School: Yu-Jen Catholic Elementary School
    Taichung , Taiwan, Taiwan

12 students, ages 11-12 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 20, 2008. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2002,2003,2005,2007

Classes and Teachers: Lee, Pi-Chu; Tsai, Hui-Chen; Yang, Fei-Ting

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.yjes.tc.edu.tw/

1. Description of Our Community

After Taiwan Restoration in 1945, Taichung city was declared a municipality and was divided into five districts: East, West, South, North, and Central District. North District is the latest area while developing which is around Dudun area. The area which is between north of Jingwu Rd. and east of Shuang-Shin Rd. is what was called the source which was the source of running water of Taichung city in Japanese colonial era. In addition, North District is the area of education and entertainment of Taichung City which is from east of Gong Yuan Rd. along Shuang-Shin Rd. to Martyrs' Shrine. Taichung Park, National Taichung Library, swimming pool, WenYing Hall, Mayor's Mansion, Taichung Stadium, Taichung Gymnasium, and Taichung Youth Activity Center all locate in the area and these spots make North District fill with the atmosphere of arts and recreation. Yu Jen Catholic Elementary School is decided to build in North District which is full of atmosphere of arts and recreation.

2. Summary of Our Project

Education brings vitality to lives and it is like that spring makes lives flourishing and vital everywhere. Education is an important career which takes time to nurture individuals and it is a power to make our society keep progressing. Through education, new generation can realize and develop their self-potential and latent talents. In addition, only through education, we can impart experience and wisdom from generation to generation, this keeps our society continuing and progressing, and we can have a more perfect and more harmonious society. During the forty years (1967-2007), Jesus' word ‘Let Children Come to Me.’ which is always the standard and vision of Yu Jen Catholic Elementary School. The faculty of our school will obey our individual spirit in the trend of age pulse and pass on our individual school discipline to next generation until a hundred of years, a thousand of years…

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):

There are about sixty PCs in our school computer lab, each of which has a 2.8G Hz CPU with a 17 inch LCD monitor. All computers have the Windows XP operating system. There is at least one computer for the teachers and students to use in each classroom. Our school network is connected to the academic Internet by fiber optics. But in the computer lab we surf the net on broadband to look up information. We mostly exchanged our notes and research content with each other by email

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Firstly, we had to set up a schedule for the students' activities and ask for teachers' cooperation. We not only needed to arrange the students' time between the activities and their cram school class times but also had to match up the interviewees' schedules. It was a big challenge for students and teachers to complete the project in the limited time. The information found by students might not be correct, so we had to pay a visit to get reliable information for students to confirm. The management during the interview process was also one of our difficulties. To distribute the work among the team members and to keep on schedule were all the difficulties we had to conquer.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

The project topic is very familiar to me—namely, the place which is emphasized in the project is my school. Although I have studied in Yu-Jen for a long time, I did not know our school a lot until I have the opportunity to design our school website. Because of designing our school web, I understood the importance of teamwork and had a further understanding of the school. Because of attending the Cyberfair, I learned a lot, such as writing articles, interviewing people, and designing web. I not only share our school founders’ feelings but also learned a lot of skills to design the web. I deeply appreciated our teachers’ instruction.

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

Teachers' professional: Teachers discussed and made a lot of research on the project topic for this Cyberfair. In addition, teachers guided students to have team discussion, distribute work, and communicate with other people regarding research. Students' learning: In the nine year integrated curriculum, it emphasizes not only the integration among different fields but also the interdisciplinary correlation and its application. Under the teachers’ guidance, students learned how to make a well-arranged plan, had a chance to be a little reporter to interview, and had a deeper understanding of school history and future. In addition, the students could practice recording the whole process by themselves and have the experience of the interdisciplinary correlation and its application during the process they were involved. The students also learned how to be a part of a team and share their own experience with others. More importantly, they learnt how to concern people around them and learned to appreciate the people who quietly dedicate themselves to education. We firmly believe that this successful learning experience will help them grow in independent study and to play a role in a team in the future

