CyberFair Project ID: 7074

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: 50 Years of the Green Campus
Category: 3. Business and Community Organizations
URL: http://163.23.100.193/esjh50e/index.htm
Bibliography: http://163.23.100.193/esjh50e/esjh50th_00701.htm

School: Ershui Junior High School
    Changhua County, Changhua County, Taiwan

10 students, ages 13 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on February 22, 2012. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2007

Classes and Teachers: Jia-zhen Li, Jia-wei Yang, Chuan-feng Yang

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://163.23.100.193/school/web/index.php

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

Ershui Junior High School is located at the southern tip of the Bagua Mt. hills. It connects with Nantou County in the east and looks over the Jhuoshuei River in the south. Commanding a superb helicopter view, the school is blessed with a beautiful landscape, fresh air and an excellent natural environment. Erbawan Ancient Trail, Eco-Hall for Formosa Macaque, Babao Canal and Mr. Lin’s Temple are all in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, the well-planned biking trails in the township are the best venue for the education of ecosystem preservation, local arts, history and literature. Ershui Taishan Adventure Camp, under the custody of the school and located behind the school, is one of the few rock climbing yards and sky adventure education camps in Taiwan. The Ershui community is known for its abundant agriculture outputs: pomelos, coffee and Luo River ink slabs. Ershui Township is also a hub for railway transportation, with the Jiji Line (one of the three Taiwan Railway routes) branching out from Ershui and passing through the neighborhood of the school. In fact, with Ershui Station and Yuanchuan Station, Ershui Township is one of the few towns in Taiwan that have two stations. The tobacco building established at the peak of the tobacco industry is the renowned historical site in town. With such a rich natural environment and historical background, Ershui Junior High School is the best choice for study tours.

2. Summary of Our Project

At the Peak of the Pomelo Town Shines a Legend of Green Light - Ershui Junior High School into its 50th anniversary. Ershui Junior High School, located in the town of pomelos, celebrated its 50th birthday in December 2011. In front our campus is waters and on the back of our campus are hills. In the campus are Pomelo Garden and many green trees. Babao Canal, Mr. Lin’s Temple, Shuishe, Yuanchuan Train Station are all in the proximity and part of the community. The Legend of Green sings of the story of Babao Canal, the spiritual symbol of Mr. Lin, the cultural sophistication of Shuishe, etc. The reconstruction of the campus, the front gate and the building, as well as the changes of the natural landscape, mirrors the emotions of the people living here. The Legend of Green sings of the evolutions of campus buildings, memories in the hearts of teachers and students, the growth and withering of trees and plants here. Of course, it is all about the people who have spent their lives here. The Legend of Green also tells the memories of the retired teachers, the lessons learned by the alumni and the development of current students in Ershui Junior High School. This is a friendly, colorful and diverse campus, offering all kinds of teaching activities and student clubs. People come and go but the memories created here will always stay in the heart of everyone who has been part of this place. It is only natural that we look back. However, we also look forward, making our wishes for the future. We are like a clear and melodious wind chime. As the wind is again blowing into the beginning of a year, we are voicing out our dreams.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:21-50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:4-6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:not sure

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):

There are 6 desktops available to teachers in Student Affairs Office. Printers and other accessories are also available. Teaching Affairs Office previously had a number of laptops. It has added another two new ones as part of the preparation for teachers’ evaluations. Over the past years, it has purchased DV, digital cameras and graphic tablets. All these devices are basically open to long-term borrowers. This allowed us to access these tools for research and recording purposes. There are more than 30 desktops in the computer classroom. In addition, our school has established an IT Club this year. We could also use the facilities in the computer classroom for data collations during club activity hours. There are computer teachers, who we can consult any time for issues. The retired teachers, current teachers and school employees also provide us with software packages to facilitate the webpage production.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Insufficient time: It all took time to select team members, outline the project plans, articulate the project objectives to the members and work out the details. The decision on the theme and the goal also required the approval from parents and homeroom teachers. Given the limited schedule flexibility in the junior high school, our team members had to give up their lunch breaks almost every day and slotted some activities in their student club hours, in order to complete the data collection. Students’ background: Elementary students tend to have limited access to information compared to the students in big cities. Therefore, it was necessary to provide instructions outside class hours regarding the collection, organization and analysis of data and the writing of texts. This was undoubtedly a daunting task given the already tight timeline. Tight schedule for student activities: During the previous semester, we had weekly meetings almost each week. This left us with very limited flexibility in terms of our school hours. All the students and teachers involved had to juggle between schoolwork, campus activities while they proceeded with Cyberfair Project. Everybody was extremely busy. Interview scheduling: The curricula for junior high schools is relatively rigid in terms of hours so we could only schedule interviews for after-school hours or as part of our student club events. Our scheduling also had to take into account the availability of retired teachers. However, some students who rely on school buses would need to take care of their transportation of the interviews were scheduled for after-school hours. To utilize the weekly student club hours, we needed to coordinate with the retired teachers ahead of time because they usually have their own event calendar.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Chia-yu: Our results are accumulated bit by bit with our efforts. Yu-hsuan: We all developed superb chemistry during this period. Rou-hua: I was thrilled and excited when the project kicked off. Ya-chi: I learned a lot from Cyberfair Project. I would still be very happy even if we did not have great results for the competition. Chong-de: I managed to learn something during the interview, although I was having a nervous breakdown! Li-jing: We got to take photos with the interviewees at the end, no matter how challenging the process was. Tse-wei: It was difficult at the beginning but got better in the end. Yi-da: I cannot help smiling when I think about our interviews. Yu-hsin: I hope our efforts can produce great works. Hao-ren: I had a lot of great experience from Cyberfair Project that I could not get from textbooks.

