CyberFair Project ID: 7297

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: Treasure our old stories, cherish every touching moment.
Category: 6. Historical Landmarks
URL: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2012/gsh7297/index.htm
Bibliography: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2012/gsh7297/bi.htm

School: GueiShan Junior High School
    Taoyuan County, , Taiwan

9 students, ages 13-14 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 16, 2012. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2012

Classes and Teachers: I-Wei Wang, Yi-Chien Lien, Yi-Han Lo, Yu-Tung Lin

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.gsjh.tyc.edu.tw

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

Our school, Gueishan junior high school which is located the Gueishan township, and there are four military dependants' villages here. One of these villages is famous for its telenovela, and another one is famous because of the exhibition center of military dependants' villages. The two villages are near our school, and there is an important geography relation between our school and the villages. This is the reason why we choose these two villages as our project topic. According to the meaning of culture, military dependants' village has possessed its uniquely historical relics and stories. By appreciating the videos and historical relic’s displays in the museum of military dependants' village’s story, we can find that one of things we must do now, is to record and keep the cultures of military dependants' village. So we use the military dependants' village as our topic.

2. Summary of Our Project

There are more than 800 military dependants' villages in Taiwan. It’s really a bad story that because of many wars, and wars made the military dependants' villages exist. In Gueishan township, there were nine military dependants' villages before. With the policy of demolishing villages, the number of these villages is decreasing. In Gueishan township, there are only four villages here now. There are a lot of memories in the military dependants' villages. However, with the time goes by, the residents in the villages pass away. The stories of the villages are gone with the wind. In order to keep the memories and stores of the military dependants' villages in Gueishan, we choose 'Sian Guang 2nd village' and 'Lu Guang 3rd village' as our project theme. In this project, we introduce the greater part of histories, the location, customs and eating habits of the military dependants' villages by using interview to get the research data. Besides, we will especially focus on introducing the museum of military dependants' village’s story and Sian Guang 2nd Village. Finally, we will give the point and idea about the prospect of the military dependants' village in the future. People who live in the military dependants' village came from every province in China, Taiwanese people and these people have different backgrounds, and they exchange, understand and finally achieved a peace lifestyle with each other on this beautiful island, Formosa-Taiwan. One of the immediate things we can do is to preserve the cultures of the military dependants' village. The bases of preserving them are to record stories and their cultures. All people should work hard to think about how to finish” the dream of preserving the cultures of the military dependants' village”.

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:4-6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

At the beginning, students did not quite understand about the definition of military dependants' villages. Therefore, the development, history, culture, and evolution should be understood by students. The part of progress was very critical because it’s more important to study in schoolwork than other all in Taiwan. So that we could only use the limited time to carry out team work. The difficulties of preparation before interview lied in what questions we wanted to make and where we could find interviewees. Students were able to make questions after they understood the culture of military dependants' villages. With the passage of time, some of the first generation residents in military dependents' villages were deceased, which also increased the difficulty in finding interviewees. We deeply appreciated all staff of the military dependants' villages Story land to give a helping hand, and let us overcome the difficulties. Before the interview, it is difficult for us to make questions. And during the interview, because of accent, students understood the meaning hardly. In that time students needed to listen to several times or listened to other’s explanation to understand interviewee’s meaning.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Culture of military dependents’ villages is the most important part in Taiwan’s history. As time changing, fewer and fewer people deeply understand about this culture. By this experience, students not only exactly understand about it, but also experience happiness in their lives. Through this interview, more and more military dependents village’s stories and culture can be recorded.

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

During this project, we communicate with community residents and visit community. These activities make a combination of community and school. We can say that not only us but also residents join the project. We learn a lot of knowledge in this project. We understand the culture of military dependents' villages; we know the meaning of the exhibitions of the museum. Most of the information we get aren’t in the textbook. Besides, we build a partner relationship between the community and our team. We also learn the team work experience and web technology from the project. This is the first project we met during our school life. It’s very exciting, but it is hard, too. We encounter lots of problems and difficulties. However, our teacher encourages us not to give me, and also solve the problems with us. We understand how to arrange works; how to use the time well; how to arrange interviews; how to communicate with people. We also learn a lot about web design. We understand how to design a web; how to use the software; how to arrange the content; how to make tests of web. We may not learn these things if we don’t join the project. In this modern life, “Internet” plays an important role. We can search and learn from the internet. It may be more correct to get the data from the books, but it is faster to get the data from the internet. Besides, we clearly understand that “interviews” are the most important role in the project. Only interview can get the first-hand data.