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

Technical Equipment: We use computer, ADSL wide network, telephone, scanner, printer, digital camera, traditional camera, portable disk, Record pen, and recorder. Data collecting: (1.) Computer - learning, surf on the net, data reorganization (2.) Newspapers - reading and reorganize data (3.) Books - reading and reorganize data. We finished our Internet pages through different kinds of software, mostly, we used Word, Excel, notebook, Namo Web Editor, PhotoImpact and Flash. The whole topic plan was completed in the computer classroom

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

Every time when our students participated in the activity, they were on an important mission for school. Therefore, we had to be very careful and ask for perfection. Before writing the interview plan, we usually collected information first and then we selected the needed contents and individual's personality for our topic. Finally we interviewed people by ourselves. The interviewees totally agreed that the students can learn how to do research independently through attending the International Schools CyberFair and also share the result through the Internet, so they were all glad to tell us the relevant information. In order to let the web show its most real and warm aspect, we would ask for further questions in the way of chatting during the interview. Sometimes we reached the interviewee's hearts, so they told many unforgettable stories and impressed us a lot. These touching stories are all shown on our website under the “Interview Journals.”

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

Due to the motivation of learning, curiosity and interest, we cooperated with each other in order to complete our research project. When the moment of formally visiting our school campus, we were touched and really wanted to tell the whole world’s children that the people who live in Taiwan are really lucky and happy! We have to appreciate our government institutions which emphasize education, educators, God, and sisters and fathers who devote themselves quietly to let us have a wonderful learning environment, hardware, and software. During the process of the interview, we got closer to teachers' heart. Teachers identified our learning attitude and hoped us to present the spirit of education of our school which integrates into courses through the project. The project can not only make us have a deeper understanding of the learning environment but also present the wonderful learning environments in Taiwan as well as people who devote themselves to education quietly to the whole world.

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

Through the process of doing research for the project, we had a deeper understanding of people, things, and matters of the school. Due to Principal's guide and explanation, we can understand and feel that the school is different from what we know. We appreciated that Father Ma and Father Heydrickx accepted our interview. Because the Church, fathers and sisters devoted themselves into our school without regret and complaint, Yu Jen can be so great at present. When Father Heydrickx came to Taiwan from Belgium, he did not forget to visit students of Yu Jen and spared his time to have meeting with us. When he told us the story of building the school by means of sending stamps to those who donated money to the school with a happy and grateful tone, we felt so touched. Principal Shih has been our principal for 20 years, from the initial stage until the school has nurtured a lot of students to spread all over the world, Principal told us that students are always in the most important part of her heart and also told us that when we get along with mentally or physically disable students, we need to change ourselves instead of changing them to help them sincerely. Those words represent that our principal always devoted herself to our school, students, education. Miss Yang instructs her students filled with her love for 40 years since she was 18 years old. Their devotion let education pass on to generations and also let us have the opportunity to learn people and many things in our hometown. We should be grateful and hope that we can pass on their education ideals to generations.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Discoveries: I never notice the characteristics of our school when every day I walk in the campus, such as pillars of gymnasium. I have passed those pillars for hundreds times, but I never notice that those four pillars are in different colors. After joining Cyberfair, I started to know every spot in the school and had a deeper understanding. Those corners were unnoticed, but now they are meaningful to us. Through doing the research project, I discovered many special things and learned that when we observe every thing carefully, we can find its beautiful. Lessons: “There are so many things which I haven't organized! Articles haven't been finished yet!” When I did not finish things in advance, this was the result. Because I always thought that if I do not finish those things, I can do it tomorrow, things were pilled up and I did not start to work in hurry until teachers needed them. Until now I started to understand “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” Surprises: During the month when I was a volunteer in Class Love (special class), we had many different surprises. For example, Ya-Ting had to help the students clean up after they uesd the restroom, when I helped students to eat, my hands were wet with their saliva, students liked to hug Kai-Hsiang’s leg like a koala, Shu-Mei became their grandfather, etc. I never know that students in the class are so cute because most of people think that they are self-abased. They are not what we think, and if we get along with them more often, they will be close to you. If you often teach them, they will understand and learn what you teach them. During being a volunteer in the class, I had different experience from others and also had surprises after understanding the class