CyberFair Project ID: 4993

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: WoodBall Spectator
Category: 4. Local Specialties
URL: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2007/gsh4993/index.htm
Bibliography: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2007/gsh4993/english/information.htm

School: Neihu Vocational High School
    Taipei, N/A, Taiwan

6 students, ages 17,18 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on February 24, 2007. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2006

Classes and Teachers: Chia-Lin Hsu , Yi-Shun Zhang , Mu-Hui Lai , Yong-Bin Li

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.nihs.tp.edu.tw

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

Neihu District is located in the eastern area of Taipei City. It is surrounded by mountains except for its south part, which faces Keelung River. The low, central plain of the district forms an inland lake; as a result, the district is named “Neihu”. Its eastern part neighbors with Xizhi City, Taipei County and western part with Zhongshan District. Keelung River, loacted in the south, forms a natural bounary among Neihu , Songshan and Nangang District while Daluntou Mountain and Chishangtian Mountain form its northern boundary with Shinlin District. Neihu is adjacent to mountains and water. Scenic Bishan has a serene environment. The folk custom and practices of Neihu residents also focus on agricultural society and therefore form abundant etiquette and custom on the basis of times and seasons. In order to provide its residents with more recreational space, the City Government turned Fourteen-cent Bei into Tahu Park, a famous spot for mountain climbing and outing, and turned Tabei Lake into Bihu Park as a recreation spot for fishing, strolling and exercising.

2. Summary of Our Project

The rules of playing Woodball are similar to croquet, which was popular during the Tang Dynasty. And Woodball also possesses both the features of modern golf and ancient croquet; meanwhile it is an interesting, entertaining public sports activity which highlights the great importance of etiquette. Woodball was created and elaborately developed by a Taiwanese, Mr. Weng Ming-hui, in 1990. As a result of many enthusiastic people’s help and cooperation, they made this sports activity known and drew people’s attention. And owing to their long-term efforts, they created a brand-new kind of sport worldwide. After two years of continuous experiment as well as improvement, they finally made a practical, convenient set of tools for playing woodball. With a mallet in hand, you can simply take delight in playing the sport while enjoying your conversation. Since it is a sport for people of all ages and serves both the purposes of entertainment and competition, they decided to establish an organization called Chinese Taipei Woodball Association, and they have been promoting it since then in the hope that this new sport will catch on as a modern sport.

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:4-6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Upon receiving the notice of the official document, the director of computer center came to our class, where the students are computer science majors, and discussed with some classmates about Cyber Fair. The first challenge wee met was to find the diligent, responsible, and active teammates to form the team, and we finally chose six members according to the required skills and abilities for the project, each of whom is really interested in the research project with great passion.

We spent quite a while thinking about the topic but didn’t find any suitable one. Inspired by the outstanding competition results of our school woodball team and the fact that Taiwan is the origin of this sport, the director of computer center and us decided to choose “Woodball” as our subject of the project.

In order to keep the project progressing, we scheduled weekly meeting hours to work on it. It is unavoidable, however, that our project was delayed by school intensive quizzes and exams or some academic events, and we could only try to catch up in the following week. We had little problem in teamwork and collaboration since each of our teammates was chosen for his or her specific skill and therefore knew exactly which part of the project to be responsible for.

As for data collection and interview, since there was only little and incomplete woodball information on the Internet, we had to collect data from Journal of Woodball or from the interviews with experts, primarily from the later. Through the interview, we could acquire more information and more in-depth understanding, and we also tried to search on the Web to make our data collection more complete. With the aid of our director and coach, we finally got into contact with ex-president and ex-executive officer of Woodball Association, both of whom were really nice and happy to have an interview with us. We did learn a lot from them!

http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2007/gsh4993/english/narrative2.htm

5. Our Project Sound Bite

For some part of the residents in Taiwan and of course including us, woodball is a brand-new sport. During the making process we’ve experienced how interesting woodball is by playing woodball ourselves, and we want to introduce this sport to the residents in Taiwan as well as the world.

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

The P.E courses that we’ve taken from junior high to senior high school were similar except for some minor differences. Actually, there were no differences. Therefore, we chose “Woodball”as our subject for this study program. Woodball is usually not listed as a part in P.E. courses in normal schools. In fact, this sport is quite challenging, too! During the process of information collecting and interviewing, we, every team member, have tried to experience what feeling it would be like to strike the woodball! In the Cyber Fair study program, it enabled us to learn some extraordinary activities that we couldn’t learn from school courses. And it is quite distinct for us to interview these figures face to face and experience something that we’re not so familiar with.

http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2007/gsh4993/english/narrative3.htm

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Project Elements

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

http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2007/gsh4993/english/narrative3.htm

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

The reason why we play the role “Ambassador” is to let everybody know our subject, woodball. Our goal is to enable the public to be familiar with this sport, woodball. To make everybody know more and be closer to

woodball, we interviewed some relative figures and took some pictures so that people might feel that this kind of sport can be a part of our leisure activities in our daily lives. During the process of interviewing the former president, we were well aware that it was a tough job to create this sport. And it was also difficult to have a new sport identified by the government. After the interview, we had a further understanding about woodball and, at the same time, couldn’t help worshipping the former president, who impressed us so much.

http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2007/gsh4993/english/narrative3.htm

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

After deciding to take woodball as our subject, we were not full aware of the way how to start on at the first place. But after our teachers’ explanation, we found it was essential to take action , which meant we had to take action through interview. Actually, this was our first time to interview someone, and we knew nothing about it,feeling quite awkard. After the interview, however, our curiosity about woodball was aroused. When we were making an interview and trying to collect some information about woodball, we found that the more efforts we made, the more delight we would take in the process.

http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2007/gsh4993/english/narrative3.htm

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

It was a great fortune for us to have the chance to interview the former president of the Chinese Taipei Woodball association and the General Secretary and the woodball coach in our school. We, our team, truly appreciate them and all of our teachers who helped us a lot. Especially we want to thank the former president for teaching us how to play woodball and giving us the opportunity to experience such a wonderful sport when we finished the interview.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Through this study program, we’ve discovered the importance of teamwork! And this program could only be carried out via the team members’ hard work and dedication. In the process of discussing and researching, we’ve got so much happiness. It not only made us understand our subject, but enhanced our friendship. Despite the fact that it was hard to avoid difficulties and frustrations during the process and we might encountered a bottleneck from time to time, all of these didn’t frustrate us. With our teachers’ help and encouragement in the process, we didn’t give up and became more determined than ever! Because of your efforts, we’ve found out lots of knowledge which is hard to learn from school courses. Most of all, it enabled us to become more intimate with each other. So, it looks like we’ve attained two objectives by a single move, right?

http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2007/gsh4993/english/narrative3.htm

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