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1. Description of Our Community
Keelung City is the northern pivot of Taiwan’s import/export business. The first impression that most people have about Keelung is its rainy weather. The busy harbor is the main outward business of Keelung, but the natural landscape is beautiful. The Heping Island, East Canyon, and Lover Lake are the must-see landmarks. There are various local snacks at the Temple Front Market. All these features give the city a unique vitality.
Keelung is the base of Mr. Mei-ji Lu where he teaches martial arts to his apprentices from all over Taiwan. He incorporated martial arts into the traditional lion dance, thus manifesting the artistry and vitality of Chinese folk custom. He also devotes to the promotion of lion dance, and opens a door for the Taiwanese youths to showcase their Taiwanese spirit. http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2015/gsh7939/ENA-3.html
2. Summary of Our Project
In order to research the culture of lion dance troupe and explore the stories behind it, we looked into the development of the lion dance troupe through the following channels. At the same time, we also experienced the beauty of traditional artistry, and embedded the traditional culture into our hearts. We also hope that our website for the Cyberfair project can carry forward Taiwanese lion dance culture and traditional artistry.
1)Understanding the development of Changxing Lion Dance Troupe and the stories behind each member. 2)Researching the culture of lion dance techniques, historical evolution, and the techniques of different areas. 3)Visiting Changxing Lion Dance Troupe and watching lion dance competitions. 4)Painting lion heads, practicing lion dance, and blending traditional techniques into social learning. 5)Absorbing the essence of traditional culture, and promoting lion dance techniques through on-campus and extramural activities. 6)Learning more from related professionals, and extending our learning from lion dance to traditional Chinese culture. http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2015/gsh7939/ENA-3.html
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):
1)Internet environment at school: There is a computer classroom in the elementary school. Each computer connects to Internet through an optical fiber network, and externally links to National Taiwan University’s network center. We mostly use our lunch break or after school break to discuss, research and print out related information. 2)Internet environment at home: ADSL/Cable/Optical fiber internet 3)Data processing: All members are able to process data at school or at home using the Internet, and access the cloud storage built by our teacher or USB, and integrate research data with internet file transferring. 4)Contact and communication with other members: Via mobile phones, laptops, or personal computers. http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2015/gsh7939/ENA-3.html
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
1) Coordination of schedule: We all tried to adjust our extracurricular schedule to find a common schedule. Besides after school and weekends, we occasionally used morning study and lunch break to complete class promotion and interviews.
2) The design of interview scripts and onsite responses: We studied hard and collected abundant information before interviews. We also designed in-depth interview questions for each interviewees. During the interview, we often interacted with interviewees, so we needed to pay much attention in listening, thinking, responding, and recording the contents. This trained our listening and articulation skills.
3) Promotion of lion dance: We planned a charity performance in Yiguang Orphanage and in-class promotions to advocate lion dance. Besides the preparation and negotiating the schedule with the orphanage and teachers, our toughest challenge was to overcome our timidity, improve our confidence, and train our stability on stage. Together, we made diligent efforts and completed our mission.
4) Improving our IT ability: Originally we only knew how to search for information online, word processing, and typing. We had no idea on website design. Under the guidance of our teachers, we learned many IT abilities such as image editing, website design, and statistical tables. We were highly benefited. http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2015/gsh7939/ENA-3.html
5. Our Project Sound Bite
We gained so much new experiences through this Cyberfair project, such as being a reporter, lion dancing, and being on stage. We were also exposed to new knowledge that we could not learn from textbook, such as making presentation, designing team emblem, exhibition setup, and data collection. Moreover, the most valuable thing was that we had great opportunities to meet various professionals in different fields such as Mr. Lu. By the interviews, they shared their expertise and their efforts in preserving traditional arts. All of us had a great harvest, discovered the beauty of traditional culture, and witnessed the vitality of Taiwanese folk custom.
We appreciate everyone who helped us along the way. All the people, events, and things that we encountered this year were valuable to us, especially the close bond we built during this period of time, which is a priceless and permanent memory to us. http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2015/gsh7939/ENA-3.html
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
After we first read about lion dance in our social studies textbook, we chose our research topic and carried out the plan by teamwork. We used the research and team work to explore traditional lion dance arts, and discovered that learning exists in daily life. We learned skills from different fields through various activities, which made our learning profound in both depth and breadth.
1) Language:Before each interview, we collected and studied related information in groups, prepared interview questions, and learned interviewing etiquette and skills to improve our articulation ability and logical thinking. After the interviews, we completed interview records, and activity reports to enhance our language abilities.
2) Mathematics:We used the data we collected from questionnaires for statistics and tabulation on Excel. From the statistical analysis and analytical results, we explored the public’s understanding of lion dance culture.
3) Arts and humanities:First, we used aesthetics art to design a team emblem for our Lion King Team to enhance our unity. Also, we invited Chinese calligraphy teacher to teach us the artistic conception of a poem with calligraphy art, then we decorated the writings with Chinese knot to create Spring Festival rolls for an exhibition in the calligraphy classroom.
4) Social Studies:During our research, we had the opportunity to trace our history, traditional culture, art, and folk custom. Lion dance has been developed into multiple systems across Taiwan, reflecting different cultural backgrounds and appearances of folk customs of our ancestors, and shows its unique custom style.
5) Information and life technology:We utilized information technology, such as digital cameras, camcorders, and recording pens to record our work in details. We also used computers and the Internet to search for data. We constructed a team blog, produced our website, and improved our IT ability.
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