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Project Elements

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

For hardware, we use computers (notebooks), digital cameras, recorders and USD Flash Drives. For software, we use Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Word 2003, Corel Ulead PhotoImpact X3, Adobe PhotoShop CS5, Adobe Flash CS5.5, Adobe Dreamweaver CS5.5, WinRAR, fonts, Windows Internet Explorer 8, Windows Media Player 10, Windows Movie Maker, Xmind 3, FileZilla 3. Others: Email, Facebook, phone, cellphone, bicycle and motorcycle. All the software above is very helpful to us. It’s hard to learn all of them in a short time, but we make it. All the things above are provide by ourselves and school.

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

In order to get the first-hand data, we need to interview with residents. However, we encounter a problem. With the time goes by, some of the residents (the first generation) passed away. It means that it is hard to find suitable interviewees. We are luck that the staffs of the museum do our favor to find eight interviewees. We get a lot of information from them, and we not know learn the culture but also heard lots of fun stories. During the interviews, some grandpas told us about the hard they came from mainland China; some grandmas told us about the sweet love stories. We think it is a deeply memory of them, and we do our best to record all the stories and memories. We want to introduce the most special culture, the culture of military dependents' villages, to all people around the world. We do our best to record and present it. Then, we hope our website can be seen by people from all over the world. We should use some community tools like Twitter, Facebook to promote our website. In the real world, we can combine with the museum to let more people know our website.

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

Our project is about the military dependants' villages. During the time of the project, we visit the museum and Sian Guang 2nd Village. We interview with grandpa and grandma in the village, and we also talk with the staffs of the museum. In this project, we use modern technology and interview to record the culture of military dependants' villages. Also, we use words to keep the stories and memories of the residents in the village. From the activities and communication, we establish new relationship between our school and our community. We not only get the information about our community but also know more people here. We also do our best to do something about the community. We successfully link our school and our community. People in Taiwan can learn new things including culture, history, and delicacy of the villages from our website. People who live here should understand this information because it’s an important role in the history of Taiwan. For people around the world, they can know the special culture of military dependants' villages in Taiwan. Also, we offer lots of information about the museum and the Sian Gunag 2nd Village information. Tourists can get the full information from our website. The most special spot is we offer transportation instructions in both English and Chinese. There will be no problem for their travel even they don’t understand Chinese. Just show the image we offered then enjoy the best trip.

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

For this project, we need to thank everyone who helps us. First, we would like to thank our mother and father. They always encourage us to do our best in this project. Second, we need to thank 8 grandpa and grandma who accept our interview. Their stories always make us sad, but we can learn from the stories. We also understand the military dependants' villages more clearly from their stories. Most of them are more than 70 years old, but they still do their best to share their memories and their photos. This is a great help for our project. Third, we would like to thank the staff of the museum. They not only introduce the museum and the Sian Guang 2nd village but also help us to contact the interviewees. With the passage of time, some of the first generation residents in military dependents' villages were deceased, which also increased the difficulty in finding interviewees. However, with the effort with the staff of the museum, we can interview with the residents of the villages sommthly.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

In the beginning, most of our team members don’t understand what the military dependents' villages are, and we don’t know about the museum, either. We are very lucky that we can have change to do the project because it makes us understand our community and the culture. During the interview with grandpa and grandma, we find many stories and memories from them. It’s a tragedy for them because of the war. These stories told us that we need to treasure our family and friends. Although we sometimes argue with them, we need to understand they are the closest people with us. No one can expect what will happen tomorrow. Everyone should seize the moment. From the interview, we clearly understand the emotion they miss their country and the deeply love they have in their life.

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View our CyberFair Project (Project ID: 7297)

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