School: Jieshou Elementary School
    Tao yuan, Taiwan, Taiwan

12 students, ages 10~12 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on January 30, 2003. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2003

Classes and Teachers: Zhi Long Liao , Yong Jin Lin , Zhao Ji Lin , Pei Xun Liu , Nian Yu Liao , Yu Xuan Tang , Wan Ting Chen , Hua Xiang Zhang , Yu Xu , Mu En Hu , Hong Yi Qiu , Ya Xuan Lee , Chen Xuan Jiang , Hui Xin Wang , Zhi Shan Lu ,

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.jses.tyc.edu.tw/

1. Description of Our Community

Fusing Siang is situated where the northern Cross-Island Highway begins. From the perspective of its beautiful scenery and abundant cultural resources, Fusing Siang has appeared well developed since 1885. Featuring great cultural relics, the Atayal people account for a majority of the popularity here.

2. Summary of Our Project

The Atayal traditional music is performed by elders to pass down the Atayal history and its taboos, the so-called GaGa, among its people. Given strong cultural influences, Atayal culture has faded away in recent years. It’s important for us to remind our children of the traditional Atayal music and the meaning of GaGa through this project.

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:2-3

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:2-3

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

We made most of our web pages using our laboratory computers at school, which are connected to the Internet through ADSL. As the computers are installed with the “Restore Wizard”, everyone is given a floppy as electronic networking media. Besides the 23 computers in the laboratory, there is also a computer in each classroom with Internet connection.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

1.Differences in information accessibility 2.Limited Time of Discussion:There were many activities held during term end, most classmates were occupied with the relevant training and rehearsal activities! 3.Limited Information Sources:Our main theme is Tayal’s Gaga, information of which is rare on the Internet and not able to be found in any library collection.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Through what we learned from our Project, we can pass the Gaga down through generations as an oral tradition. By playing Gaga performed by the Tayals on the Internet, we can introduce the Gaga culture to the public. All classmates of the [Children From The Mountain] feel proud of what we have accomplished.

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

Our school arranged information technology programs for each grade, and the higher grades have started learning about web page creation (Namo WebEditor). The entry to the Cyberfair gives our classmates the opportunity to learn more about information technology such as Dreamweaver and Swish from teachers and supporting team (teachers and students from Da-Hua Technology Institute), which embellished our learning experience.

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

(1)Telephone (2)DV (3)Scanner (4)Recorder (5)Software:Namo WebEditor4.0,Photoimpact 7,Swish,Dreamweaver,Ulead Videostudio 5,Word 2000 (6)Library (7)References (8)Interviews

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

We have conducted several interviews for this Project: two of the interviews with community members, two teachers from School, and a community visit. During these activities, we assigned one team leader and vice leader, who would discuss the content and details of the interviews with the classmates beforehand. The teachers arranged the first few interviews, however, classmates were made to express the objectives of their research and what they were looking for, and the interviews were all lead by the classmates. The classmates got familiar with the procedures at a fast pace, and they became able to express their interview initiatives and aims from the start when they approached the interviewees on the phone or asked in person. As a result, during our last community visit, our classmates could tell clearly that “We are collecting information about the Tayal’s GAGA for our research project!” when asked by the passer-bys, and some of them even discussed with their parents about the research topics.

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

There are not many relevant documentaries in the community related to our main theme, the Tayal’s Gaga, due to reasons that Tayals used no written words but passed the Gaga down orally through generations. Therefore, we knew very little about Gaga at the beginning. Even within the Tayal tribes, there was only a rare few who could sing Gaga, just like the vanishing of the face tattoo culture because it has been facing strong influences from outside cultures. There are only one or two Tayal seniors who are face-tattooed. Thus, our study on Gaga was well received and supported by the village head, as the “tribe college” could then keep the information we gathered. All classmates also learned more about Gaga as a kind of cultural inheritance that we realize the importance of preserving our home culture. We don’t know what can be achieved in the future, but the seeds of culture sowed in the heart of each classmate has surely brought much reflection.

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

We have received kind assistance from the following persons during our research:(1) Village head, Mr. Lin En-xianThe village head is one of the anchors of our Project. Without his assistance, we would not have had such diversified information. He has profound knowledge of the Tayal culture and traditions.(2) Mr. Luo Fu-shengMr. Luo is the security guard at our school as well as our Tayal language teacher. We went to him whenever we had any questions. He has all the answers!(3) Teachers and students of the Da-Hua Technology InstituteWe had a wonderful support team for our Project─teachers and students from the Da-Hua Technology Institute—who assisted us on information technology matters. They came by every week to teach us about website creation and special web page software, helping us upload data collected. We are so grateful for their help, and hope that they could still come to visit us in the future.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

During our research, we found that information about the Tayal’s Gaga was rare on the Internet and not able to be found in any library collection. There were not many relevant documentaries in the community either. Therefore, we had to find out about Gaga on our own, and we had the chance to listen to the village head’s Gaga singing live. We have organized the data we collected into a report and a website. We were a bit late in applying for the Taiwan School CyberFair, when it was almost the end of the semester. Our classmates had to spare time for discussion from their tight schedule. It wasn’t easy for everybody, but we are now more experienced and confident that we will have better performance next time. When we were working on the research report, our teachers showed us the works of other schools. Many teams were doing excellent jobs. We also had a look at the past entries, which surprised us with their wonderful websites and contents. Therefore, we will also try our best to learn and complete the project. Congratulations to all the teams!