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1. Description of Our Community
Güngören is one of the industrial and working class residential district of Istanbul, Turkey. It is located in European side of the city. Güngören is now populated by recent immigrants from Anatolia, mostly young, poor families. These people are struggling to survive in narrow streets of the most basic, undecorated buildings. There is little infrastructure to support the huge population, few parks, cinemas, and very few cultural or social amenities of any kind. The local council is now trying to invest in parks, cafes and other amenities but the area is so full that there is little space. Güngören are faceless, nameless poorly lit muddy roads lined with factories. Crime is a problem in the area.
2. Summary of Our Project
The Silk Road was series of trade and cultural transmission routes that were central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting the East and West. We created this project for students whose age group is 8-15 years old and the chosen language is English. The main objective of the project is, to make a research output about the Silk Road, to provide an opportunity to analyze historical landmarks and events and create a network between cultures in different countries on the route of the Silk Road. With the inspiration of this research, project team wrote a story and made some workshops and activities in the classroom with their other friends.
3. Our Computer and Internet Access
A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:21-50%
B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:1
C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dial-up modem
D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:4-6
E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):
All project team members has computer and internet access at their house.8 years old pupils got some help form their parents. They also use our computer in the classroom.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
We find it quite challenging due to the total changes of our national educational system (primary has now become 4 years and 4 years too for elementary). This was very big problem for us because we were one school before studiying all together but has now been divided into 2 different school. As a solution, we divided the project into 2 parts and we joined the Cyberfair with the 3 o us who made the research and the other 3 eight year old students organized the activities and workshops in the classroom. Another difficulty we had was the foreign language English subject for 2nd grade pupils. We solved this problem by using photos, pantomime, and we encourage the 2nd grade students to talk and write in English.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
We intend and expect pupils to improve their ICT skills and foreign language using skills in order to learn, to communicate and to express themselves with International Schools CyberFair project. We give information about our values and we learn the other cultures and we improve the communication among students from different cultures with the help of International Schools CyberFair.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
The main idea of the project is making a research about a topic and getting inspire from the researches and results. Pupils learn how to make an achademic research, collecting informations and how to reach real sources which are in our curriculum. As they were making research about the project, they created a network between past and today; as much as Asian and European cultures. Knowing our own culture and the other cultures are in our curriculum too. Thus, we adapted our project activities and workshops in our lessons easily. Through the project, children will be able to describe their insights, into their own cultures and they will be able to search for the social values that make up countries' cultures. The project will improve our foreign language competence as well as broaden our knowledge in using research media like wiki, forums, blogs, articles and news. Our aimed processes are; the development of creative thinking skills and the practical use and application of skills and knowledge; Self-Management, participation, sharing, cooperation and teamwork ability development;Self-Management (Responsibility, Respect for Diversity) skills development; Using Information Technology skills and multi media for efficient, effective and innovative communication skills developement, verbal, non verbal, written, dramatic and artistic. We are students at age group of between 8-15 and our mother tongue is not English. Thus, it is nearly impossible for us to make a research about the project with traditional methods.
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