CyberFair Project ID: 7672

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: Culture Found Travelling
Category: 3. Business and Community Organizations
URL: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2014/gsh7672/index.htm
Bibliography: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2014/gsh7672/bibliography.htm

School: Siansi Elementary School
    Changhua County, None, Taiwan

8 students, ages 11~12 years old worked together to complete this CyberFair project on January 17, 2014. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): None

Classes and Teachers: Teachers: Xiu-Bei Wang, Shu-Hua Huang, Qing-Xiu Ke, Guan-Peng Chang, Chih-Chi Wei; Students: Yu-Qing Huang, Ji-Yuan Huang, Xiang-Ling Huang, Guan-Bo Huang, You-Zhen Huang, Kai-Chen Xiao, Yu-Wei Liu, Xin-Ru Chen

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.sces.chc.edu.tw/

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

Our hometown is located in Siansi in Changhua County, Taiwan. Siansi is not only the smallest but also the most beautiful township in Changhua. Siansi, the Wind County, is second to none in Hsinchu, the Windy City. Therefore, there are lots of windmills here in Changpin Industrial Zone. From the past of Dioxin incident to Datong oil event today, Siansi significantly increases in popularity, but they cast a shadow over Siansi as well. In view of this, the group of Small Footprint Travellers wants to change people’s bad impression on Her into having a new perspective on the beauty of Siansi.

2. Summary of Our Project

In recent years, people have bad impressions on Siansi. The group of Small Foot Prints wants to introduce the beauty of Siansi for others through Cyberfair. Where can we introduce you to come for a visit? After discussing, we have planned one-day and half-day trip of Siansi for you, and suggested you some attractions. We hope everyone can come to Siansi and understand Siansi through the tour guides’ clearly introduction. Learning by doing, therefore, we planed a camp for training tour guides for who guided the students to some of those attractions. By doing so, we not only found out our deficiencies but also made progress on our capability of guidance during those activities. We have been doing our best to introduce the beauty and culture of Siansi to people, and hope to provide visitors good attractions through the net.

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: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):

Our school currently has a computer classroom, where provides 35 PC. In addition, there is one computer in every classroom. We have totally 50 PC to form a LAN which connects to the Taiwan Academic Network through ZTE University network Center. Students can use PC in computer classroom after class. The speed of the academic network transmission is slow, and our school is far away from the cities. Moreover, many students have no network equipment because of economic problems, so using network at home is not popular and restricted by parents. Therefore, it has a higher degree of difficulty in implementation of information education in Siansi.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

(1) Lack of time: We began to prepare this project last year, but many students could not find the right time to work together, which slowed down the progress. Fortunately, we found our pace to try out best and do our best to work well. (2) Lack of experience: Since this was our first time to join the Cyberfair, so we encountered many difficulties. Fortunately, we solved many problems under teachers’ guidance. (3)Unfamiliar with the dialect: We had communication problem with the respondents, because students did not have good ability of speaking dialect (Taiwanese). However, we had made progress on language problem after a lot of experience of interviews. (4)Poor ability at typing: We visited 10 attractions, and we had to decode the recording into words. Too much noise while recording and our slow typing speed affected the progress, so we changed the way to finish the job. Two people for one team, one was for typing and the other one was for listening and correcting. This method was much better than before. (5)Insufficient capacity in camera viewfinder: Taking pictures is a good way to introduce Siansi to visitors, but we could use autofocus camera only. Teacher Guan-Peng taught us some techniques of photography for 2 hours. We gradually have learned and known how to find a view for taking pictures.

(6)Shortage of writing skills in introduction of attractions: We have never had the experience to write the introduction before, so we do not know how to write. Under Teacher Shu-Hua’s guidance, we practiced many times. Finally we can write good introductions by ourselves. .

5. Our Project Sound Bite

We understand more about Siansi through the research this time. We know more attractions, interesting DIY courses, industries, and environmental problems in Siansi. We have experienced a lot and broaden our horizons; we have improved our ability to express and learned to respect for others. Nevertheless, we know how important of intellectual property rights; it is important to mark the source references on the net. Moreover, we understand Taiwanese plays an important role between young people and elders. Encouraged by the interviewees, teachers, and partners, we faced the difficulties and conquered them. Finally we have completed this hard mission. This is an opportunity for self-affirmation, and we believe there is nothing we can not achieve.

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

(A)Social Studies Learning how to interview, techniques of interview and courtesy through visiting the attractions in Siansi. Understand more history, culture, environment and geography of Siansi.

(B)Arts and Humanities Applying the techniques of painting and designing in art in computer graphics and web pages creating. We used framing techniques and art appreciation to take pictures for our hometown. Integrative Activities Through teamwork, we have understood our own ability, pros and cons, and learned to respect and tolerate others. We also have had the courage to put forward the different ideas with others, and practiced to learn from our teammates.

(C)Language Arts Through the preparation of reports, books studying, and analysis of information, we have developed the abilities of writing, reading, and expression.

