School: primery school
    taitung, taiwan, taiwan

13 students, ages 10-11 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 20, 2005. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2005

Classes and Teachers: Ke-rong cheng?Guang-hui chung

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.lodps.ttct.edu.tw

1. Description of Our Community

Located on the sea to the southeast of Taiwan, the beautiful Lanyu Island boasts abundant cultural and natural landscapes. On the island, people live a life in harmony with the rest of the world, depending tremendously on the sea.    As people of the sea, the Yami wish to be its guard. The picturesque Lanyu Island is waiting to be explored, and the lovely Yami people warmly welcome friends to visit them. There is no boundary between the blue “sea” and “sky”! This Cyberfair Project is limited to Taitung County, Lanyu Township, Langdao Village. It is aimed at enhancing the students’ understanding of their community, publicizing the Yami culture by means of visits to the tribes and interviews with the natives, and allowing people to learn more about the culture of the Lanyu Island through the convenient network.

2. Summary of Our Project

We present the beauty of the Yami culture from different angles: 1.The Beautiful Boat, which introduces the geographic environment and culture of the Lanyu Yami as well as the Yami Boat.

2.The Structure of the Boat, which introduces the materials, tools and techniques used for making the boat.

3.The Boat Family, which is a survey of the existing Yami Boats in Langdao Village.

4.The Sea Legend, in which the Yami myths are appreciated.

5. Mivawa (Flying Fish Sacrificial Rite), which reveals the relations between people, boat and sea through the introduction of traditional sacrificial rites.

6. Working Partners, which records what we have learn from this study.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:none

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:1

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

Network Environment:FT1+BB512 lease line modem (1.5MB) Computer:13 notebook computers Digital Camera:3 Digital Video:1 Scanner:1 Web page editing:frontpage 2003 Image editing:Painter, ACDsee

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

The biggest challenge of this Cyberfair Project is how to have good interaction with the interviewees. The Yami people have a unique culture and century-old, almost unchanged traditions. For this reason, we always proceeded with caution, for fear of violating taboos of the tribes. We were at a loss, not knowing how to collect material without breaking so many taboos in the process of boat making. The students even felt frustrated because of being scolded during the interview.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

“Don’t defeat yourself with your own excuses! The first step is usually the beginning of success!”  

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

Yami Culture is in fact one of the school courses, but the students used to be passive learners only, waiting to study the course as designed by the teachers. This activity aims at changing the students’ roles in their learning process, in which they play a leading role in groups and through mutual cooperation and support. The students went to school to collect and sort out material in their out-of-class time, and extended the study to various topics they had discussed. We collected material on the Internet, supplemented the study with related books in the school library and the “Home of Yami Natural Learning Fellows”, looked into the number and manufacturing process of the tribe’s boats through interviews and then sorted out all the material using tools of digitization. The digital camera was the most convenient tool, and the scanner also played an important role in this activity, not to speak of computers! And we found that everyone differed from one another in terms of study, so we took advantage of such difference to divide the students into several teams, such as the Photography Team, the Image Processing Team, the Web Page Creation Team and the Word Processing Team. All the students finished their own work as expected with the teacher’s assistance. During the integration process, the teams discussed and modified their own results or material so as to complete the creation of web pages. It is expected that each student involved in this activity can “solve problems independently”; however, they can benefit more from “cooperative study”. And they can improve their skills in using information tools, too!

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

Just as the children said, “We have never done lessons like this before!” Indeed, for students who had no computers at home, they had to finish the work at school in out-of-class time. And restricted by the tutor’s schedule, they had to do most of the work by themselves after class. However, to our delight, although all the students felt tired, none of them gave up. Maybe they were interested in this activity, and maybe they were under pressure from the teacher or their schoolmates. Anyway, I know that my goal has been obtained! This activity is more than the study of creating Cyberfair Project web pages. It allows the children to learn how to cope with and arrange their own study. …And the children made it!

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

The tribal might have heard about the efforts we have been making. They poured out all they knew without reservation when the students did the tribe survey, allowing them to collect sufficient material, which was unexpected by everyone. The parents of the students also provided time convenience, which made it easier for us to fulfill the task.

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

The tribal might have heard about the efforts we have been making. They poured out all they knew without reservation when the students did the tribe survey, allowing them to collect sufficient material, which was unexpected by everyone. The parents of the students also provided time convenience, which made it easier for us to fulfill the task.

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

Thanks to the kind assistance of Mr. Na-bao Shih and Mr. Rui-fang Wang, who accompanied us to the tribes for the survey and explained to the old people in the tribes the purpose of our interview, information flowed to us like tidewater. And with Mr. Ma-rong Chen acting as our instructor and explaining to us warm-heartedly (which was slightly against the tradition of modesty), we finally completed the material about the structure, manufacturing process and decorative patterns of the boat! The tribe survey is a process of interaction with the interviewees, in which the students have learnt how to interact with the senior people, and the teachers have found that this tribe still has the enthusiasm about children’s education.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Through the Cyberfair Project, the students had a deeper understanding of how hard it was to make a Yami Boat. And they suggested that maybe we carry out in-depth research on various sub-topics. In fact, this project is a general research only. Due to limited capability and time, it was impossible for us to carry out in-depth research on each topic. Take the material for making Yami Boats as an example. The students believed that it could be a topic for the discussion about the intelligence reflected in the material for making Yami Boats. The students’ view shows that related topics have not been fully explored yet. It seems that “Yami Boat” can serve as a core concept for future research topics. Sub-topics in this research can also be further explored to make the entire research more complete and in-depth. In this way, the results will not only be what the students have achieved in the Cyberfair Project, but also become topics of the school course. The students’ views have caused the teachers to think more: probably, students can learn better what they are interested in.