School: Yijhu Elementary School
    Chiayi County, Taiwan, Taiwan

9 students, ages 10-12 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on February 27, 2005. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2005

Classes and Teachers: Yuan-Mao Hsu, Chin-Fu Lien, Chiu-Lan Wang

E-Mail contact:

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

1. Description of Our Community

Yijhu Township is located in the southwest of Chiayi County. If you look at a map of the area, it looks the same as the island of Taiwan, similar to a sweet potato. Apart from the beautiful Bajhang River, which provides the irrigation for growing the region’s agricultural products, the local residents are also proud of the great view of the sunset. There are two stories about the origins of Yijhu. The first is that the original residents planted some green bamboo to surround and protect the local inhabitants, thereby creating a small community. The other story comes from when the Japanese army occupied Taiwan. There were 49 people who had protested against the Japanese occupation and had stood up for justice, and in the process had sacrificed their lives trying to defend their homes. In order to commemorate their actions, people called the place “Yijhu.”

The original inhabitants of Yijhu came from Cyuanjhou and Jhangjhou, in Fujian Province, China. The biggest group was called Weng, which was the family name of the majority of the settlers. They educated their children and grandchildren with good spirit so that later generations would be able to retain the local history, pay tribute to their ancestors, enhance the kindness and charity extended to other people, and show the gracious nature of the local residents.

The population of the Yijhu Township region is about 34,000 people, divided into 22 villages. The residents are mainly engaged in the agriculture and fishery industries. The life of the people and their way of thinking is traditional and simple. In recent times, many of the people have moved away because of the decreasing opportunities for work in local industry and commerce, so a method of enhancing the development of the local area is one of the major issues for Yijhu Township.

2. Summary of Our Project

These days, the cities that we live in are like concrete jungles. Everyone wants to return to the original purity and simplicity of life, but still pursue their fame and fortune. Our elementary school is located in a fairly remote and poor part of Taiwan. We have no luxurious and modern schoolhouse or equipment, but we have a unique style in our cultural accomplishments. This has not only provided our teachers with an abundant teaching resource, but has also become one of the greatest features of our community, which is why we hope that, through this project, everyone in the community can better understand the problems that the original local inhabitants endured, and can cherish the land even more and take good care of our homeland.

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):

The school has a Computer Classroom, which has 36 personal computers available for the use of students. Including those used in each office and for administration, there are a total 50 personal computers available, linked to a local area network, which is a special fiber optic Internet connection that can link the Taiwan academic network through the Chiayi network center. The computer room has a high-speed connection and is open to students during recess. After school, only a few students are able to use their phone line to connect the Internet using a dial up connection, so the transfer speed is slow. Therefore, most paper assignments need to be done at home, then brought to school to correct, transfer or to put them in order.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

1. Decide research topic and second subject The new generation of students are already indifferent to the industrious cultivation and the preservation of cultural and history of the original inhabitants of Yijhu, which is why we began to design a discovery trip from the Chin-Chiang Weng monument that stands in our school campus, in a corner that has already been forgotten, in order to give the students of today the chance to discover their past and follow the path of the passing years, and give them the opportunity to find themselves and their future.

2.Collecting information and Data To us, the Chin-Chiang Weng monument was a forgotten corner of our school. People seldom notice its history and ignore its past. We were the first group to be concerned with such things in our campus. The main problem was that the current teachers at the school rarely mentioned it, and most of the senior teachers had retired. We first had to go into the community to interview the elders and the teachers who had retired in order to find more information. We also had to go out to observe the real locations, look for relevant books, and ask professors and other experts. Our project data was accumulated piece by piece.

3. Applying research methods in the society field This research uses methods such as historical narration, the collection of historical information and other fieldwork methods, etc.

4. Developing the Q and A sheet and interview skills training We needed to consider some weaknesses in our student’s personalities, because taking part in the CyberFair contest required us to do interviews correctly and record our diary report. This meant that we had to overcome the problem of having a nervous personality or poor language skills so that we could interview the director of the school and community elders, and communicate with previous graduates from our school who now live in other places. In addition, we needed to learn how to use the sound recording pen had to get used to the drill of writing the diary report every day. We all think that these last two months have been some of the most beautiful and fond days of our lives.

5. Inadequate instruments and equipment We needed to go outside the school to do the fieldwork, and use care and professional skills. For example, the decorations on the rooftop, and the distances were too great to easily capture a close-up of the Pachang River scenery.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

This journey of discovery provided much food for thought for the students.

