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1. Description of Our Community
The place we live, Kaohsiung, is located in southern Taiwan. Kaohsiung is blessed to have a harbor, which has the third largest container port. With a transportation network consisting of land, marine, and air systems, Kaohsiung has many advantages and has become a unique city. This city has been featuring as the chief center of the heavy industry and petrochemical industry, and thus, it used to be regarded as a desert without cultural activities. These years, our local government has been focusing on transforming Kaohsiung into an international city with emphases on not only the construction of this city, but also the promotion of citizens’ living quality. Many major projects, such as the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit system, the Kaohsiung Multi-Functional Commerce & Trade Park, and the Pacific Regional Operation Center, are on the move. In addition, all kinds of activities of arts and culture are held for the sake of furthering the living standard and maintaining the cultural heritage. The Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, with its abundant collections and various displays, has played an important role to provide the public in southern Taiwan the chance to experience the beauty of different cultures. Kaohsiung is no more just an industrial city. It is a beautiful city with a glorious past and a promising future.
Our school is in Nan-tzu District, where there are many public facilities, such as Kaohsiung University, Nan-tzu Library and Mentropolitan Park, the largest park in Kaohsiung. There are also many temples in this district, and therefore, there are many folklore activities and religious ones. It is a place combining both tradition and modernization.
In coordination with the educational revolution in Taiwan, which emphasizes the ways for the students to discover their aptitude and to provide them with opportunities to develop their potentials, our school holds all kinds of extra activities for our students. Print, so-called engraving, is one of the important tasks that we teach our students in the classes.
2. Summary of Our Project
Folk prints, which have been extensively used for decoration during the Chinese holidays and religious activities, played a very important role in the traditional society of the previous time in Taiwan. The traditional folk prints reflect people’s desire for peace, felicity and wealth, and therefore most of them comprise designs with the meaning of good luck. People deeply feel confident that these folk prints will bring them a propitious life. Folk print is not merely an old-fashioned art. Similar productions from the printmaking techniques can be seen here and there, such as bills, newspapers, and posters. We are now in such an environment full of prints.
In our web pages, we completely introduce the information and techniques about folk prints. Our viewers will easily understand what folk prints are, and meanwhile can get the idea of how to appreciate all kinds of folk prints. Besides, we have interviews with four experts and creators of folk prints. The conversation between us is so wonderful that our viewers shouldn’t miss it. They share with us their experience and precious collections, and some of them are unique and first seen in the public. With their permission, we are able to put the precious works in our pages. The main purpose of our research is to make some endeavor for the preservation of the traditional culture and to provide the opportunity for all the people in the world to go into the world of folk prints.
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:4-6
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
Firstly, we had a little trouble defining our topic. We originally wanted to build web pages containing all kinds of prints, but to find that the topic was too wide because there are too many datum and information that we have to gather and classify. We cannot but confine our research within the field of folk prints only. Secondly, owing to the heavy studies of the students, they couldn’t have so much time to gather together for the project. We could only use holidays to collect information in the library and Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, to ask experts for help and to have interviews with the artists and creators. With the coming of the deadline, we even gave up the mid-day break every day in order to speed the task of building the web pages. The students’ computer ability was another obstacle that we had to overcome. They are not so familiar with the functions of software and the procedure of dealing with many things, such as formatting pictures, processing digital images, making animation with Flash, and even typing a large pile of datum. We spent a lot of time teaching them all the techniques that we needed. Fortunately, our students were intelligent and brave enough to accept all the challenges in front of them, and finally completed our project. To our satisfaction, we got the first prize in Kaohsiung Cyberfair. One month ago, we decided to participate the International Schools CyberFair, and here came another obstacle – how we can translate our Chinese web into English one. Our students’ English was not good enough to complete such a hard task in such a short time. But, we had such a strong desire to participate such a meaningful competition that we invited the English teachers in our school to help us. Cooperation is always the best way to conquer the hardship. We finally finished our web pages of English version.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
After we completed our project, our students become more confident of themselves not only on the ability to master computer skills, but also on the ability to organize and carry out a project. Furthermore, they understand the importance of cooperation. To our school, our participation in International Schools CyberFair means that our efforts on establishing a multi-education environment seem to be a success. Our students get the opportunities to discover their aptitude and develop their potentials. To our community, our research will contribute greatly to the preservation of traditional culture. Our topic is about folk prints, which has gradually been neglected in modern life. In our web pages, we have a complete introduction to folk prints and a large amount of precious pictures. We believe that through the Internet, people in our community as well as all over the world will understand more about Chinese traditional folk prints.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
Our school has generalized the art of prints for two years since Miss Tung Hui-ching came to our school two years ago, who is an art teacher and especially good in printmaking. In the art classes, all of the students in our school have the opportunities to learn how to make a print. Students’ potential for printmaking is aroused and many fine works are created. Our school decorates our campus with the students’ masterpieces. Printmaking has become one of the most important tasks in our school. Among all the schools in Kaohsiung, Yu Chang Junior High School has already become famous for our efforts and contribution on generalizing the prints. Our research for this International Schools CyberFair is called “A Journey into the World of Folk Prints.” We have a complete introduction to folk prints and the techniques of printmaking. Our web pages are helpful to our school coursework and curriculum.
In addition, we are having an educational revolution in Taiwan, the claims of which are that school education should value the multiple intelligences of the students, that school education should be combined together with high technology and culture, that students are encouraged to study together and to learn more know-how instead of know-what, and that the procedure of learning should emphasize the participation of the students. These claims seem to correspond with the goals of the International Schools CyberFair. Our research, from collecting information, interviewing with the experts, to building the web pages, was mostly completed by our students themselves. This journey into the world of folk prints is undoubtedly a journey of learning. Our students will never forget such a wonderful experience.
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