School: Hsin Chia Elementary School
    Houbi Township, Tainan County , Taiwan (R.O.C.)

16 students, ages 11-12 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on February 27, 2008. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2007

Classes and Teachers: Chou Chun-Lin

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.sj2es.tnc.edu.tw

1. Description of Our Community

Houbi Township is commonly known as owl-bi-liaow. Situated in the northern end of Tainan County, the northern and western sides are bordered by Pachang Creek and Chiayi County. It is connected to Baihe Township in the east, Yenshui Township in the southwest, Dongshan Town in the southeas, and Hsinying City in the south. In terms of natural terrain form, it is elevated in the northeastern part and is tilted toward the west. However, the relative height is not significant, and the land form is rather flat. The territory is mostly Chianan Plain in attribute. Geographically, Houbi Township is located at the border between Tainan and Chiayi Metropolitan. Houbi Township is bound to play the role of a rural village as a result of this location distribution. Therefore, the entire humanities and landscapes of Houbi Township are apparently plain agricultural town oriented. Fields are seen everywhere especially rice fields. In addition, commercial activities in major villages within the precinct are rather slow. It is especially so as compared to neighboring towns and townships.

2. Summary of Our Project

The topic covers an introduction of this irrigation engineering, the largest construction work in Taiwan. First, the natural environment of Chia-Nan Plain is first introduced. Then, the background and construction process of the canal are explained. The three-year-crop-rotation is also covered in the topic. Finally, the respected Father of Chia-Nan Canal, Hachitayoichi is introduced. Students will be able to understand agriculture. It is more than just cultivating crops, there are many techniques involved as well.

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:2-3

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 school is equipped with 1 computer classroom. Almost every classroom has a computer. All the school computers are connected to one another though special line or internet. The online connections are quite smooth. The campus internet is a regional internet work where resources from each computer are shared.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

(1) Group member schedule: Since the school schedule is fixed, we had to use our break times on Wednesday afternoons and after school to discuss the topic structure, interview questions, and visitations.

(2) Transportation: Other than the canal nearby, interviews with work station staff or visitations to Wushantou Reservoir are quite far from our school, so, transportation was a big problem for us. The group consisted of many people so we had to send representatives for interview conductions.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

This year, we received a letter from the Houbi Township Office. It was stated in the letter that it wished to cite our school data and post it on its website. To us, it means approval, and encouragement. This year, we conducted more in-depth studies on farmland irrigation. Although the topic scope was extended to cover the county and the city, there is a connection between the two. Houbi Township is considered a rural agricultural town. Since the canal passes by the school, and enters our rice fields, we hope that more comprehensive data related to humanity, culture, and history can be gathered, which shall also serve as reference for future teachings.

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

The study plan participation enabled teachers to enhance professional knowledge and skills so that students can be guided through. Children also understood that it was only with continual discussion and collaboration could the study be completed. They also understood the importance of group work. Student learning changed from passive knowledge acquisition to active knowledge construction. Interests and capabilities were fully explored and cultivated. Topic study is a type of topic or integrative learning. It easily combines with different learning areas. For instance, we have learned about simple function use and chart production in EXCEL at information class. (Tainan County Joint Program Test questions) This time, we compared tabulated statistical data on the government website with the rice production volume and annual rice consumption in Taiwan per person in the various towns and townships of Tainan County. Discussions have been made on the significances of these tables and charts. This type of activity could also be coordinated with “Statistics” in math class. All in all, the course of this topic study has intangibly integrated knowledge in respective academics.

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

Computer, computer software(Wordxp,PhotoImpact8.0,FrontPagexp,Explorer,Excel,FTP):Data upload, data compilation, webpage production Internet:Various data search including past works of Cyberfair, related book search, inquiry and topic related webpage Scanner:mage processing Digital camera:Photograph taking as image record Team member E-MAIL, telephone, mobile phone:Regular communication and contact

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

Over the past year or two, the rice from Houbi gained popularity. The school also conducted many activities and held classes. A research was conducted on the irrigation topic. We visited the water man in the village, farmers, work station workers, and rented a car to visit Wushantou Reservoir. The locals approved of our local topic research, and were interested in our fieldtrip learning.

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

Through topic and station setup, we hope everyone will have better understanding of the rice industry and irrigation. On the other hand, we hope to promote our school features and students’ competence through this activity holding so that the local residents will know about our learning activities in the rural area that measure up with those of schools in the urban area.

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

Village head, Mr. Chang Shi-Yun, has been growing rice for 50 years. We invited him to our school for an interview so we could learn more about how irrigation was done in the past.

The water man is the water release worker hired by the work station. He is in charge of opening and closing the canal gate and make sure water flows to rice fields within regulated time. Mr. Lui is 77 years old now. In his 40s, he started working as a water man. He resigned from the job later. In his 60s, he took up the job again. He has been working there for more than 10 years now.

Farmland irrigation nearby our village is managed by Houbi Work Station. One Wednesday afternoon, we visited Houbi Work Station and conducted an interview. The interviewee is the work station head Mr. Guo Chun-Rong. He is 50 years old this year and has been serving at Irrigation Association for more than 20 years.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

The canal is nearby us, yet, we had little knowledge of its functions. Through this topic research, we learned the importance of irrigation in farming. Every drop of water distributed is the result of many people’s hard work. Water is transported from the mountains to rice fields for plant growth. Like the transportation network, there has to be a comprehensive system to allow vehicles to travel to and from places. It might seem like common sense, but there is more to it.