School: Dacun Junior High School
    Changhua County, Taiwan, Taiwan

10 students, ages 13 to 14 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on February 27, 2006. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2003

Classes and Teachers: Wen-Tsun Wang, Zhi-Wei Jiang and Ming-Hui Chen

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.ttjh.chc.edu.tw/

1. Description of Our Community

Dacun Township, our hometown, is located in the middle part of Changhua County in the central part of Taiwan. Dacun was so famous for mats that it is called 'The Kingdom of Mat'. Nowadays, it produces quality kyoho grapes and peas.

2. Summary of Our Project

MERIDA Industry Company was founded by D.H. Ike, Tseng (currently the Chairman) on Sep 29th, 1972. For achieving the goal, 'Bikes made in Taiwan are to the best quality', the company does the best work and gets many awards in the latest 30 years. Now, bikes made by Merida are best choices of people around the world.

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):

The school network environment is developed under the academic network, and at present it’s connected to the Changhua County Net Center by the dedicated connection optical fiber (10MB). In our school, two computer classrooms, and four teachers' offices, are equipped with computers, printers and projectors available for all the teachers. We have a FreeBSD server that governs the NAT network environment, and all the computers at school are protected by a Firewall server. The computer classrooms are the places for us teachers and students looking for information and discussing skill. Some of the classes have their own class homepages. It’s not common for teachers to keep in touch with parents through network. We hope we can do it in the near future.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Our problems are: a. Merida Industry Company and technology of bikes are so strange to us. b. It was hard to find time to work together and the deadline was almost up. c. Merida Industry Company is a private and profit-directed company, and because of their busy business, the interview contacts has its degree of difficulty. d. We especially lacked the experience of making a complicated homepage. Things we could do: a. Before we visited the Merida Industry Company and made interviews, we spent some time getting data we need through the internet and consultation with the elders. b. We worked hard in the school’s computer classroom. c. Fortunately, our school has good relations with Merida Industry Company; therefore we become the few successful visitors (about 2%) to visit the company. d. We sacrificed our free time to learn more about software like upload, Microsoft FrontPage, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Macromedia Flash, Swishmax, etc...

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Our maxims : 'No pain , no gain' and ' Seeing is believing.'

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

In Taiwan, We used to learn from the books. In this project, we developed the project based on the curriculum area, Technology of Life, which is usually ignored in Taiwan. In addition, we experienced interview and learned a lot of internet skills. So on our pages, we presented our love towards the local color, communicated with the publicists of Merida Industry Company and discussed our opinions with voluntary parents and teachers. We tried to find out the different points between the school life and methods of company management. In addition, we made the relationship of our school with the company closer. We not only hope to keep the messages, but also share the success of Merida Industry Company with others all over the world.

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

a. Hardware: Computer, Internet, digital cameras, digital audio recorders, printers, scanners, and telephones. These tools can be connected to computers and help save a lot of time of film editing and picture processing computers. They are essential tools for our project. b. Software: ACDSee, Adobe Photoshop, Color Picker, CuteFTP, Microsoft FrontPage, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Macromedia Flash, Mozilla Firefox, Nero Wave Editor, Swishmax, and Ulead PhotoImpact. The software makes our homepage more interesting. We add some pictures and special effects to our homepage with the software. Finally, software we used is helpful to our project.

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

We started our project from nothing. We planned, discussed, and then decided the project goal. We got many data from the company and first-hand materials through the interview. In our pages, we present the history, concept & philosophy, modes of management, and goals of future. So, we are the best spokespersons of sharing the success of Merida Industry Company.

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

Through interviewing the publicists of Merida Industry Company, we found many of their efforts: a. Merida Industry Company and Giant Bicycle Company are competitions to each other, but they have cooperation with each other. Their common goal is, 'Think bike; Think Taiwan!' b. In professional areas, “Actions speak louder than words.” c. We have to learn carefully first before entering professional areas, and we have to adapt it. However, we have to do good jobs through cooperation!

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

During the process of doing the project, we got a lot of help and advices from a lot of people. For example, our teachers at school taught us how to collect information, teach the skills of computer operation, edit our page effectively, make homepages and use different resources to make our project more convincing. In addition, thanks for the publicists of Merida Industry Company, Mr. Long-Chin Wang and Mr. Zheng-De Lia. Most importantly of all, teachers, classmates and our parents encourage us to achieve our goal. With the aid of these people, we learned a lot from them and finally finished the project.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Before the project, we just known Merida Industry Company and Giant Bicycle Company are competing each other .But after the project, we knew they have cooperation with each other. Why? Just because the two bicycle companies have the common goal,'Think bike; Think Taiwan!' In actually, many products made in Taiwan are the best choices in the world. You can view this advertising following the URL, http://0rz.net/9a0Uh. But now, many local companies may migrate to other countries. By the way, we hope there are still many valuable projects not researched in Taiwan!