1. Description of Our Team
Being in the 11th grade, the four of us came together under the same search for living a healthier life. Our interest in health led us to choose the topic of Organic food, allowing each member of the group to take on a different role in bringing the project together. Xiaoshuo(17 years old), being able to lead and execute, took on to coordinate the project. She helped to inspire the whole team by bringing out creative ideas and also devoted herself into the process of making the website. Jiaxun, 17, is profound in using acute observation and information processing. She efficiently dug out information and combined all the information necessary. Xinyi, 16, assisted the project by finding creative resources and brainstorming new ways to perfect our work. She has transcendent writing skills and scientific knowledge that accelerated our outcome. Chen, 17, is our technical expert. He designed all the flash videos and brought our project into being. Our coach was Elizabeth Price who came from the US and has been in China for 1 year. She corrected our papers and articles which eventually perfected our performance.
2. Summary of Our Project
Our interest in organic food was shown when we heard the news that Michelle Obama invited local schoolchildren to the White House to grow vegetables in the year 2009. Because her purpose was to motivate people to “grow their own”, we dug into information and found out that her botanical pursuits was under the same idea of organic food. By doing research and interviewing our biology teacher, we gradually found out countless benefits of organic farming and its products. This website is designed to raise awareness among people about the superiority of organic products and what we can possibly do to live a healthier life. In addition to the common benefits, we also want to inform people of the contribution we can make to the global environment simply by eating healthier. We see it as our responsibility to help spread the idea of sustainable farming.
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:1
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
Because the four of us were in four different classes, it was rather hard for us to get together and discuss the project. To solve this problem, we used the public email to exchange ideas and information. Also, the school work was quite a lot and all of us were taking part in plenty of student activities, which made our team get together even more difficult. We tried our very best to squeeze more time in order to perfect our project. In addition, designing the website was a big challenge because none of us had the experience or talents of designing. We tried many ways to make a frame and changed our ideas several times. But we encouraged each other and finally had everything settled.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
This project has contained a lot of information that raises public awareness of organic food, environment protection and human health. It has provided the opportunity for everybody to acquire more knowledge about healthy diets, and the project has made it possible to help improve the entire environment just in our daily life. It has also created chances to make a difference in the future world!
6. How did your activities and research for this Doors to Diplomacy Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
As high school students, we learned a lot from the process of the project. During the information collecting period, we learned to use different ways to get information and classify them. Then, the interviews with some organic authentication organizations also made us realized the importance of preparing in advance, seizing every chance and being polite. During the last part, we developed our designing and computer skills when making our website. Most importantly, we learned the spirits of never giving up, never getting discouraged. We earned the courage to keep trying and moving on.
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