School: Rueifong Primary School, Chiayi County, Taiwan
    Chiayi County, N/A, Taiwan

16 students, ages 11-12 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on December 22, 2003. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2004

Classes and Teachers: Yu-Mei Hsu

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.rfps.cyc.edu.tw/

1. Description of Our Community

Rueifong Village was once called Shengmaoshu, which in the local language means “Moss Covered Tree Village.” Overlooked by the peaks of Hai-shu (Sea-Mouse) Mountain, watching the sun rising from behind the mountain can fill you with a positive energy. For this reason, the area was called “Rueifong,” which means Auspicious Peak. Rueifong is the second largest village in the Meishan Township District, and is located at the center of an area bounded by Caoling, Meishan, and Rueili. The village sits at an altitude ranging from 450 to 1309 meters and has an average daytime temperature of 20 degrees. Rueifong is most famous for its local agricultural product, tea, and has the highest tea garden in the district situated on the slopes of at Hai-shu Mountain. In the early years, it was named “Moss (Hair) Covered Tree Village,” which refers to the Song-Luo plant that hangs down from the branches of the local trees.

2. Summary of Our Project

Rueifong Village is most noted for its major agricultural product, high mountain tea. The tealeaves are called “green gold,” in the same way that golden metal is called “yellow gold” and pitch-black petroleum oil is called “black gold”. Every year, the local tea farmers attend a tea contest, and for the last six consecutive years have won the highest award in the A-li Mountain Class Tea category, which is selected from over 1200 tea samples. The prizewinners are looked upon as the elite of the local tea producers. With such high honor, the local tea could be thought of as being plated with a golden coat. Therefore, our school decided to select our community industry - tea - as the focus of our research subject.

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:more than 6

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):

Although we are a small highland school of only 53 students, the school has a Computer Classroom in which there are 14 personal computers available for the use of students. The school has an ADSL internet connection with a speed of 768Kbps. Additionally, the third and fourth grade classrooms each have a single computer in their rooms. The computer room is open to students during recess and lunch breaks. At present, we do not provide computer access to students outside school hours.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

During the course of the project, we encountered the following difficulties:

1) It was the first time that any of the teachers responsible for the project had been involved with local research. Each of the teachers involved came from other parts of Taiwan. So at the beginning, they were basically strangers to the local teas and found it difficult to help us understand the core of the research. Both students and teachers were feeling their way and learning new things together.

2) Most families in our community do not have computers at home, so surfing the internet outside school hours was virtually impossible. This meant that any computer related work had to be completed during normal school hours.

3) Our school is located in a fairly remote part of Taiwan, so it is often difficult for us to recruit any other professional personnel we may need to assist with instruction and tutorial work.

•Solutions that were developed to combat the difficulties:

1) To quickly acquaint the teachers with information regarding the local tea industry, the school enlisted the assistance of the parents in the community. Continuous discussions and modifications of the research framework helped resolve any content issues. Teachers, parents and students collected the necessary information and images by interviewing farmers and photographing relevant sites during visits to local tea factories.

2) As there were no computers available within the community, the school opened the computer room for the students during their lunch break and after morning assembly. This allowed students to work on their project information and surf the internet. The school also set up a computer network in the classroom so that students could search for important data and check the progress of other students, which allowed the research to be completed efficiently.

3) As no computers were available within the community, the school opened the computer room during lunch breaks and after morning assembly. This allowed students to work on their project information and surf the internet. The school also set up a computer network in the classroom so that students could search for important data and check the progress of other students, which allowed the research to be completed efficiently.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

1) We can learn great a deal from tea.

2) Adults take great effort in planting and producing tea, so, as children we should cherish it.

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

Our school encourages “increased competition in learning and cultivating our love for our homeland.” We held many related events, aiming to establish and develop the school’s characteristics by means of class programs. In this research project, the school expects to achieve the following:

1) Class Programs: The school established the topic of our research as homeland curriculum, plus other related fields, and including computer classes. In the process of the course, our school hoped that we would be able to better understand our main local product and culture though experience, reflection and the practices of the related fields, and hopefully increase our feelings of gratitude and cherish the love of our homeland in order to continue our unique culture.

