School: Yuan-Lin Primary School
    Changhua, Taiwan, R.O.C.

15 students, ages 9-10 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 12, 2004. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 0

Classes and Teachers: Birds in Paradise, Yang Wann-Shing

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://163.23.113.1/

1. Description of Our Community

The Holy Family Center For Mentally Handicapped is just located in the center of Yuanlin Township, Changhua County, Taiwan. 'She' is the growing place of the physically and mentally disabled people. Furthermore, the area of the community service of the Holy Family Center For Mentally Handicapped is not only in Yuanlin Township. It also reaches the neighboring towns. Therefore, the community we define will include the neighboring towns of Yuanlin Township.

2. Summary of Our Project

The Holy Family Center For Mentally Handicapped serves the disabled people with multiple or severe disabilities from age 0 to age 40’s. A majority of students have mental retardation in some degree along with other disabilities such as Autism, Cerebral Palsy, behavior disorders. Students receive early treatment and education, vocational training, as well as a full range of psychological and therapeutic services etc. These “Make-A-Wish Kids” live in Yuanlin. We hope that we can inspire more people to show concern about the persons in needs by our web pages. We believe 'The Holy Family Center For Mentally Handicapped is not alone. ''The homefolk in Yuanlin and the neighborhood are all concerned about them.'

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:less than 20

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:1

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

In our school, there are three computer laboratories. We can access the internet through the Chunghwa Telecom, by Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) with 512K uploading speed and 64K downloading speed. Our members use computers to access the internet by either 56 dial-up modem link through various internet provider or broadband services (ADSL) at home.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

During our research we encountered mainly 2 problems: 1. Designing of the website: Website designing is very difficult for the 4th graders. After discussing with our teacher, we decided that we did the research work and finished the written reports, and the teachers helped us design the website. 2.Contacting the Priests: Most of the priests who had served before at the Center have gone to other places, so we could only contact them through the internet, e-mail, telephone, and letters.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Through this website exhibition, we have come to understand that knowledge is transportable. Before we just received knowledge from our teachers in class and didn’t know how to put it into practice. But now we have the chance to learn through many interviews and surveys. We have put into practice what we have learned in class through our hard work and that has made us overjoyed. We have discovered our own potential every time we did something and learned by it. We have, therefore, grown up and gained a lot. ◎Achieve and Unite We unite the knowledge we learn in school and living experiences to achieve this rich local research project. We hope we can unite our strength to help the disabled to achieve people’s love for the weak ethnic groups. We hope we can unite “Service” and “Learning” to achieve the vision of “Volunteer Service”.

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

In order to do it well, we read a lot of information about the mentally and physically disabled. We believe that it has improved our reading ability. At the same time, it also has increased greatly our ability to use the computer. During the project, we have also learned that teamwork is very important. Working on our own, we would have never been able to finish this research project. Only through teamwork we were able to finish this project. The Grade 1-9 curriculum is adapted in Taiwan. The following examples illustrate how our activities and research for this project fit into the different learning areas. ◎Language Arts: Our communication and interview skills have greatly improved through all the interviews with the priests, workers, etc. We are not shy and afraid anymore. Our listening and writing ability has also greatly improved by the training of putting down in words the recording of the all interviews.◎ Social Studies: The main reason why we chose this particular topic for our research project was not only to understand the community groups and the ethnic group where we live with. We hope we can draw people’s attention to this particular group of the disabled in Yuanlin Township. We want to help those who need help around us. ◎ Science and Technology: We have known a lot about technical aids for the mentally and physically disabled because of this research project. At the same time, we have also learned a lot about information technology and its products. By it, we can send and receive information. No place is too far to be reached!◎ Health and Physical Education: From all the information we have gathered, we understand a lot about the diseases and therapies of/for the mentally and physically disabled.

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

◎ Software: These information technology tools were sponsored by the school. （1）PhotoImpact 6.0---We used PotoImpact6.0 for editing our pictures.（2）Internet Explorer 5.0--- We used IE browser to look up information about the Holy Family Center For Mentally Handicapped. （3）Outlook Express 5.0---We used Outlook Express 5.0 to contact former priests. （4）FTP---We used FTP to upload our data. （5）Namo 5.5--- We used Namo to design our website.（6） Swish--- We used Swish to download photos into images files. ◎ Hardware: These information technology tools were borrowed from teachers or sponsored by parents.（1）Scanner---We used a scanner to scan historical pictures into computer images.（2） Digital camera & ordinary camera--- We used a digital camera and an ordinary camera to take pictures to record down our interviews. （3）Recorder Pen & tape recorder--- We used a recorder pen and a tape recorder to record down our interviews for our written files.（4）A Printer--- We used a printer to print related information.

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

We used E-mail to interview priests who have served at the Holy Family Center For Mentally Handicapped before. The workers at the Holy Family Center For Mentally Handicapped and the medical team were interviewed in person. The Holy Family Center For Mentally Handicapped also arranged interviews with parents of the students of the Center. There were also several other interviews done by classmates in a small team. We had to work together in order to finish this project.

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

We have grown up mentally a lot after having done the project. Especially during the street survey, people on the street had a positive attitude towards us, 4th graders. We understand that knowledge can be acquired from learning. We put into practice what we had learned in class. The subject of our project gave us a chance to offer the Holy Family Center For Mentally Handicapped to study how to make a website. Teacher Yang would go there regularly to teach the workers and teachers there how to make their own website of the Holy Family Center. They would invite us when having activities. At school, we got a lot of support from other teachers and peers. Even a 6th grade teacher requested his students to do research in teams about the mentally and physically disabled to put on posters! Therefore, our website entering the exhibition contest has caused quite some ripples in the sea! We believe that through this research project, we can awaken the care and attention for these groups of people in other places. We should help others around us in need as much as we can! We truly believe: “The Holy Family Center For Mentally Handicapped is not alone. The people of Yuanlin and other towns and cities care about them!”

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

Regarding the right to use the information and materials, we had no confirmation or reply to our request by E-mail to use their information or materials in our website from The League of Welfare Organization for Disabled R.O.C., Children Are Us Foundation, etc. Therefore, to our regret, we had to withdraw the information and materials about early treatment and education. Nevertheless, the related information and materials can be looked up on their website.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

◎Discoveries: Knowledge can be obtained everyday from the environment around us. This time we obtained a considerable medical knowledge not only from our teacher in class, but also from movies, Internet, and actually interviewing people. It is as the saying goes: Power lies in teamwork. We have grown by working in groups. Each group should be responsible to finish the part they were assigned to. Thus, we were able to finish this research project. It has also proven the Chinese saying: Two heads are better than one. ◎Lessons： Time flies! At the beginning of September, when our teacher told us about this project, we all thought that it would take a long time to finish. Not until the beginning of October, when all things were ready and set for real interviews and contacts were made, we realized that we didn’t have enough time. We all came under stress of time. From this lesson, we really understood the importance of “performing a task with full vigor and urgency”. ◎Surprises: Now we understand that the human potential is unlimited! Our language ability, reading ability, writing skills, and using the computer ability, have greatly improved by doing this project. Also our audacity has grown. ◎Achieve and Unite We unite the knowledge we learn in school and living experiences to achieve this rich local research project. We hope we can unite our strength to help the disabled to achieve people’s love for the weak ethnic groups. We hope we can unite “Service” and “Learning” to achieve the vision of “Volunteer Service”.