(D)Information Technology Education We learned to use lots of computer software to build web pages to present the result of our research.

(E)Mathematics Use excel statistical analysis questionnaire, learning interpret a bar chart to explain the findings.

(F)Environmental Education Understand the importance of the ecological environment through the field survey.

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Project Elements

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

Objects Applications Computer Searching information, building web pages, processing words and photos, and data analysis Camera Shooting scene Pen recorder Recording the conversation Interactive Whiteboard Playing the information to discuss Printer Printing the related information and questionnaire Books Searching some information Telephone Contacting with the interviewees

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

In this case study, we first obtained the consent of the respondents by telephone contact. Later, we interviewed with them and clarified our doubts to get the correct information. Those respondents not only answered our questions, but also provided other information for us. We have the responsibility to let more people know Siansi; we play the role of “Ambassador” to introduce the visitors to understand Siansi. After visiting the attractions in Siansi, we shared our research by posters and activities in the hallway at school. The other students came and listened our introduction the culture, history and attractions in Siansi. They tried to play the puzzles, and answered our questions. We hope they could understand more their hometown through those activities. Moreover, we shared our research to all students and teachers at our school. This is our first time to face so many people and stand on the stage to report. We were very nervous and stammered, but we conquered the fear and anxiety at last. Finally, we completed this task successfully. We hope the students understand and cherish our hometown through our sharing. At last, as tour guides, we planned half-day trip and took third graders to some attractions. From their feedback, we found out they were interested in those places and would like to invite their friends to go the historical sites and attractions in Siansi. Though the students are seldom to go and don’t know clearly those attractions, they are willingly to share their understanding their hometown to their friends and relatives after our introduction. Therefore, we again play an important role of “Ambassador” to spread out the beauty of Siansi.

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

We didn’t know it took a long time to complete a research before participating Cyberfair. It was not easy for us to write, express ourselves, take pictures, and use technology. It was impossible to complete the task without team work. However, we experienced a lot from this research, which not only broaden our horizon, but also improve our abilities, especially in express ability and respect for others. It was really a hard work for us, a team of students in elementary school. Relying on our willpower, we encouraged each other and persevere to do our job. Besides, teachers’ patiently guidance and the chances and help given by the people in community were very, very important. Without them, we would not understand deeply our hometown. With their imperceptibly influence, we learned what sense of identity to our hometown is. We learned the spirit of hard work from Master Cheng-Feng Huang in Yong-An Drum Making Workshop. He insists to make drums by hand even facing the crisis of dumping cheap drum from China. From Mr. Rui-Qi Wu, the person in charge in Taiwan You Good Biscuit College, we feel his strong love to his hometown, Siansi, and learned that one should be grateful. Though we are children with limited ability, we are willing to do our best to complete this research in order to let tourists re-understand Siansi.

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

A successful research needs helps from students’ hard working, teachers’ guidance, and people from the community. During the activities, we were so lucky to have some enthusiastic people to cooperate with us and provide us help in time. We went to those attractions to ask the interviewees to help us understand the history and culture of the industries or spots. And we made an appointment with them and interview them. Of course, we prepared lots of questions, and their detailed explanation let us more understand Siansi. Besides, the students’ parents cooperated with us to pick up their child home after the students came back from every trip. Parents also provided us some attractions and gave us some suggestions during these activities. Teachers at school taught us a lot, no matter in webpage creating, photo taking, reporting…and so on. Thanks for those who helped and encouraged us, and explained to us if we had any questions. In that way, we could successfully complete our task. Understand more, please link http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2014/gsh7672/index.htm

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

After discussing and visiting, we understand our hometown more, such as beautiful attractions, interesting DIY courses, and the facing problems for industry and environment. Most of the time we rode our bikes for visiting the attractions, which could save money and were good for health. During the trip, we found out that the scenery in Siansi was so lovely. Without bike trail planning, it was dangerous to ride bikes on the road along with cars and trucks. Therefore, building perfect bike trails will be an important reason for improving tourism industry. It was hard to complete this task; it needed teamwork to finish on time. At the beginning, every member in our group could not cooperate with each other; some went to cram school and some went to daycare after school. At last, teachers warned us that if we could not finish our jobs on time, it would be a disaster. Therefore, we spent our time at noon after lunch to do our jobs in computer classroom without any absence. After that, we gradually caught up the progressing. We must pay attention to our research. We would make mistakes if we chatted or listened to music, and that also wasted our time. We typed word by word while listening to the recording files. It was hard for us to understand Taiwanese, so we spent a lot of time on it. Besides, we needed to save the files time after time because we have experienced twice computer crashed. We tried to interview different people, take pictures by DSLR, type, report in front of all students at school and be a tour guide. We also learned the skills and manners while interviewing, the skills of taking pictures and typing, and improved our courage and expressive ability. This study gives us a chance to self-affirmation.

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View our CyberFair Project (Project ID: 7672)

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