2) Learning: Our Principal often says, “in an age of knowledge economics, ‘team learning’ always surpasses ‘personal learning.’” After we recruited the student team, we often gathered together to discuss and cooperate on the research, which meant that everyone in the team continued to learn more and more about “tea.” The relationship among the team members improved as well. When one team member met another, the greeting was often “how’s your report?” and so on. As we enjoyed this research topic, we feel that we were able to do a better job at collecting information, using the library and the computers.

3) Resource Application: The school had been working on applying for a fund from the Bureau of Education to integrate the library and the computer room. We were hoping that, regardless of whether the class was a computer class or a reading class, the students would be able to do research and use the computer at the same time. We found that the earlier the school established a digital learning center, the more it would help our research. We would be able to process the information as soon as we added some research data to the library, and wouldn’t have to wait for the computer room.

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

The information technologies we utilized included:

1) Microsoft Frontpage2000 and Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 were used to build the web site.

2) Nikon COOLPIX 995 and Canon DIGITAL IXUS 400 digital cameras were used to create the images

3) Adobe Photoshop and Ulead PhotoImapct 6.0 were used to edit and modify the images.

4) Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 was used when surfing the internet

5) Normal mail, emails, telephone calls, and faxes were used to contact or interview the assembly and related units.

6) CuteFtp4.0 was used to transmit the web site files to the WWW server.

7) Using a recorder and camera to keep the interview’s media record.

8) Using community (Rueitai Tour Service Center) to collect information.

9) Using the newspaper and the magazines to collect related report and data.

10) An interview with He-Cheng Tea.

We used the school’s computers and software to process the photographs and images. While we were making the web site, the school invited some students from the nearby university to instruct us. As a result, we were able to complete the initial framework and allow the teachers to modify to the finished model.

One of the things that interested us most during the research process was the digital camera, mainly because the pictures could be developed into normal photos, and could also be transferred to electronic files. The principal insisted that we had to finish our research during the computer class. This meant that we had to research the subject and collect the information (including written data in the library and from the internet), and then type it into the computer, save the files, and make a brief design. This proved to be of great value to us.

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

In order to promote the community industry culture, the school assisted our team in playing the role of “native-soil community ambassadors” in the following ways:

1) Provided 3000 copies of the “Community Map” pamphlets for community residents and for people who visited the “Rueitai Tour Center” to read the section on “tea” at the center.

2) Edited the “Rueifong native-soil teaching material,” which included a “native soil industry” unit.

3) Designed and developed the School web site to show the results of the native soil research.

Most of the research was done through site visits and hands-on practice. In addition, we consulted with other teachers who had professional knowledge in various areas. During the event, the parents in the community made a “tea leaf pillow,” and allowed us to take photos of their tea sets, some of which had been preserved for many years. They reminded us to “love our native soil more,” which gave us a strong impression of their deep expectations of the younger generation.

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

The impact and influence of the project on our team, school and community were as follows:

1) The team: Although we all live in a tea producing area, and we are all students, we never really fully realized the difficulties our parents faced through their experience of planting and manufacturing tea. After finishing our project, we now have a more sound idea of the different aspects related to tea, and have become even more grateful towards the endeavors of our parents.

2) The community: Community parents became more involved and concerned with events happening at our school and helped us a lot with the project.

3) The school: The principal and teachers often asked us about the research process, and assisted us in various activities. The school was very devoted to the success of this event.

4) The outside world: We endeavored to perform the research, and provided related online reports for future reference. By visiting various websites, we a great deal of information and encouragement from students at other schools. We believe that once our website is complete, we will be able to promote the unique cultural characteristics of Rueifong’s tea industry to the whole world.

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

Community Cooperation: The parents concerned with this research immediately made contact with the teachers during the tea-manufacture time, and transported us to the factory to view the tea-manufacture process. In addition, many parents came to our school to make tea deserts such as sugar onion or brown sugar. They even provided us with a tea-production machine and various tea products so we could take photos and records, which meant that the research could be completed on time.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

We learned that in addition to boiling and drinking tea, tea could also be used to make various other products. One day, we ate tea eggs, tea dumplings, tea puddings, and fried Jing-Syuan tea, made by us. We also went to the supermarket to buy other tea-related products such as green tea cookies, and mocha oatmeal. We felt so proud to be a part of Rueifong Village, and in the fact that we had been able to get a full understanding of tea. Once we saw that, in addition to drinking tea, we can make so many other wonderful things using tealeaves, we wanted everyone to join us in drinking and eating healthy tea products.