CyberFair Project ID: 8209

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: The southernmost guardian of the national road - Guanmiao service area
Category: 5. Local Attractions (Natural and Man-Made)
URL: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2017/gsh8209/gm/GM/whpswp.dcs.tn.edu.tw/guanmiaoservicearea/2017/02/07/information/index.html
Bibliography: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2017/gsh8209/gm/GM/whpswp.dcs.tn.edu.tw/guanmiaoservicearea/2017/02/07/resources/index.html

School: Wunhe Elementary School
    Tainan, Taiwan, Taiwan

8 students, ages 11 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on January 15, 2017. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2015,2016

Classes and Teachers: Fifth grade A class

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.whps.tn.edu.tw

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

Budai Li(Budai Village), located in Guanmiao District, Tainan City, Taiwan, has six small rural settlements - Luzhou, Caobi, Bajiaoliao, Wanzai, Majiu and Budaiwei. During Japa-nese colonial period, this village was originally named “Budai Bao” as a result of sugges-tion from Mr. Ruilong Huang, the Chief of Village at that time. However, after the recov-ery of Taiwan, in 1945, the Taiwan government then changed the name to “Budai Cun”. In 2011, after the merger of Tainan county and city, another new name “Budai Li” (Budai Village) is called as the one being known today. “Budai Li” (Budai Village) is the largest residential village in the Guanmiao District.

2. Summary of Our Project

Taiwan Freeway No.3(Formosa Freeway) is 430.5 km in length, with seven freeway service areas. Each of the service area not only has toilets, kiosks and gas stations, but also food courts and souvenir shops. Freeway No.3 runs through the North and South of Budai Li, and the Guanmiao Service Area is situated right at the edge of the village, near our school. With interesting art installation and an alpaca feeding area, for long-distance travelers, the Guanmiao Service Area may be a nice place to take a short break or pick up a snack. But for local residents, it means much more. People sometimes go to the service area to buy daily goods and also spend leisure time with family there on the weekends. This spe-cial connection between the Guanmiao Service Area and our daily life has inspired us to think and choose “the Southernmost Guardian of the National Freeway- the Guanmiao Service Area” as the our topic for CyberFair. With fun and interesting facts being discov-ered and shared in our project, we hope you will get to know more about the place where we are from and enjoy finding more about our lovely village, Budai Li.

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:dedicated connection

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):

In our school, the role of the Internet in the classroom used to act as a teaching tool ra-ther than the learning tool. To optimize technology in learning opportunities, our school administration team has been working hard to speed up the internet connection, setting up Wi-Fi zones, and encouraging the use of tablets for teaching and learning in different subjects. With the help of technology, learning becomes much more fun and effective, and also, there are more happiness and laugher brought into the class.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

1.Although it is only 10 minutes driving from our school to the Guanmiao Service Area, due to no public transport service, students can only do the interviews at the service ar-ea with the help of school teachers who have cars and time to pick up. 2.The traffic at Guanmiao Service Area is sometimes busy, students have to stay alert and be aware of all vehicles passing through or driving near them when doing research in case of an accident. 3.The internet access is limited in some area of Budai Li, for students with no Internet at home, they could only try their best finding spare time to do the project at school within a short time frame.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Participating in the CyberFair means a lot to our students. For some of them who have never been to the Guanmiao Service Area before, this CyberFair project truly builds up a stronger connection between them and the Budai community. Besides, it has provided a better opportunity for students to discover different beauty of their hometown and to love the place where they grow up more with gratitude. After field trips and interviews at the Guanmiao Service Area, most of the students feel really proud to be Budai Li children. And what's surprising, they are even motivated to learn how to be tourist guides for Budai Li, because they can’t wait to show people around this special and meaningful place with passion and love.

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

1. This topic requires students to know what the 'service area' on the expressway is? And learn to classify several directions to observe the configuration of the service area. If there is a lot of information on the Internet, students will be able to use the Internet resources to find out a lot about the 'Guanmiao Service Area' and to read it first. As a result, You can quickly enter the situation, and get the answer you want. 2. Students are now more and more willing to work together to achieve common goals. Therefore, through the theme exploration of the Expo, students can be more aware of the need for unity and cooperation, and explore new themes. Through the network to do homework, and also recognize that for the theme, you must first system classification, and then one by one to find the answers according to classification, this learning efficiency is the best! 3. Hope that this theme can bring students to grow, explore together through teamwork, and finally not only have a different theme for the feelings, but also recognize the power of teamwork in the future have the opportunity to further explore for other topics, Learning more advanced knowledge and ability.

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Project Elements

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

1.In addition to smart phones, we use technology devices such as digital cameras, desktop computers, and Wi-Fi routers. 2.These digital tools can help us in doing research and recording interviews. Also, these tools are beneficial to gather and analyze statistics and information systematically. 3.By learning and understanding how to apply technology devices to solve problems, we have used these skills to define questions in this project and find out the answers effec-tively.

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

Most of students took field trips and had interviews at the Guanmiao Service Area to col-lect necessary information for this project. When students visited the service area at the first time, they were so curious about everything they saw and experienced there. And af-ter the interview with the Director of Guanmiao Service Area, students started to look into more details about this area and asked some good questions which are so creative that impressed the Director.

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

There was a period of time during which only Budai people with work permits could ac-cess the service area with scooters, and any other vehicles from the community are not allowed until February 2016. After its reopen to the local community, the Guanmiao Ser-vice Area plays an important role to Budai Li residents. People go there for leisure, for gro-cery shopping and especially, 24-hour refueling service. Before this service area, local people have to drive 5 km away to get to the gas station, but just within 2 km today. Be-sides the convenience it brings to life, business at this service area creates even more and better work opportunities to the local. However, comparing with other six service areas, Guanmiao is not among popular ones, due to its location is the southernmost. We sincere-ly hope our project could make people understand the interesting facts about this service area and its connection with local community. We also look forward to welcoming more visitors and work opportunities here. It would be wonderful to see all the good outcomes soon.

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

Some people in our community work at the Guanmiao Service Area, and there are a few of them who are parents of our students. Upon knowing the Guanmiao Service Area is chosen as the topic of this project, they are enthusiastic in providing relevant information and oth-er necessary assistance without any hesitation. Wenhe teachers and students are really grateful and thankful to their warmth and kind help. As a result, we have done our best in this project and promised not to let them down.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

The Guanmiao Service Area was considered a place only for long-distance drivers and travelers to take a short break before. However, in this project, it was found that the ser-vice area was more than what we used to think it was. It is full of considerate designs and services, for example, at souvenir stores, those who are looking for a decent gift for be-loved friends and family can always find fresh local farm or food products which are popu-lar gift choices. These souvenirs from southern Taiwan not only build up connection be-tween local people and the visitors, but also boost local sales and incomes. The local community benefit from the Guanmiao Service Area a lot and local residents always ex-press great appreciation to it. This is why we think it is always wonderful and meaningful to uncover heart touching stories by doing this CyberFair project.

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