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1. Description of Our Community
Our community is Hualien city and county in the Eastern Taiwan. Its strategic location in the South Eastern Asia ocean routes, its abundant natural maritime resources and regional industries had enabled the local economy to grow and grow. Hualien Port is one of the 4 International Harbors in Taiwan since 1963. But only till the last 3 or 4 years had the government implemented major redevelopment project in Hualien. We now have more parks, more open space and cleaner air at the beach. Many people including the local people do not fully realize those changes had been occurred. This is why we choose the subject "Hualien Harbor" for our research. We hope our students, local people and people of the world could learn deeper about our home city and many of its recent successful stories.
2. Summary of Our Project
Hualien Harbor is located in the Eastern Taiwan. With its geographical limitation, the annual throughput had changed from initially a few hundred thousands tonnes to now 17 million tonnes. The numbers of ships handled each year had grown from a few hundreds to now 1,700 each year. The port had played an important role in promoting and upgrading the local economy in the Hualien history. All these achievements would not be possible without those port staff. With their accumulated efforts over the last 30 or 40 years, they had developed a spirit of stamina and tolerance in face of difficulties. During the last 2 years of global economic recession, the port had suffered a minor setback in it operation. But it did not affect them from providing their best efforts to accomplish their goal. The HHB director Hsiao Ting Hsing in his 3 Hs managerial philosophies, which are Happiness, Hope and Hard Working, continued to lead his staff to make their dream for Hualien Harbor a reality.
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:4-6
E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):
1. 3 Servers: Domain Name Server, Web Server, and Mail Server 2. 2 Computer classrooms: 41 each with AMD K6-2 550 CPU, 64MB RAM, 4.2GB HDD 3. Administrative Computers:쳌F20 with Pentium133, 16MB RAM, B850MB HDD 4. Academic Computers: Laptop, Digital Projector and 5 Digital Cameras.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
1.Communication barrier: We solved it by making a direct phone call telling the highest governing officer our participation in International Schools CyberFair research project. 2.Conflicting schedule: We solved it by more sufficient time management and concentrated collaboration. 3.Restrictive port regulations: We solved it by effective communication with and supportive assistance from the port authority. 4.Possible student safety problem: We solved it by safety education, precautionary explanation and constant awareness of possible dangerous places and activities. 5.Unexpected Events: When we realized from the local news the Jui Tai grounding accident, we strategically reschedule part of our research by more flexible and feasible group decisions. 6.Difficulties in Maritime Terminologies: We overcome it by professional expertise from our teachers and the port staff. On other hands we solved it by putting more time studying it.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
1.To actualize our love for the community through the participation of the International Schools CyberFair 2.Unification and corporation can make ourselves more powerful 3.Active learning is the force for progress 4.Step by step, constant attentions to the smallest details enrich and fulfill our project
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
Taiwan had been in its way of an educational reform for the last 3 years. The core ideas and fundamental conceptions rely heavily on cultivating students to form and develop an active learning attitude. In this student based reform process, we become more and more aware of the need for an integrated learning project in our school education system. By incorporating the related resources including teachers, parents, students, community and public sectors or private sectors, we hope to find and establish certain models feasible and adoptable for later applications on a collective or individual basis. Here we almost found one by participating in the International Schools CyberFair (ISCF). So far, through the research of ISCF we understand learning and teaching is just like a coin. For teachers, you teach on one side and you learn on the other. For students, you ask & think on one side and you learn on the other side.
Our school is replanning several basic computer courses to be research oriented by instructing the 3rd and 4th grade students to more efficiently use Internet to gather information and interact with teachers and other students. We쳌fre also planning to set part of the English courses for the 5th and the 6th grade students to be more communicational, interpersonal and international based. Therefore, more students would be able to obtain and adopt more creative and active learning skills for future integrated learning projects.
Apart from the areas of computer technology and language learning and teaching, we are also focusing our other efforts on the social aspect and the environmental aspect in our overall curriculum. All the new redevelopment and renovation in our school curriculum design is a compliment to those teachers and students in their efforts in doing the research of ISCF.
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