School: CHANG-SING JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
    Changhua City, Taiwan, Taiwan

7 students, ages 14-15 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on February 18, 2013. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2012

Classes and Teachers: Teacher Shih-Chieh Wang, Teacher Yu-Fang Liang, Tzu-ning Liao, Yu-hsuan Kang, Ying-shan Chen, Yu-ting Tseng, Fang-ju Liu, Wei-han Chang, Yu-chuan Chen

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://163.23.68.130/htdocs/

1. Description of Our Community

Nanyao Temple Zhenxing She is an association within Nanyao Temple, a historical site located in the Nanyao Neighborhood of Changhua City. The association was founded about a century ago for training the local citizens in martial arts for defense, fitness, and participation in temple activities.

2. Summary of Our Project

During the early Republic of China, Hsing Wu, a disciple of Master A-shan of Xiluo, who taught Baozheng Chuan, a Chinese-styled Chuan, to the citizens, established a Zhenxing She in Nanyao Temple. Zhenxing She had been fruitful for a while and ran in various places. However, due to changes in time, the members gradually declined and Zhenxing She eventually faded. The Zhenxing She of Nanyao Temple is currently having difficulty too; therefore, we produced webpages to record the history and martial arts of the association and we hope to introduce it to people through the Cyberfair project.

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):

School computers: used to search for data and produce webpages through the Internet Members' homes: where information is organized, messages are sent, and data is discovered through ADSL on personal computers. Network: used to discuss, share, and integrate the information within the team through the Internet.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

1.No experienced members: We didn't know much about webpage production, so we asked the teachers to teach us techniques. Thankfully, we had great teachers who not only taught us, but they also came to the school to assist us in working on the project during winter break. 2.Webpage-making software: After the jobs were assigned, the team could only work at school due to the members’ lack of webpage-making software at home. We were severely behind on our progress; thus, we decided to type information on Word at home and integrate it at school. Later on, we discovered that our webpage-making instruction book included a software CD with a 30-day trial, allowing us to work directly at home. As for other needed software, we used free ones. 3.Limited meetings: In the beginning, we always worked when the entire team was free, so we were quite behind the expected progress and many meetings could not be agreed upon at once. Later on, we divided into groups to avoid any more problems. 4.Disagreements: As we worked together, we often had different opinions, but after several conflicts, we gradually learned to cooperate with and tolerate one another.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

In the beginning of the Cyberfair project, we rarely knew anything about Zhenxing She but were curious. After the project, we realized that the association actually has many things to do with daily life, such as temple activities, healing, and the lion dance during grand openings for businesses and such. We also understood that we can achieve the goal through coordination, whether there are different opinions, interviews, content writings, or webpage coding. In the Cyberfair project, we learned to integrate and apply what we have learned and ask for guidance from teachers when we have questions.

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

Our school, an energetic campus, strives to provide comprehensive education so that every student of the school can be healthy, innovative, caring and growing. Therefore, we would like to let the school know that we have acquired the joy of learning and putting in effort, through the Cyberfair project. In the activity, we actively explored knowledge and positively stimulated our potentials, so we now understand the significance of the project even more. Besides, we combined the web design, which we learned through the school curriculum, and graphics software together to apply our knowledge even deeper and broader through the Cyberfair project. In the project, through interactions between the teachers and us, the students, the school knows our needs for guidance; through practice, we see our disadvantages and weaknesses; through coordination and communication, we, the team, get to achieve the goal. It was a valuable teaching and learning experience for both the teachers and us.

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

1.Telephones, Cell phones: Communicate, Discuss, Take photos 2.Computers(PC, Notebook, iPad): Create webpages, Upload images, Manage articles 3.Software (Flash, Word, PhotoImpact, Excel, Dreamweaver, photoscape, etc.): Produce webpages, Create reports 4.Internet: Find information relative to Nanyao Temple Zhenxing She, Observe previous works of the Cyberfair, Watch progress, Assign work, Integrate data 5.Portable hard drive: Backup data and images 6.CDs: Transfer data and works 7.Voice recording pen (1): Record interview content 8.Digital camera: Take photos 9.Printer: Print data

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

We called the interviewees to schedule appointments before visiting them in person. In the interviews, we’ve gained a lot of knowledge, which also included how to access the interviewees and record the interview content. Through the interviews, we learned about the tough life and environment that people used to live in. We also acted as ambassadors to explain to them the benefits and effects of Internet promotion, how the researched information would be posted on a website for promoting Nanyao Temple Zhenxing She, and how the information would be kept on the website for information exchange with other Zhenxing She.

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

1. It changed our view of the temple festival troupes. We now understand the performances in temple festivals are done by the hard work of the devout volunteers of Nanyao Temple Zhenxing She, and it is their honor to present the performance to Mazu. 2. We learned communication and cooperation through teamwork. Through coordination of conflicts in the project, we understand the importance of well-distributed assignments, progress management, and communication skills for completing a project. We believe this is a good experience to us for future research or work. 3. We learned to apply the knowledge. When starting the project, we realized that we knew so little. Thus, we had to learn progress reports making, questionnaire analysis, image editing, and webpage producing while working on them. However, we always felt excellent every time when breaking through our bottleneck. In this way, we completed the Cyberfair project with a mix of pain and joy.

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

We selected the Nanyao Temple Zhenxing She for the theme of the Cyberfair, so that more people could understand this community and more locals could understand that they could learn a lot through the Internet. Besides, we shared our website and information with the locals to let them know that they could record the history of Nanyao Temple Zhenxing She and even the martial arts instruction, taught by word-of-mouth, on the Internet for heritage preservation and promotion.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

On the first visit to Mr. Liu, we, forgetting our manners, nervously took out the drafted questions to interview him right when we got there. Mr. Liu said, “Wait! You want to introduce yourself first and then explain what you are going to do before starting the questions, don’t you?” Then, with Mr. Liu’s witty answers, we completed the interview. We learned a lot including interview manners, from our first visit and applied them in the later interviews and questionnaires. It was interesting that some of the interviewees happened to be relatives or friends of some of the team members. Once when we were watching a DVD regarding Nanyao Temple Zhenxing She’s activities, some of our team members cried out, “That’s my grandpa!” or “My aunt just walked by!”