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1. Description of Our Community
Hualien is called “the Homeland of Stone”, partly because it is the major stone marketing city in Taiwan, controlling 90% of Taiwan’s stone materials, and partly because 80% of the stone collectors in Taiwan are people living in Hualien. The development and promotion of stone art industry has always been considered by government as the cultural industry most suitable for Hualien. In recent years, Hualien county government has focused on promoting its tourist activities, hoping this will bring an influx of people and commercial business. The promotion of stone art is helpful to the tourism, which should help employment, and is good for local economical growth. It also promotes Hulien’s international image as the “city of stone art”.
2. Summary of Our Project
When we first entered the Cyberfair contest, we got together to brainstorm our project topic. The first we thought of was Hualien’s stone carving and gem/rare stones, because they have long been our local specialties. We have abundant activities related to stone art year round, such as stone art displays, stone carving festival, stone art street…. They become important tourist attractions. In addition, Hualien Bureau of Art has established a stone-carving art museum, displaying select works from each year’s stone carving festival. All these activities and displays aim at letting people appreciate the beauty of stone 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:1
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
1) the problem of shyness and inadequate interviewing skills: During this research, we had to visit many stone art places and organizations. We also had to interview many people, including stone artists and collectors. Although our teachers asked us to prepare an outline of questions beforehand, when we were actually doing the interviews, we were so nervous that none of us could think of what to say. It was very embarrassing. To solve this problem, we decided to change our tactic. Each interview was assigned a lead interviewer. This person had to prepare and organize all the data and questions, and practice doing the interview at school. The rest of us only had to prepare a few questions to help fill in the blanks. This way there would not be too much awkward silence. Moreover, our teachers gathered us each time to review the interview and results. They also arranged one “interview workshop” to drill our skills. After many practices and actually doing the interviews several times, we all showed significant improvement. Before each interview, we divided the job, and prepare thank you notes and questions. We also learned the etiquettes for doing interview, such as first saying hello and introducing ourselves, and asking permission before recording. In the latter interviews, we no longer felt awkward, and could actually have good interaction with the people we interviewed.
2) the problem of insufficient background knowledge: During our research, we found that there was a lot of information that we were not able to understand even after studying. Consequently, when the people we interviewed talked about them, we were not able to comprehend fully. To overcome this difficulty, we asked two teachers at our school, Mr. Yang Ching-Chen who teaches natural science and Ms. Han Shu-Shen who teaches arts and human sciences to give us lessons on related knowledge. They arranged a two-week “Gem stones and minerals Art class”, giving us three lessons on earth science and three lessons on stone arts. From these, we learned about Hualien’s geography and geology, the geological structure that produces rare stones, and the principles for appreciating stone arts. We also purchased a video tape titled “Stone Arts and Living” from Public TV. From it we gained further related knowledge about stone arts.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
Action speaks louder than words!!
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
(1)The classes on rare stones and stone carving:After our visit to the Stone Art Association, we were amazed at how colorful and magical the world of stones is. In order to learn more about it, we asked our teachers Mr. Yang and Ms. Han to give us lessons on related knowledge.
(2) Field trips:We went on many field trips for this research: the Stone Carving Festival, the Jiao-She Workshop, the Shiang-Yang Art House, the Rhodonite Display, The Committee for the Promotion of Stone Art Culture, Stone Art Street, and even the factory making rare stone display pedestals. During these field trips, we had to write notes and do sketches of the art works. We learned a lot from these field trips.
(3) Interviews:From these interviews, we learned that in many people’s eyes, ordinary looking stones were priceless arts. Becoming friends with stones not only is a good pastime, it also let you meet many kindred spirits. From these interviews, we learned how to ask questions and how to overcome our shyness. We also learned about the ups and downs of various kinds of professions.
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