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

1. Student learning We have changed the learning habits of the students, which used to be passive. Instead, students were encouraged to learn actively when doing the research, and the role of teacher became more than simply explaining the material to the students unilaterally. For the information research and editing aspects, we used the society field’s research method to process the study. For example, the content analysis method, historical narration, interviews, field investigation methods, etc. We used a large amount of digital equipment to record the process, which improved efficiency and accuracy. Also, using these tools increased fun and effectiveness through the diversification of the presentation. From the actual research process, we became not only a knowledge consumer, but also a provider and creator. As a result of taking part in this competition, we gained a great deal of learning experience, including the spirit to actively learn and conduct research, the cultivation of a cooperative attitude, the actual use of information and the establishment of presentation abilities.

2. Reconstruction of the school-based curriculum and the community’s cultural workroom resources As a result of the research we conducted while participating in this activity, we not only gained experienced as a recorder of the entire process, with feedback to the village community, but also provided a new resource for the teachers at the school to use as part of the school-based homeland-teaching curriculum. In addition, we were able to provide a resource that could be used as a reference for our community, including the Yijhu literature and history workroom and the Village Office, who can also use the material in the future. We hope that the environmental education and homeland cultural education of our community can develop through a combination of the curriculum reconstruction and the school resources.

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

The research topic we studied was “Chin-Chiang Weng And His Son.” We organized a team and did our research from a human point of view, interviewing the elders and other people to help them understand that the learning level of our students is deep, wide and diverse.

Although it’s just a small monument in the corner of the school’s campus, and maybe people don’t even notice it, by interviewing the staff at the Yijhu Village Office, the Jen-Chien Foundation, the Yijhu Literature and History Workroom, the Farmers Association, and the village heads and elders, we managed to open up the memory of the people of Yijhu. It also reminded them of their feelings of gratitude, and that they should cherish the love of their homeland. Everyone was able to realize more deeply that Yijhu has a unique style and history.

We have been told that we were a great little literature and history team. Both Mr. Chung-Chun Weng, the president of the Jen-Chien foundation, and Mr. Chang-Lang Chiu of the Yijhu literature and history workroom praised and appreciated our work. They told us that they thought our school was really great for teaching literature and history education from one’s childhood. Because of that, they believed that school encourages more people to grow up with a deep affection for the land. They also had great hopes that more people could be persuaded do the same.

It’s really amazing. During this project, it felt as if we were a cobweb, weaving an educational web across Yijhu by stepping from one place to another. Our efforts have already started a movement in our town.

The 90th anniversary celebrations of our school and parent-teacher conferences are coming soon, so we will take the chance to introduce our work to everybody, and surprise them by showing what an amazing place we live in.

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

We used three ways to introduce Chin-Chiang Weng and his son to everybody, which were as follows:

1. Interview in person: we made use of the interview opportunity to introduce our research topic and content to the people who were being interviewed. At a later stage in the research, we also asked them if the first result was ok. After the contest, we give us the study result as a present.

2. The participation of classmates and parents: By being involved in this contest, parents and teachers became our best volunteers. Although they weren’t formal members of our team, they helped us to use the Internet to search for information and took us to the relevant places to collect the information from the people and visit the ancient houses that we needed for our research.

3. Expert consultation: In line with our research topic, our teachers took the opportunity to attend some workshops and wer able to ask some experts, such as professor Shih-Hui Pan of the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, and professor Chien-Chiu Chang of the National Chung Cheng University, for advice on how to collect local cultural antiques, and how to enhance our writing skills in order to have the proper attitude toward discovering the real facts and to do our research in the right spirit.

4. Participation and feedback: We attended the Yijhu homeland cultural event and shared our research with the people of community. At the same time, we also asked for their assistance and got many thoughts from them. They also provided some material to be used as teaching material for Chiayi County’s junior high and elementary school homeland education curriculum.

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

With the growth of the economy, the environment is slowly being changed into a better place for people to live and we create lots of artificial “scenery” to improve how people live. In contrast, we are reducing the living space of other creatures. At the same time, we also seem to ignore our cultural heritage and never really take notice of it. Through this research, we feel that we have given the people of Yijhu a new understanding of their history and development. The students no longer only hope to build a new amusement park or take pleasure in material things, but have opened their eyes to better maintaining their cultural heritage. From this, they have discovered many features about Yijhu they didn’t know before, and they now focus on the orientation and future of the area. We are hoping this influence will continue, and give our home a better future.

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

The content of this website is written entirely by our team members following our group discussions, and the majority of the images were also taken by ourselves. Other older pictures were provided by the Village Office, Yijhu literature and history workroom, along with other residents and teachers, who were generous enough to let us use the pictures. We are very grateful.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Yijhu Township is not that famous for its scenery, and because we think that it’s so ordinary, it stops us from noticing our surroundings. However, we got so many surprises from our research process, especially when we studied the history of the Housheng Bridge. As we passed through time and tracked down the Yijhu of the late Ching or Manchu Dynasty, the Yijhu of the Japanese occupation era, and the Yijhu of the Nationalist government, the information overtook the plan that we had expected. This journey of discovery provided much food for thought for the students.