School: Min-Yi primary school
    Hualian, Taiwan, Taiwan

8 students, ages 11 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 18, 2004. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2002,2003

Classes and Teachers: Lin se-mon / Lai wan-se/ Liu pei-fon

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://210.240.77.137/2003myps1/index.htm

1. Description of Our Community

It is fortunate to have a Koroshio passing over it, enriching the fish resources and the local fishing men use the special style to catch fish.It ia a fixed net fishing technique. The special fish arrested in the fixed net is to be named “Mombo fish” or “Sunfish”. Mombo fish is bing famous in our community even use it as the logo of our county for sightseeing activities. Taiwan is an island . It is to be fortunate living on this land. I pushing the window and looking outside at the sea nearby and that great mountains afar around with clouds and mists, emotional feeling rises up in my mind.

We hope our students would like to realize their ocean nearby which they are living on and open their mind and versions through this study. Acting as a teacher , this is the reason choosing ”The Ranch On The Sea--Finding The Secrets of The Fixed Net Fishing Field ” as our study topic. We hope that through the web page made and published let more people understand the beauty of our hometown and our special fishing culture.

2. Summary of Our Project

The study project we are developing is to explore the relation between The Seven Stars Bay and the local fishing business, trying deeply tracing the kuroshio and the local special fixed net fishing technique. We have a plan to rent a boat visiting the fishing net field so that we can deeply realize the operation procedure and daily life of these fishing men. Mombo fish and black tide play an important role in our study. Lead our students to fish market, dining restaurant of fish union to understand the flow chart of fishing business system from low level to top level. Studying the fixed net fishing business of the Seven Stars Bay is just a start point. Through this project studying. We hope we will have the opportunity to see , to hear and to feel our local community and environments.

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:more than 6

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

1.When you finished your project, and would like to upload the contents of your project to the web server but because of the heavy network let you can’t effective to have this job finished in my country. 2.Because of the O.S. platform environment’s different, some special features of our project can not be shown in another web server platform. Meeting this problem, you should upload and test as early as possible and let you have time to correct the unsatisfied condition.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

1.Forming our team: When decided to take part in this project, we spend much time to invite our school students explaining the project to their families in a conference. 2.Choosing the name of our project: Our team discussed the topic of our project enthusiastically, thinking about many topics. We found that the fixed net fishing field on the Seven Stars Bay had one hundred years. For the impact of the WTO, it was being gradually transformmed from fishing business to sightseeing industry and this topic will be kept in a medium scale. 3.Competition with the limited time: We started our project at October 27, 2003. Each Tuesday and Saturday, our teachers and students almost all contributed their time to do the visiting and discussion activities according our schedule. Telephone connections was a good way for us to arrange discussion confrence, It was hold in the time after school. 4.Building the negotiation passage and using the resources of our community: We studied the fixed net fishing field needing the help of fishing field company and many relative people. We would like to rent a boat and sailing out to do our study on the sea. so we must solve and consider many problems such as hearing the weather forcasting, considering the student's safety on the sea, the schedule of visiting etc.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Through this project research, we help our students enlarge their learning field from the center of our primary school, deepening the contents of our teaching material in school. 1.Full of using the teaching resources of our school: Each afternoon all of us went into the computer room, querying the relative web sites, sharing the experience and new ideas with others or issued the questions for discussion. 2.Raising the cooperation spirits: The captain of this project should do his best endeavor with responsibility and show his distinguished leadership. 3.To develop the project research from the different view points such as from the social view point, from the engineering view point and from the scientific view point etc. Then we will have a rich research result in our project. The visiting of other people outdoors increased the EQ of our students. 4.Our primary school had been developing the topic exploring activity in order to fit different kinds of students. Although the results of this project was to be finished by our endeavors, but it has been become an important teaching material of our local land and community and to be a 「Project Researching and its development」teaching material in our school.

