1. Description of Our Community
Taiwan has own diverse ecological environment than any country. Chang-Hua County is situated on the plains in the middle part of Taiwan’s west coast. The climate is dry. Chang Hua plains is the northern tip of the mid- and south plains. It is just south to the Da-Du Plateau. The coast line goes from Northeast to Southwest. The ocean winds directed blow to the plains, therefore, the plains are severely damaged by sea-salt.Because of the subtropical climate, there are many kinds of fruits, vegetables, Colorful flowers, and trees in our hometown.Wherever you go, you can see farmer working and planting. On the leisure time or weekend, most of people always come to our campus for exercise. Because there are a lot of trees can provide fresh air and a large playground can play. All of us love trees and flowers, don't care what kind it is. Exactly speaking, we totally ignore the influence among plants, insects, even people's life.
2. Summary of Our Project
From the Green Cancer—Bine Blue Blossom to the scary and deadly Red Fire Ants, foreign species of plants and animals have created serious impacts to Taiwan’s environment and have affected our lives. The impacts of foreign plants to Taiwanese endemic plants are of our major concern here. Our school, Da Sing Elementary School of Chang Hua County, was assisted by the Chang Hua County Government to become a plant ecological campus. Species of newly planted trees in the campus exceeded two hundred. Among them, most are Taiwanese endemic plants. Especially worthy of mentioning, there were twenty kinds of Taiwanese endemic trees, such as Taiwanese Rhododendron, Yu Shan Myrsinaceous, Taiwanese Triangular Maple, and Lan-Yu Cassia, etc. This research will introduce Taiwanese endemic plants available in our campus, the relationships between Taiwanese endemic plants and foreign plants, and the effects they have. By collecting data and information, visiting Taiwanese species research institute, Chang Hua’s Protophyte Production and Marketing Farm, Happy Ecological Park, Tianwei Road Garden and interviewing scholars and experts, we were able to delve deeper into the subjects – “Taiwanese Endemic Plants in our Campus” and give a better introduction. Through visit our website, everyone can 1)learn to obseve those plants surrounding you and me. 2)make a journaling by myself/yourself. 3)share my/your thought with eneryone. 4)become an environmental protector. 5)all in one, then our planet will blue forever.
3. Our Computer and Internet Access
A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:21-50%
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):
Our Network Environment: 1.Percentage of students using the Internet at home: almost 50%. 2.Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom: Each classroom has own one workstation, total 18. 3.Academic Broadband Optical-Fiber Network: We set up a “Campus Ecology Information Network” website and instantly shared the data and photos for the research. 4.We have one Computer Classroom. There are 35 computers for students to use. Our schoolmates are 517. 5.Team Member’s Network Environments at their homes: Each team member has a computer at home collected to the Internet by ADSL. After school, we use e-mails to continue the research work. 6.Students use PDA and notebook computers to inquire relevant data wirelessly in the campus.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
We, the Sun Forest Explore Team, started full with energies and excitements and continued to the end, just like the sun. Difficulties Encountered: 1. Interested team but with very little knowledge 2. The trees are still small. It’s not easy to provide photos with good examples. 3. It’s not easy to identify the names of the plants,the reasons are: ;Advances and improvements on the plants Natural genetic mutations; Books available in the current markets have not listed or added the new plants.
Ways of Solving The Difficulties: 1.Use connections and networking to find the right human resources. 2.Internet Resources Database 3.Visiting organizations and botanic gardens, interviewing experts. 4.Read related books and discuss in small groups. 5.Visiting relevant botanic gardens or parks, taking photos for comparisons and for doing introductions. 6.Search on the Internet (respect intellectual property rights) 7.Ask for expert’s view. 8.Reference to indexes for Master’s or Doctoral dissertations and documents.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
Local plants are very charming, beautiful and natural. They are flexible to fit into the environment to survive. It is important to classify our knowledge and learn how to be a good member in the Mother Nature. We had fun and we really cherish this valuable experience.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
1.Teacher’s Professionalism Through continuous discussions with the students and teachers of other fields, the teachers contributed their expertise in the activities. We also had to be familiar with the process and skills of conducting the research project. Also, we were able to set up good foundations for doing similar professional researches in the future. Not only these, we also enhanced teacher’s personal professional images and professionalism; reached the objective of allowing students and teachers to learn from each other. 2.Student’s Learning Experiences In the One-to-Ninth-Grade Curricular Reform, we emphasize integrating individual subjects and applying student’s own competencies. Throughout the research processes, the participating students were able to enhance and integrating their various abilities in different subjects. They also applied to the homepages. 3.Concrete Learning Results are as the followings: 1)Social Science --Experience and get to know the current local environments --Respect, care, and think about people and the environments --On-site observations and interviews --Find resources and build up connections with field experts outside of our school --Develop skills for collaborate learning 2)Natural Science and Technolog --Observations, discussions and recording --Building of a website --Developing skills fordoing inductive analysis; understanding; analyzing --Communicate with peers, share the fun of the activities --Classify plants 3)Health and Physical Education --The benefits of plants to humans --Observing plants, exercise by walking and exploring, improve one’s bodily health and mind 4)Arts and Humanities --Appreciating the beauty of nature --Different forms and ways of expressing art 5)Language (Chinese) --Fully integrate the skills of listening, speaking, data collecting, reading and writing, etc.
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