CyberFair Project ID: 5965

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: Rainbow Concerto
Category: 2. Community Groups and Special Populations
URL: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2009/gsh5965
Bibliography: http://gsh5965

School: THE Affiliated High School of NCCU
    Taipei, Taiwan (R.O.C.) , Taiwan (R.O.C.)

6 students, ages 15-17 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 12, 2009. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): NO

Classes and Teachers: Instructor: Mr. Chi-ching Huang &Mr.Ming-Nan Chen

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.ahs.nccu.edu.tw/

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

Our local community description: The Love-Tree Foundation is located in the Wanfang community near our school. The Rainbow Village is located in Chuanyuan Rd. in the Beitou District; they help solve the problems of family care and housing for mentally disabled individuals from the ages of 15 to 50. The Love-Tree Foundation was established in 1984 by the musician Taixiang Lee; it uses the methods of ceramics, art, music, and drama education methods to actively develop the artistic potential of the mentally disabled, freeing their hearts through artistic training, hoping that through art they can find confidence, and their own piece of sky.

2. Summary of Our Project

The Love-Tree Foundation combines artists and teachers, using suitable teaching methods to develop the artistic potential of children. They take the creative works of the children, such as ceramics and drawings, and making them into cards, notebooks; and hold charity sales. Through these works the children can obtain encouragement and acknowledgement from the general public. Because the physical conditions of these children are especially fragile and sensitive, every piece of artwork represents signs of their growth.The goal of disabled welfare is “social integration, equal opportunities.” Upholding governing principles of generalization, humanity, community, and efficiency; emphasizing the cooperation of the public and private sectors to promote the participation of the disabled, and creating a fair and accepting environment. Allowing the promotions of social welfare to expand, valuing the welfare of the elderly, children, women, and disadvantaged groups. Caring about yourself and caring about the society; you will also be happy if you can bring happiness to others. This all starts from social welfare, allowing them to enjoy dignity and joy in life.

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):

In social studies, Chinese classes, or in the rules of life, it often teaches us to help others. So the topic “Caring for Love-Tree - Rainbow Love” is an important life education in our social studies curriculum.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

The pressures of time and homework: The course load is heavy in the first year of the hige school, participating in this research project we used our break time to surf the internet or go to the library to research, organize, share, discuss, and transmit information. We held irregular group meetings and allocated work; we also contacted and interviewed the subjects. The pictures and information need to be ams in school also could not be disregarded. Good thing we all worked hard and had mutual understanding; conquering the problems of time and school work, who says you can’t have it all? The passing down of experience and mutual understanding: The team was a whole new combination, besides Feng Yuan and Jing-Wen, all other team members had no prior experience and came from different classes. The humble learning attitude, experience sharing, and unselfish acceptance of the team became knowledge and understanding that could not be gained from books. The determination of the team to reach the final goal also helped to overcome the obstacles of lack of experience and understanding. Lack of professional knowledge: Before participating in the research project, we used many books and websites as references. But as middle school students, we still had limited knowledge of medical and social problems. Although it was easy to search for information on the internet, but we still were inadequate in detailed questions and professional knowledge. So we asked the teacher in school, and we also interviewed the Third Division Chief and Section Chief of the Taipei City Government Bureau of Social Affairs and the social workers to resolve many questions we had.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

The Love-Tree Foundation is a private foundation for the mentally and physically disabled, during the act of caring for them this time; we could not describe our astonishment. The friends growing up in the Rainbow Village allowed us to remove the barriers in our hearts, meeting them, understanding them, and finding that they were so real and cute. We want to say loudly: “Thank you Rainbow, because you allowed us to love ourselves and our parents more.” Understanding is the bridge between people, and a cold heart only causes you to be separated from humanity. I think the problems with social policy cannot be solved by people our age, but caring about the dark corners in society, learning how to give, and discovering how lucky we are is for sure the best reward we can receive!

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

The goal of nine year integrated curriculum is life-based; to strengthen the resource sharing of families, schools, and local communities. As a member of society, we have the duty to take what we learn in classes, and participate in the promotion of local affairs; inspiring people’s ability to learn actively, organize, and utilize knowledge. But school education activities cannot easily test if students encounter problems or need help.