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

Language- Chinese: The analysis of data and the responding to questions are essential to language learning. The interviewing process, the analysis of photos and data and the writing of articles all present an opportunity for students to apply their linguistic capabilities. Society-History: Students are required to data, compare and analyse data and interpret the information within. They are also required to make records, relate their findings to daily life and create a milestone for the school. Society-Citizenship: Students learn to care about the people, events and objects surrounding them by interacting and speaking with others in the community. Nature & life technologies: Students show the world the school’s characteristics and local information by using computers. Art & culture: Aesthetics is, of course, essential to the layout of webpages and the development of blueprints. This includes the original design of the mascot and the integration of the concept for layout designs of newspapers and magazines. Various activities: A simple tour leads to memorable discoveries at different corners of the community. There is collagen in pomelos? The effects of Giant Hyssop, the gathering of Love Beans, and the humming of Muller's Barbet resemble the knocking on a temple wood block. IT education: Computers are an essential tool in the modern society for delivering information. We learned how to establish a web site and share information from this project and the webpage production process. Environmental education: We found garbage in Babao Canal and campus trees suffering from brown root disease caused by Phellinus noxius. We saw fish swimming back and forth in Dah Chiou Yun Community Farm. We notice changes in our environment wherever we go.

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Project Elements

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

oral interviews: Interview of retired teachers to collect the data associated with history and the campus. Internet: Sending of data and sharing of webpage contents with people in different locations. DV: Recording of the interviews and comparison against the texts. video and digital still cameras: Recording of the research project and the collection of data. Printers: Production of mascot design, discussion on the colouring and modifications. Telephones: Contacting with the retired teachers for interview scheduling. USB: Recording of the interviews and comparison against the texts. Graphic tablets: A must-have for graphic productions for webpages. type computer software: Photoshop7.0, PhotoImpact11, ArtRage, Office Frontpage, VideoStuido 11, Illustrator9.0.2, etc.

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

Data collection in School History Hall: School History Hall collects all the yearbooks and some school publications over the years. This was the first step of the project. We gathered a lot of pictures and information about the evolution of the school by browsing through the yearbooks, as they are in some way the books of the school history. Interviews: This was the second step of the project. The interviews help to establish an understanding of the changes and developments of the people, the school and the environment. It was also a review of the peoples, events and things during the past half a century. The expectations of the retired teachers for the school set the tone for our goals going forward. This makes our school necessary, relevant and forward-looking as part of the community. Mascot design: Students were asked to exercise their artistic talents to design a mascot for Ershui Junior High School and the community. This mascot will be used in promotions and marketing of the school and local characteristics. It can also help to attract external resources by serving a bridge between relatively isolated Ershui Township and the outside world and promoting information sharing and local developments.

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

Development of local characteristics: Ershui Township is a tranquil and beautiful place. It leans against the mountains and faces the Jhuoshuei River. The relative closed location helps to preserve its simple and friendly atmosphere. People are warm and welcoming in Ershui. Meanwhile, Ershui is the starting point of the Jiji Line. Yuanchuan Station, along the Jiji Line, is next to Ershui Junior High School. Bicycle trails, historical Mr. Lin’s Temple, local events such as Running Water Festival express gratitude to the heavens and polemos, abundant in Ershui, are all resources available to develop local tourism. However, Ershui Township never has a website to introduce our local community. Therefore, we hope this project can present our local characteristics to the world via the Internet. Attraction of external resources: Pomelo Baby, hand drawn by Rou-hua Tseng and computer graphed by Teacher Li, was born in December last year. It is the mascot for the 50th anniversary of the school. It is centered on the local specialty polemos by highlighting the role of Ershui Junior High School in the community. It also advocates the sense of community in Ershui. We are planning to produce handmade soft-fabric toys, in order to raise funds for the school. The farmers’ association of Ershui Township is also planning to redesign its fruit gift packaging and is in fact considering the use of Pomelo Baby. Our principal Chung-ping Huang is currently in talks with the farmers’ association, hoping to promote Ershui Junior High School by leveraging their promotion of the logo and the design. This will help the school to win more resources and enhance the development of our education and community.

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

Dah Chiou Yuan Community Farm- Mr. Liu: The Farm showed students some video clips as an introduction and gave students a tour by explaining to them about the plants and the environment. This gave us a better idea about the environmental characteristics of Ershui Township. It also brought the school closer to the community by empowering the school to develop suitable curriculum for students. This will be one of venues for the school, now half a century old, to reach to the Peak of the Pomelo Town. Shuishe Coffee- Teacher Li: There was an introduction of the Luo River Ink Slab. We climbed trees and wandered about in nature. We wrote about our feelings, in order to integrate the local characteristics of Ershui into our curriculum. This allows students to experience the connection between the school and the community and such an experience is complementary to school education. This was the first attempt by Ershui Junior High School over its history of 50 years. This means the school will work with the community by extending the learning beyond the campus.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Discoveries: Discovery of the campus evolutions by visiting the past: We discovered how the community and the school are interconnected by exploring our surroundings. We pieced together lively and rich stories outside the pictures and texts by speaking with teachers and the elderly. Lessons: Learning to cherish what we have today by visiting the past: We learned how to apply what we have learned in our daily life by investigating our surroundings. We make our contributions to the development of the community and make our aspirations by speaking with teachers and the elderly. Surprises: Discovery of the beauty of Green Light in the campus by visiting the past: We discovered the connections and affections between people when we examined our surroundings. We also found out the life wisdom accumulated over the years by speaking with teachers and the elderly.

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View our CyberFair Project (Project ID: 7074)

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