CyberFair Project ID: 8218

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: Creation of Good Fortune - Gourd Sculpture Art
Category: 8. Local Music and Art Forms
URL: http://163.23.84.246/hulu/217h/
Bibliography: http://163.23.84.246/hulu/217h/index8-4.html

School: Changhua County Sihu Junior High School
    Changhua , Changhua County, Taiwan

10 students, ages 13-14 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 1, 2017. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2014,2015,2016

Classes and Teachers: sin-jung Hung, Keng-pin Cheng, Ya-fei Hua

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://163.23.84.195/web/

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

Sihu Township is located in the center of Changhua County as well as the central position of western Taiwan, where it is next to Puxin Township and Dacun Township to the east, Yongjing Township, Tianwei Township, and Pitou Township to the south, Erlin Township to the west, Puyan Township to the north. The total area is 32.0592 square kilometers where 25 villages are divided.

2. Summary of Our Project

Our project is focused on the traditional sculpture art and artworks --gourd sculpture art strongly promoted by Mr. Ju-liang Yang and Mrs. Hsiu-hsin Yen who are the owners of Hudie Workshop situated in Sihu Township, Changhua County. As the owners of Hudie Workshop, Mr. Ju-liang Yang and Mrs. Hsiu-hsin Yen are mainly engaged in gourd sculpture and they lay more emphasis on lifelization and practicability during gourd sculpture. However, there are many gourd sculpture masters in Taiwan in favor of Chinese traditional figures, such as Guangong, Dharma and Mazu; their works are all boutiques, the price is relatively higher for common people, and they cannot afford it but only appreciate it. Therefore, the gourd sculpture works are innovated by Mr. Ju-liang Yang and Mrs. Hsiu-hsin Yen and sold in reasonable price. The methods of gourd sculpture include cutting &pasting, decoration, color drawing or writing in Chinese brush, sculpture is done in the end, and then they are sold out after paint is applied. In order to develop gourd sculpture and expand market, Hudie Workshop invites farmers to plant gourds together and meanwhile trains the learners who are interested in gourd sculpture. In this way, the wasted land is turned into usable land, the elderly farmers have the income, Hudie Workshop can have the continuous supplies of gourds and most important of all, the talents for gourd sculpture are trained. Thus, the young people’s job opportunity is increased and the gourd sculpture art takes root downwards. In the long term, there is no need for Hudie Workshop to worry about the problem of short supplies of gourds and it can also drive the development of local art.

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:2-3

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):

Our school offers the very convenient information equipment and network. We usually make use of morning self-study time, lunch break, class meeting and holidays to deal with most of the work. At school, we can use the computers in school library and computer classroom; while at home, we can use our personal computer and local area network to link Internet to complete the work.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

In our team, no one has ever participated in Cyberfair project, so it is more difficult for most of us. We have encountered many problems during the process, but we can still discuss the question and ask teacher for help to overcome the difficulties. There are many students in the senior class also participating in Cyberfair project, so we are often packed into computer classroom to struggle for computers. Thus, the network broadband is relatively overloaded and it usually takes a long time to open the web page. Meanwhile, many precious morning self-study time and lunch break are wasted. As a student, our school work is also a major problem. We have lots of things to do to complete the project and there is also much homework. During the mid-term examination, we have to pause for a while. However, sometimes we cannot catch up with the schedule, we have to make use of lunch break to complete the job and the unfinished school work has to be done at home. Thus, we can relatively reduce the burden. We usually take advantage of holidays to do the interview so as not to affect the class. Mr. Yang is willing to accompany us from his busy schedule, which also sacrifices the precious time of Mr. Yang and Mr. Yen. In order to give consideration to school studies and Cyberfair project, we need to learn how to manage and control time well. Mr. Yang is very thoughtful and he often asks us whether there is anything he can give a hand. With the encouragement from so many people, we must work hard to complete the project.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

In our team, only one student has ever participated in Cyberfair project. During the learning process, we are at a loss in the beginning, but finally we work together to complete the difficult task through constant exploration and breakthrough. Mr. Ju-liang Yang and Mrs. Hsiu-hsin Yen in Hudie Workshop have devoted themselves to gourd sculpture. Mr. Ju-liang Yang and Mrs. Hsiuju-hsin Yen are quite enthusiastic during the interview and intently make the detailed introduction and explanation to us, so that we can have a deeper understanding of gourd sculpture; meanwhile, we are also greatly honored to have the opportunity to attempt the pleasure of gourd sculpture.

