CyberFair Project ID: 6351

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: Revival of the Sunday Baazaar
Category: 5. Local Attractions (Natural and Man-Made)
URL: http://discoverysundaybazar.zxq.net
Bibliography: http://discoverysundaybazar.zxq.net/biblio.html

School: Discovery Centre SmartSchool
    Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan

8 students, ages 13 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 23, 2010. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2009

Classes and Teachers: Ms. Hira Khatri

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

Our community, Karachi is the commercial and financial capital of Pakistan. Most of the people are multilingual speaking atleast 3 languages. The most common languages are Urdu, English and Sindhi. It is located in the province of Sindh and has one of the biggest ports of the region. The people of Karachi enjoy life through shopping, eating out and going to the beach.

2. Summary of Our Project

Our project is going to focus on the Local Attraction 'Itwar Bazaar' (Sunday Market). It is set up every Sunday at one of the posh localities of Karachi. For years Sunday Market has been famous for its dusty paths and uneven stalls. Recently the market has upgraded to tiled paths and shades, with a food court and a play area. Our project will focus how this change has affected the consumers and the shopkeepers.

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:4-6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:4-6

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

We had a lot of problems during the uploading of the website as the internet connection kept restarting. We had to upload it 10-15 times.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

One major problem was security. Because of the recent attacks in the country, the school is not allowed to take children on field trips. So our principal refused to take us to the DHA Bachat Bazaar for survey. It was later decided that we would reach with our parents and the teachers separately for the survey. Another major problem was the customers refusing to talk to us. Because of the heat, all of them were pretty worked up and refused to talk to us or to come on the camera. In the end we praised their looks and their smiles and got interviews. Monthly assessments are always a pain. Just when we were ready to upload the website, monthly examinations started. We had no time to upload it. When we decided to do it on a Friday, the Friday became a public holiday. We were sure that we would not be able to participate this time. But in the end, we managed.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Our participation makes us better than our school mates. The others are so jealous that we get to do this project and not them.

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

• Our unit on Newspapers in Language Arts deals with interviews, survey and reporting. • Further, our teachers are always looking for interesting projects to do. They say project based learning is the most effective. We agree because its so much fun and we know better than our neighborhood friends.

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Project Elements

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

• 4 pentium 4 computers • 3 digital still cameras • 1 video camera. • Pinnacle Video studio 14 • Web Easy Professional 8 • Internet • oral interviews

Last year we used MS Publisher for the website. This year we used Web Easy Professional and we feel our website looks much professional this year. We also learned to use Pinnacle Video Studio.

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

We interviewed educated women to the illiterate shopkeepers from northern villages. The shopkeepers were keen to appear on the camera and instead of answering the questions kept staring at the cameras smiling. It took us ages to get them to speak instead of laugh. Explaining the purpose of the project to them was the most difficult task. The ladies with branded handbags were obviously sick of the heat from the fiberglass and totally refused to talk to us. When we would try to talk to their husbands they would glare and the husbands would move on. So finally, we decided to go sit at the food court as it was a cooler place and interviewed people there. The people were impressed with our project and wanted to know which school we belonged to. They said we were doing a good job and wanted us to send the link to the

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

People recognize us now because we talked to them. We are from a small school of a big system. Lots of people we talked to asked us about our school and asked for our address. We think they might want to send their children to our school. Our parents also feel this is the best way to learn. They are extremely happy with the school for the opportunity to participate in such projects.

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

We would only like to thank the people who cooperated while we were looking for interviewees. We know how hard it is to stand 2 minutes in the new heated bazaar.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

We thought we were the only ones who hated the new setup of the DHA Bachat Bazar, but we found out that most of the frequent visitors hate it too.

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View our CyberFair Project (Project ID: 6351)

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