The purpose of local education is to let the students know the humanistic, geographic, and natural environment of our living surroundings, and further to cultivate the enthusiasm of local neighborhood. Through the opportunities of research project of Cyber Internet Fair, we spent the spare time to visit every place and collected data and took pictures. With the accumulative data of visits, we constructed the nearby living topics, and edited the collected information and reflections. Through the internet, we shared the information and felt the growth and joy together. And we also shared the beauty of this land. The purpose of so doing is to let us go back to our community to understand such rich natural humanistic essence, and wish us to protect our homeland with concrete actions. C. Integrating Information Education Curriculum Through the modern technology tool, digital camera, we collected everything we have been visited; in the meantime, we recorded our interviews via recording pen. We also inquired data from internet of school, and further up linked and forwarded our research report and the progress to the internet on time. More importantly, we make the project webpage by ourselves with our research results by way of our learnt skills of all kinds of computer software. We thus share our joy and fruition with one another.

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Project Elements

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

1.Oral interview : To visit and to interview scholars and professionals of architecture-related business, in order to understand better of green architecture information. 2.Internet :Using internet to look for related webpage and to collect information needed. 3.Digital camera, recording pen :Taking pictures and video-taping during the interviews. 4.Scanner, printer:Using scanner to deal with images, and using printer to photocopy data for circulation. 5. Telephone, fax machine :Via telephone and fax machine to contact and to communicate with the interviewees 6.FTP,E-mail :Inter-transmitting and restore of photos taken and related data by the team members 7.Flash drive, CDRW :Restoring project related data to PCs that are unconnected to internet. 8.Drawing board:Through graphic drawing to let the web page contents more vivid and more interesting. 9.Computer software :Dreamweaver, PhotoImpact, FlashFXP, Office, and so on.

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

A. Visits and Interviews : by the chance of visits and interviews, we explained our research theme and purpose to the interviewees.

B. Consulting with professionals : According to the research theme and contents, we interviewed scholars, professionals, and businessmen of architecture field, as well as principal and directors of the school, wished to understand more about knowledge and opinions of green architecture.

C. Participation with parents : We encourage parents to be part of us to jointly participate in the visits and interviews and other research activities, and to support and to assist us in a timely fashion.

D. Participation in the community : The research team turns the notion of environmental protection to action, through participating in the cleanness of community to let more local citizens know our research theme and purpose.

E. Questionnaires : By actual interviews and questionnaire survey to let the community residents realize our research theme and purpose. It is to let the local residents know our subject and purpose of the research via on-site interviews and questionnaires. The purpose is to wish to understand the opinions of the local residents to green architecture. And through the interviews, to promote the notions of environmental protection and energy saving, as well as the impact of present crises of global environment to us.

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

From the process of research, we think the eco system of the Nature has to be maintained in an equilibrium status in order to function normally. Human being and the Nature is a life common mutuality. Once the balance is lost, the operation of Nature will loose its order, and brings about an eco disaster. This will even threaten the safety of human and the Earth. Unfortunately, the overdevelopment of Taiwan in the past few decades has destroyed plenty dwelt land of animals; we can see living stocks and plants of the past frequently seen creatures no more.

The human development behavior made the urban green land less and less. We see concrete high rise buildings everywhere and higher and higher. We live in an urban concrete forest. We can pay no more respect and care to protect the valuable assets of the Nature left. We can no longer overlook the natural rules to change the eco system without self-consciousness. What kind of revenge the Nature might take, we will not know until someday in the future.

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

To successfully accomplish the research project, we would especially thank those professionals, scholars, and architecture business, parents, and teachers who have been interviewed by us, provided data and opinions to us, that allow the specific presentation of our research contents, and let our research be completed in the timely fashion. Without your enthusiastic support and consultancy, we were unable to finish it smoothly. The research fruition should be attributed to you.

Most importantly, we would like to thank the constant encouragement and backup support from Principal, Directors, and teachers. This allows us be confident to finish the project. In addition, we would like to pay attribute to three instructors who sacrificed precious time and instructed us with great patience. Hereby, we would also like to thank our friends who helped us and our supportive parents. The work is dedicated to you. Wish you all healthy and everyday is a fine day.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

To construct the research project, we not only interviewed the Principal and Directors of the school, but also visited the architecture undertakers on site. Furthermore, to enrich the depth of the research, we also interviewed scholars and professionals in the field. In addition, we designed questionnaires to survey the community residents of school nearby area. Along the research, we learned a lot, and enlarged our learning scope and enhanced our knowledge. We are glad to have the opportunities in participating in the project with the guidance of teachers; we grow up a great deal.

Looking back, we knew very little about the topic, nor the webpage making. Fortunately, teachers designed a series of learning units to let us know the importance of team work, as well as research writing skills and web page making. Such as, plan for research outline, data collection and organization, employment of Word input of data after sorting out, methods of making reports, and so on. We also learned how to effectively obtain various kinds of information by way of multiple resources, such as books, magazines, periodicals, electronic databank, CD-Rom and internet resources in the library. In addition, we used oral interview; all these skills helped out to our data collection and analysis. In the process of making web page, we further learned various software applications. Teachers also introduce to us how to adopt programs to make special effects, such as modification of pictures, computer aid graphics, animation, art work for web page, and so on.

Down the road, although we felt hardship to accomplish the assignments and the goal teachers assigned to us; however, we reflected from the team work spirit, and learned from the failure and lessons. We modified the shortcomings time after time, and accumulated the learning results. Now, with the presentation of the results, we surprisingly found out that our potentials are beyond limits.

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