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1. Description of Our Community
Singapore is a small country having an area of 693 square kilometres. In fact, we are ranked the 44th smallest country in the world. The population of Singapore is about 4 million people. Singapore is a multiracial country made of mainly 4 ethnic groups. They are the Chinese, Malays, Indians and the Eurasians.
Singapore has a world famous airport. The Changi Airport of Singapore has been ranked as one of the world’s best airports. Our local airport has met the expectations of many tourists who travelled to Singapore as we have provided good service and gave the tourists a good sense of security. Not only people who have visited Singapore know about the good services provided, even people from other countries who have never been to Singapore have heard of its good name. Many of us also believe that Singapore’s economy would improve after the Terminal 3 of Changi Airport is built and with the introduction of Formula 1 race and The Youth Olympic Games will also help to boost the economy.
In 2007, the airport handled a record 36.7 million passengers, a 4.8% increase over the 2006 fiscal year. This made it the 20th busiest airport in the world and the fifth busiest in Asia by passenger traffic. Judging by the looks of Terminal 3, we believe that the overall arrival of passengers in Singapore are bound to rise in 2008.
Singapore continues to ensure it has the capacity to accommodate the growth in the aviation market. In fact, just two months after Terminal 3 started operation on 9 January 2008; on 6 March 2008, the Minister of State for Transport announced that the master-planning for Terminal 4 has started.
2. Summary of Our Project
The main aim of our project is to share about Singapore Changi Airport which is one of the world’s best airports. We would be providing a short history and information of the facilities available at the various terminals (Terminal 1, Terminal 2, Terminal 3 and Budget Terminal) at the Changi Airport.
The topic on Singapore Changi Airport was selected for this project because Changi Airport is constantly planning to ensure it has sufficient capacity to accommodate the growth in the aviation market. It continues to stay competitive and “takes decisive steps to strengthen Changi’s position as a leading air hub in the region” said Minister of State for Transport (The Straits Times, March 7, 2008).
This project will focus on Terminal 3 which started operation on 9 January 2008. We will be using photographs and short descriptions to show how the airport provides services like Automated People Mover System, state-of-the-art baggage handling system and features which attract visitors to Singapore like the landscape, shopping and food. It will share how the airport is constantly expanding, upgrading and improving the departure and arrival halls of the terminals to cater to the needs of the increasing number of passengers over the years as well as to handle the new generation of large aircraft, the Airbus 380.
Our group explored Changi Airport to understand the plans and strategy of how Singapore stays ahead by looking at the needs of the community to cope with the growth in the aviation market. Changi Airport is not only a place for transportation between countries, but also a place for tourists to enjoy and to indulge themselves in what Singapore has to offer. Changi Airport showcases local and foreign brands and tasty home-cooked delicacies and introduces them to the outside world.
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:1
E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):
Nil
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
Our main problems were the formation of our team and lack of time. As we were primary students advancing to the secondary level, we had just joined this new School. We volunteered to participate in the project because we were interested to work on a project together. However, we did not know each other well as we were from different primary schools and we had to understand each other. The team members met to discuss the project only in mid-January 2008. Unfortunately, some of the group members were not committed which made the other members confused and angry and thus delayed the progress of the project.
By the time, we settled down to do the project, it was already late January. Since some members were not serious, work on the project did not begin until February. Finally, we decided to focus on our strength and allocated tasks accordingly. At the same time, we had to find time to learn technology skill like Photoshop. Sometimes we had to bring our work home, and the work was not always finished. As the deadline drew near, we had to rush and spent our one week break working on the project. This proved that we had endured through this major problem that could easily dissuade us in further doing of the project. It was a feat we could not call small.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
Our interest in this project gave us the motivation and strength to persevere. As we had volunteered to participate in this project, we had to commit our time to ensure we complete the task.
We have learnt many things when working for the CyberFair Competition that we could not do so in the normal classroom like teamwork, research skill, communication and IT skills. One of our team members’ parents brought us for an outing to the airport to take photographs of the different terminals. This helped us to learn to be more observant of the facilities, services and shops there. We realized that teamwork is very important as everyone must do their part. We learnt to research for information from various resources like the internet, newspaper and we also consulted personnel working at the airport. The education officer for the airport was very helpful to provide us with the necessary information. We learnt technical skills like Photoshop and apply the skills immediately on the photographs taken.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
In Singapore, the Ministry of Education recommended the Baseline ICT Standards, which is a comprehensive list of ICT skills competencies, to be integrated into core subject areas and project work. In participating in the CyberFair Competition, the pupils were able to accomplish the following skills areas such as (1) Learning to operate in an interactive media environment, (2) Learning internet navigation and use search engines independently, (3) Learning to create, edit and format text with word processor, (4) Learning to produce and manipulate multimedia content like flash and PhotoShop, and (5) Learning online communication skill like wiki. At the same time, they learn to respect Intellectual Property and practice safe and responsible use of the internet.
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