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Project Elements

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

We have two computer rooms in our school, each classroom has about 45 computers; they are open to students during lunch and break time, in addition there are 12 computers in the library. The internet environment is connected to the school computer center, and through a T1 wire it is connected to the academic web. So the internet environment is very stable, and gives us adequate space to utilize. During winter vacation, the internet became a great helper; through the ADSL in all our homes, and having laptops with us during meetings, almost all restaurants and public spaces in Taipei provide wireless internet allowing us to find and transmit data. Website production: It really took us a lot of time deciding the basic structure and menu of the entire themed website, and making sure the links between the pages were orderly. In order to organize the appearance of the entire website, we needed to discuss and test: the colors of each word, the design of the icons, and the background. We encountered many problems during this process, especially becoming familiar with using the software, but under the guidance and modifications of the teacher and volunteer mothers, we completed our website. Website production: It really took us a lot of time deciding the basic structure and menu of the entire themed website, and making sure the links between the pages were orderly. In order to organize the appearance of the entire website, we needed to discuss and test: the colors of each word, the design of the icons, and the background. We encountered many problems during this process, especially becoming familiar with using the software, but under the guidance and modifications of the teacher and volunteer mothers, we completed our website. In this age of technology, internet information technology is limitless. Through producing our research plan, we used the “capability approach” and not the “intellectual approach” of education, in order to verify the information education promoted by nine year integrated curriculum. In the environment where all education opportunities are equal, whoever can get the newest and most appropriate information in the shortest amount of time can start with the highest footing; this is what we call “having information can help capture the first opportunity.” So if we can use knowledge effectively, and use our ability to collect, analyze, and organize knowledge, then we can realize the idea of “information is at your fingertips!” In social …

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

In the topical research process, we contacted the units we wanted to interview through e-mail or the phone, showing our care and interest toward the research topic. We hoped we could have some contributions toward the land we grew up in; through numerous phone calls we would confirm the time, date, and location. Finally we prepared to visit with anticipating hearts, the Taipei Bureau of Social Affairs, the Love-Tree Foundation, and the Taipei Rainbow Village, etc. We explored the current situations and problems related to the development of the Love-Tree Foundation, the Taipei Rainbow Village, and social welfare. We hope that through the production of the research project website, everyone can have a better understanding of the topic. Although in the process of communicating, we often experienced multiple phone transfers, contacting, planning, and waiting; but the subjects we wished to interview would always respond warmly, so we gained a lot of knowledge, and established a good communication bridge with the community.

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

In our research activity we started by caring about ourselves. Through using “research to identify problems” as the main theme of the scientific activity, we allowed each member of the team to encounter disadvantaged groups in society and deeply understand that the care of disadvantaged groups still needs the patience and love of everyone. In this meaningful learning process, the mutual understanding between our team members produced a strong unity. The social workers at the Bureau of Social Affairs, always contacted us after 7 or 8, surprising us that they could still have so much love and patience despite their long working hours. In the research process, we always cooperated patiently and carefully together as a team and we also utilized and allocated our time wisely. We learned to live out our lives, we hope it can have some contributions toward society, and allow our horizons to be broadened!

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

Contacts and actual interviews: In order to understand the research project subject more thoroughly, we actively contacted the visitation units. But many units were very busy and were unable to fulfill our requests. We would always first use an e-mail to introduce our team, and express our request to visit; we would then telephone them to communicate the details of the visit. The volunteer mother would also help actively contact them, allowing us to visit one location after another. Among the different subjects, interviewing the Beitou Armed Forces Hospital - Psychiatry Medical Center was the most difficult. Finally Director Dr. Hwan-Guang Feng helped us a lot after he understood our goal; this really touched us and made us work even harder. Transportation: The range of our research project included the Southern District of Taipei to Beitou, these locations all cannot be reached through normal means of transportation. So every time we needed to do research surveys or interviews, we always needed our parents to drive. Every interview, the concentration of the volunteer mothers were no less then us, inspiring us to work harder too.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

In the research activity this time, we found that there are many touching people and things that are easily ignored in daily life waiting for us to discover and experience. We often needed to remind ourselves to concentrate and focus, and have a spirit of team work in order to finish the task together. We were surprised by a group of mentally disabled children, with artistic ability we could not surpass. The imaginative drawings, ceramic houses, delicate hand made soaps… touched, surprised, and impacted us, who have never had prior contact with mentally disabled people. We found that the knowledge outside of our school books is beyond measure, waiting for us to explore and understand; and everyone’s potential cannot be predicted or limited.

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View our CyberFair Project (Project ID: 5965)

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