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

The contents of our project is to study the fixed net fishing field of the Seven Stars Bay near our community and school. The fixed net fishing field had been existing there for one hundred years. Many fishing men worked there. It was being gradually transformed from traditional fishing business to the sightseeing industy. Seeing the reports of the Mombo fish and the kuroshio of the Seven Stars Bay, students and our teachers all were to be interested in these news. We would like to know the biology of the Mombo fish because its weight could reach two thousand kilograms with special features, and moving slowly. We would like to find the path of the kuroshio flowing along the east seashore of the Taiwan Island. Through the observing and visiting outdoors, let our students thinking more and having more questions in the study of our community. Grouping our students, helding many discussions, encouraging our students to talk their questions in the mind, such as「Does the havest catching in the Seven Stars Bay fishing field be different in the different seasons」? Teachers didn't give student direct answer, but might think arranging next visiting or observing activities trying to validate the intuition thinks of our students or search the information from the web site.

Publishing the findings of our project let teachers in school could get more teaching resources conveniently and easily. I would like to help other teachers not familiar to the use the web technology. Through this project, many teachers in our school paid much of the attention to this competition and hoped having the opportunity to take part in the relative project next year.

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

I used the following tools and resources to do my web page and developing the project. 1.Using the PHOTOIMPACT8.0, Photoshop7.0 software tools to treat my photographs. 2.Querying the web site in order to get the relative information about our study. 3.Reading the local newspaper to find the interesting news of our community. 4.Getting the publications from the Haulian local Government, Haulian Weather Station, the articles of the boss of the fixed fishing field company etc. 5.Taking photographs of the local sightseeing activities of our community and collecting relative pictures. 6.Oral visiting, recording the talking of our visiting by notes. 7Preparing the drawing facilities and materials for our students to make their drawings about the beauty of the Seven Stars Bay and its fixed net fishing field, drawing the Mombo fish swimming in the sea. 8Preparing the portable computer and the projector to let our students see the kuroshio movie.

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

That evening when I finished registering the project, I visited the Boss Huan Zei-Yu of the Chua-phone fishing field. After explaining my visiting purpose, he decided to give us all the assistance. So that during the first visiting of this fishing field, in addition to his explaination of the operation and facility of the fixed fishing field, he also invited us to his working area to see how to repair net, how to set off the draft, how the transaction of the fishing harvest to be proceeded. Lately he accompanied us to visit the fixed fishing net on the sea, visiting the fishing men and the activities of their families. He also provided us his paper about the fishing business, the relative photograph and statistical information of the activities of the fishing business, giving us much precious opinion. During the two months of the studying process, through telephone connection, visiting in person many times, because of the full support of the boss Huan, let us get the warm feelings from these fishing men, enriching the contents of our project. Reading the book named 「The fishing men」 written buy Mr.Liu Hon-chi, let me know something about the fishing men and certain studying of the fishing business and the ocean. Talking with Mr. Liu that day gave me deep impression. He was very humor talking about the fixed net fishing business, ocean, and eternal management. He helped us reviewing the outline of our homepage for the project and gave us many opinions. Through his help, we had the talking opportunity with the old captain Chen jon-sin, and also got the relative research information from the fishing business of the kuroshio Ocean culture and Teaching Foundation from this captain. He shared his viewpoints with us gently. His articles and books all to be authorized by himself to us for free use, and accompanied us to the Three and One dining restaurant to see a sucessful example combined the sightseeing and the fishing business.

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

Before begining our fixed fishing field research, we often went to the Beach to see its beauty, but never noticed of the kuroshio which flowing through the Seven Stars Bay having a deep relationship with our life. About the research of the fixed net fishing field, from the beginning of the study, we would like to collect the imformation first. Those who accepted our visiting all gave us definitely remark and sent us some information. Standing on the viewpoints of the breeding and protection of the ocean resource, the fixed net fishing field along the seashore waiting fishes swimming into the net would be better than that of using the flowing spur net or bottom drawing net. Until contacting with the Mr. Liu Hon-Chi, we didn't find the problem of occupying the fishing field by just only one fishing Company. It might influence the catching amount of the other fishing ship. The large amount of the fish catching in the summer season leaves the problem of overplus. This is the existing impulse under the commercial business management of the condensed captical and technology environment. For this reason, we began to think the enternal management problem of the fishing activity, trying to understand the other type and operation of the fishing activity, thinking about its merits and defaults and that invoked ourselves to concern this ocean. We found that although Taiwan was a beautiful island fortunately to have both biologies of the land and the ocean but the ocean seemed to be another half part which had been forgotten by us. Fishing men didn't understood our ocean acting like a intruder, robbing the fishing business resources and all of us didn't understand the ocean either, putting all the waste water flowing into the ocean. From the study of the fixed net fishing field of the Seven Stars Bay, we tried to invoke ourselves, our students, people of the community to better understand our environments and give our love to the ocean. I hoped that the research result of our project could display the contents not only for you to understand the activities of the fishing business but also for everyone to treat the ocean with precious mind.