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

We have conducted the following learning activities: Language:Data collection, organization, and article writing. Nature and life technology:Understanding the environment of Hudie Workshop, gourd sculpture, and production-marketing process. Arts and humanities:Taking photos, and image processing, aesthetic design of web production. Comprehensive activities:Polite deportment during interview, team-work spirit, time self-management, etc. Topic for information education:Software use ability for image processing and web production. Social studies:Understanding the overview of Taiwan’s exquisite sculpture works and business model.

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Project Elements

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

We have used the following tools: Dreamewaver,Microsoft Word,Google chrome,Internet Explorer,Filezilla FTP,PhotoCap 6.0,XMind. These tools help us in the following: 1. Special research: to learn team-work spirit and time self-management through the participation in Cyberfair project. 2. Interviews: to show our concern for local music art by taking the opportunity of interview and to realize the importance of “gourd sculpture” through interview process, data organization and hands-on experience activities. 3. Visits: to explore the process of gourd sculpture and sculpture method by visiting Sihu Township. 4. Actual operation: to understand gourd sculpture tricks of Mr. Ju-liang Yang and Mrs. Hsiu-hsin Yen and experience the laborious process of gourd sculpture through actual participation in gourd sculpture.

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

This is the experience for Cyberfair project to experience how to sculpture a gourd and we am very excited. After we enter into Mr. Yang’s gourd workshop and say hello to our teacher, we begin to learn to sculpture a gourd. First of all, Mr. Yang explains the making process of gourd sculpture to us, and then we experience it in person. We start with removing seeds and then we begin to design the pattern. All of us design different patterns. Our designs are flowers and they are little monotonous because they are the first time for us to sculpture a gourd and we cannot come up with other patterns. In fact, if the pattern is too complex, we are afraid to be unable to sculpture it; besides, the time is limited, so we choose the flower. After the end of pattern design, at first, draw the pattern on the gourd to begin the gourd sculpture and this is also the most difficult step. Unfortunately, the shell of my gourd is very thick and hard and our hands become tired at the time of sculpture. It is difficult to control the carving knife and our hands may be injured accidentally. It takes a very long time for us to complete the sculpture, and then it’s the time to color the gourd and apply protective glue. We spend much time on sculpture and it is very ugly, but at least we have learned how to sculpture a gourd and we feel very happy during the sculpture. In this experience, We also understand that the gourd sculpture needs to take a lot of time and energy, so do not think that gourd sculpture is a very easy job.

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

In this special research, we have completed the entire process step by step, including data collection, actual interview, actual operation and web page making. We have realized the importance of division and cooperation of labor in the team, usage of time, attitude of facing difficulties, etc., and all the achievements for this period of time will be displayed on our web pages.

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

During the process, we also should show our gratitude to Teacher Hsin-jung Hung, Teacher Ya-fei Hua and Teacher Keng-pin Cheng for their guidance as well as team members’ efforts and persistence in team work. We are ignorant of gourd sculpture in the beginning and then have the one-sided impression; finally through the entire process from data collection, repeated discussion and job allocation to interview, manuscript editing and web page making, now we have a deeper understanding of gourd sculpture. Through the several months of efforts, our friendship becomes more united and we are filled with gratitude. In the present day, although information and speed are extremely important, there are still many people holding enthusiastic, active and innovative attitudes and working hard to make silent sacrifices to our nation and society. We are happy that we have acquired knowledge, and meanwhile we are also willing to convey this appreciation to make more people understand gourd sculpture and create the artistic life.

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View our CyberFair Project (Project ID: 8218)

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