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1. Description of Our Community
Taichung, nicknamed “ the Culture City ”, is situated in the central part of the country, and has a 300-year history. It has the mildest weather of the island and is rich in cultural folklore. Our city conducts and promotes various cultural activities. The organization “Housewives Alien” was established in Taichung in 1990 with the purpose of encouraging housewives to become more active in their communities, caring for people, our culture, and promoting harmony between men and women. Another major goal is to become active in improving our environment and quality of life, and to stimulate environmental awareness in others.
2. Summary of Our Project
Through our project on the environment, we hope we can increase environmental awareness in others of our community. If people learn to cherish the Earth, they will be more likely to do their part to keep the environment clean for generations to come.
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:4-6
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
There are only ten students on our project team, several of whom are also on the school’s track and field or basketball teams. Finishing the project within the allotted time (approximately one month) was almost “ mission impossible ”. In spite of working during our winter vacation, the workload was heavy and the pressure great. There wasn’t much information available on the Internet, so we had to use other sources. We did library research, conducted interviews, and read the monthly magazines and origin statement of the “ Housewives Union ” organization. On top of that, none of us were experienced in making web pages, so we were learning that skill at the same time.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
David Wei : Said that he was glad to have improved his skill in making web pages. He also mentioned the knowledge they gained about the environment and how to better cherish and protect it. Tsou Huang Lung : Stated that they learned the truth of the statement, “ Where there’s a will, there’s a way ”. Through their teamwork they learned how to make a working encyclopedia which contained many interesting facts. Scott Lin : Said that after finishing the project, they were all convinced that they can no longer take for granted the limited energy resources that we have. They all feel motivated to become more environmentally friendly in their daily habits. She was excited that after working together so diligently they were able to reach their goal of designing their own website – Yeah!
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
The project fit in nicely with our nine-year curriculum. Students increased their knowledge of the environment and how to promote the idea of becoming more environmentally friendly in our daily habits. The project complemented our on-going studies in social studies, science, and computer classes. We learned to find information, edit material, draw pictures and do filming on a computer. Some terms, such as nitrogenous fertilizer and river entrophication, which we encountered while doing our research came up later in our science class. This really helped us to understand their meaning.
The lessons we learned in the need for hard work and time management will help us as we continue on in our studies. We also gained a sense of urgency to act now to protect our environment and keep the Earth nice and clean. In order to accomplish the project, we divided the subject matter into six parts and assigned one to each student. The other two were put in charge of proofreading. Through this experience we learned to be more open to accepting criticism and suggestions from others.
Communicating information through the Internet with sound, lights and beautiful colors is much more interesting than the traditional methods of teaching. It is much more attractive to students and helps them focus better on the topic at hand. One of the “Housewives Alien” team members told us that young people are like seeds, growing wherever they land. The plants that grow up from these seeds will in turn produce and spread more seeds all around. Her meaning was that we, after increasing our knowledge about the environment, should put it into action in our own lives and seek to spread the challenge of becoming more environmentally friendly to others around us.
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