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

In the study process, most people and companys would like to help us when hearing about the project which we were doing , the warm feeling rising in our mind. Addional to the Boss Huan and Mr. Liu Hon-chi, there's most people and their unit helped us and I would like to show my appreciate here. Without them we could not finish the project and having a rich study with full of findings and surprise. 1.The uncle Huan serviced at the Dry Fish Museum not only told us the process of making dry fish, but also let us DIY, to experience the fishing jobs, giving us much information. 2.Do Ro-Mon ship company let us have a low price to rent their boat to sail out. Sister Hua answered many questions issured by our students and let us have a deep impression on the sea. 3.The Director Lee kei-Min of the Fishing Union not only arranged the deep travel of the Fishing Union to visit the fishing men, to understand their jobs, but also let us boarding the ship for catching the sail fish. We entering the fishing harvest storage house with the temperature of eighteen centigrade below zero. Seeing the weather broadcasting system, eating the delicious fish pill soap. This Fishing Union travel gave us much relative knowledge. 4.Talking with the old Captain Chen Yu-Sin we understood many things avoid doing in our legendry when sailing out. Let us understand the job hard of the fishing men. 5.Visiting the director Lin Yu-Zi of the fishing business department of the Hualian Local Government, let us more understand the fishing policy of our government, their doing and the relative laws. 6.The boss of the Three Nation and One dining restaurant Zun Wun-Don not only let us taste the rich Mombo fish meal, to see an example of the sucessful combination of the sightseeing and the fishing business, but also let us see much of the photographs of the Mombo fish and the fixed net fishing field model as a reference.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Finding: 1.By renting a boat and sailing out to observe the kuroshio, by querying the Dynamic Kuroshio web site to find the relative projects and its method , by discussion and writing reports, our students have been learning the science study spirits and steps through this project building the basic study ability in the science field. 2.From the visiting of the fixed net fishing field we found that its better to install the fixed net in the area of kuroshio. From the statistics of the fishing harvest in the fixed net fishing field, the Mombo fish appears at the February, and the peak amount appearing in May. Visiting the fishing men, understanding the amount of catching fishes gradually decreasing, let our students be cautious and intend to protect our sea environment . 3.We found the amount of the Mombo fish here was to be the number one in the world having special features and behaviors.So we pay much attention to the Mombo fish, by visiting the Fish Museum,talking with fishing men, visiting the fish transaction market reading the Mombo fish news, Our students understand a little about the biology of the Mombo fish. 4.Through visiting many important facilities , company, the Fish Union , fish museum , and dining restaurant etc. , our students built the whole concept of the operation of the fishing business system in the Seven Stars Bay area. 5.Through the actual visiting by our students, we found there’s much precious resources in our community. From understanding and then loving this place,we had been rising a thought to protect our environments and show its beauty to the others. Lesson: 1.English writing ability is important when trying to build a English web site. 2.Don't give students answer, but you can help them through discussions and effective interactions. 3.The study range can not be too vast or you will lose your focus, the time and the resources to be limited.

Surprise: 1.Sailing out was a surprise to us, on the sea we found in the kuroshio area the color of the sea was to be deep blue different from that of other area. 2.From the search of the dynamic kuroshio web site we found our professor studying the kuroshio having some special reports.We can learn their studying methodology and spirits. 3.From the discussion we found our students full of curiosity and issued many questions.