CyberFair Project ID: 5531

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: You choose: the glass or communication
Category: 4. Local Specialties
URL: http://alcoholoryou.byethost4.com/
Bibliography: http://alcoholoryou.byethost4.com/Bibliografie/bibliografie_en.html

School: Eudoxiu Hurmuzachi High School
    Radauti, Suceava, Romania

4 students, ages 16-18 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 1, 2009. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2005, 2006 ,2007 ,2008

Classes and Teachers: Magdalina Apolonia Saviuc,Elena Olaru,Marian Olaru, Liviu Hatnean

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://cnhurmuzachi.ro/

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

Our local community is located in Romania , a Central European Country. Situated in the center of the depression with the same name, at an altitude of 360-380 m, Radauti has established its hearth in the confluence angle of Suceava with Sucevita. The oblong form of the dumps (NV-SE) favors the conduct of the wind blowing in this way, and the numerous water surfaces introduce some changes in the normal way of meteorological elements. The average annual temperature is 6.9°C; the average annual temperature of July is 18.2°C and of January -5.3°C. The average annual rainfall is 643.6mm. The clime is temperate. At first sight, an opened territory, the area of the town called Radauti is well hidden in a natural way, by the swampy land that surrounds it. This natural protection, associated with the vast possibilities of practicing the agriculture and cattle rising, have made Radauti, from the ancient times, an adequate place for living (the oldest signs found are from 7000 years ago). The first document that certifies the town dates from 1392, where Radauti was mentioned as the village of Radomir, making part of his properties, from which, as some versions say, it is supposed to have derived the name of the town. Other opinions say that the settlement has its origins in old times and the name “Radauti” comes from the Latin word Rottacenum, given by the soldiers to name the roman garrison in Siret. Under slave influences we assist at a distortion of the original name Rottacenum and its conversion to Radauti, as it appears in later documents. The name of the town proceeds from the name “Radu”, probably a ruler of the local community before the foundation of Moldavia. The oldest certification documentary of Radauti dates from 1413, in a document of Alexander The Kind. At the middle of XIV century, there was already a flourishing settlement here, so that Bogdan I (1359-1365) decided to build at Radauti the main church of the country, which became the center of a bishops. The archeological researches have found, around the St. Nicolas church (Bogdana Monastery) some proofs of human inhabitance previous to Bogdan’s age, which would plead for the existence, in Radauti, of an anterior center to the formation of the state.

2. Summary of Our Project

Alcoholic drinks have been used almost all over the world, as far back as the ancient times. There are records of their usage by the ancient civilizations as far back as year 6,000 B.C. Wine production has its origin in the Middle East, where the vine bore fruit without special care. The Old Testament attributes the planting of the first vine growing to Noe, considering him as the first person who got drunk.

Greek philosophers, such as Socrates and Platon recommended moderation and incriminated the abuse of alcohol. The Romans were familiarized with the wine by the Greeks and, even if they conquered the Greek Empire, they were actually the ones who were conquered by the Greek culture, by their gods and by the Greeks’ affinity for wine consumption. Christianity helped to the instauration of a moderate position towards the consumption of alcoholic drinks.

Alcoholic drinks spread from one country to another, being transformed according to the fruit type that was available and to the inhabitants’ tastes: the vodka made from potatoes in Russia, whiskey, beer, gin, cognac in Europe, ale in the British Islands, “sake” in Japan, “soma” in China, “chica” and “pulque” in South America, rum in the Caribbean Islands.

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

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Although our chemistry teacher helped and supported us, problems still occured. We all know that working in a team can be entertaining, but sometimes also difficult. We had also problems activating the Web Page. Some inconveniences appeared also when applying the questionnaire. It was quite difficult to organize the forum and the drawing contest.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

This project started as an experiment, a simple idea, but neither one of us knew if it would actually be successful. The impact that it had on the students and teachers from our high school can’t be neglected because the information presented was exact, very well managed and presented and the fact that a doctor had a word to say meant a lot.

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

From this project all of as developed both our skills as individuals in a team and we also learnt a lot of new things concerning the health of those around us. We were also able to practice the foreign languages that we learn at school English,and we also learnt a lot about what organizing an activity really means. Our points of view weren’t always the same but we learnt to take in account the opinion of the other members of the team. Because one of the students is not from our high school the web page was a bit difficult to complete because all the work was done on the internet. But as they say “All is well when it ends well”, we managed to complete our tasks and finalize our project.

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Project Elements

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

Because it’s a complex project, we needed solid information gathered throughout the Internet, from different medical pages, but we also needed some statistics taken from several books. We used 3 computers because each member of the team did his part on his own computer, a printer and a scanner. To create the Web Page we needed the following programs: Adobe Dreamweaver, Fireworks , Photoshop ,PHP Designer 2007, Apache & Mysql Servers, Microsoft Office Suite (Word 2007, Power Point 2007, Excel 2007 ). For the presentation that took place in the conference hall of the “GERALD’S” Hotel, we disposed of a laptop and a projector , offered by the chemistry laboratory. Each part of the equipment played an important role, but the most important were the Internet and our PCs, without which we couldn’t have succeeded. The IT lessons from school helped us create the web page and the literature and arts lessons helped us sort the essays and drawings.

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

Globalization is the fundamental aspect of the contemporary world. That means that diplomacy is the first instrument in this new trend . Connections with the mass-media and local authorities are vital for an international project. To convince our colleagues to enter this Web Page and to take part of our manifestations we created an exhibition with images and folders in the school’s hall and organized the National Forum in collaboration with Suceava County Scholar Inspectorate, Radauti Police, Anti-drug Organization and Radauti Hospital. We organized a competition for web Pages, essays, epigrames and cartoons. 115 students from 17 high-schools across our country took part in this competition, 34 of which won prizes. Thei works were published in The Notebook of the national Forum YOU CHOOSE: THE GLASS OR COMMUNICATION ISBN 978-973-88348-9-7

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

The fundamental part of our project took place in the conference hall of the “GERALD’S” Hotel in Radauti and it consisted of an exhibition, a PP presentation, a psychological questionnaire applied to a number of 300 students from Radauti. The debate took place in the frame of the National Forum. The answers to the questionnaires and the discussions that were held showed the opinions of our partners. Not only students learnt things concerning the bad effects of drinking alcohol. Everybody was impressed by the high number of diseases determined by the massive consumption of alcohol. Our page helped students that hadn’t participated in our activities to inform themselves about our project and also to learn new things about alcohol consumption. Our purpose was not to determine people to stop drinking alcohol, but to show them the risks of massive consumption. We think our project was a total success. Our activities were presented also during local TV programmes and in the local newspapers using photos and coverages.

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

Our partners were: the spokesman of Save the children Organization, the Suceava County Scholar Inspectorate, Radauti Police, Anti-drug Organization, The University Stefan cel Mare from Suceava. We applied the psychological test to 300 students from the Technical College, from the National College Eudoxiu Hurmuzachi and from the High School Andronic Motrescu. Two important companies and business men from our town supported us financially.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Our partners were: the spokesman of Save the children Organization, the Suceava County Scholar Inspectorate, Radauti Police, Anti-drug Organization, The University Stefan cel Mare from Suceava. We applied the psychological test to 300 students from the Technical College, from the National College Eudoxiu Hurmuzachi and from the High School Andronic Motrescu. Two important companies and business men from our town supported us financially.

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