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1. Description of Our Community
Singapore is located in South-east Asia, at the tip of Peninsula Malaysia. Singapore has about 3.5million people spread over a land mass of 684 kilometers square, making it one of the most populated countries in the world. Due to its low land mass, Singapore has been building upwards to accommodate the large population. This has resulted in the high-rise buildings that could be seen all over the country, making it very common to see skyscrapers in most part of the island.
Our local community is defined to be the citizens of Singapore, who are multi-cultural and multi-racial. We are also a society that is metropolitan and have a constant high influx of tourists from overseas countries.
Our community consists of the lush greenery around us too. Trees and plants are abundant in Singapore, where the climate is suitable for the growth of these flora. These trees and plants are concentrated largely in nature reserves and specific parks and gardens, such as the Singapore Botanical Gardens. Many selected trees are also planted along our roadsides to provide shade and shelter for the people.
The Global Internet Community would be the people who are looking up information on the Internet about the greenery of Singapore and how Singapore is a Garden City or the people who happened to chance upon our website.
2. Summary of Our Project
Our project focuses on how Singapore is portrayed as a Garden City. The content of the website ranges from the Singapore Green Plan to the parks in Singapore, from Singapore's green effort to the past and present developments of Singapore as a garden city.
A major part of our website involves our fieldtrips to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve and the Singapore Botanical Gardens. Our visits to these places have left us with a great wealth of knowledge about the trees and plants that could be found in Singapore.
Our website includes an encyclopedia on plants that can be found in Singapore. These plants found in the encyclopedia range from commonly found roadside trees to trees that are located in the mangrove swamps and even to orchid hybrids native to Singapore.
Our project also includes reflections from our fellow team members. These team members have reflected on their experience in the CyberFair, how they felt during their trips to the natural reserves and botanical gardens. The members also reflected about the process to the completion of the CyberFair project, why and how it was meaningful to them.
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):
Our Computers: In school, we use Pentium III or Pentium IV computers, while at home; most of us either have computers running on AMD Athlon XP, Pentium III and 4 Processors.
Our Internet access: In school, all computers are connected via a Local Area Network (LAN), which is on a dedicated line. At home, most of us use broadband connection.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
There were many constraints, problems and difficulties that we encountered throughout the duration of the competition.
One of the main problems that we had to overcome was our tight and busy schedule. All of us are already heavily laden with our hectic school schedule, which includes homework, assignments, projects and exams. Besides our academic responsibilities, most of us are also in the Upper Secondary level. This explains why plenty of us have other commitments in our other co-curricular activities such as competitions, activities and Community Involvement Programmes. Those in the Secondary 3 level also had to get ready to take over the leadership positions and familiarize us with the club, school and the system.
Because of our busy schedule and the need for us to balance school time, personal time and CyberFair time, most of us became stressed about the amount of work that needed to be done. It seemed like the amount of work given to us was never-ending. Most of us stayed up very late for several nights to complete our assigned work. However, the very thought of being able to create a fantastic CyberFair website which will benefit individuals, communities, nations and the whole world kept us going forward, making us determined to complete the website regardless of the cost.
We also had the problem of poor communications between the members. Due to the clashes in timetables and the many commitments that each of us has, not all of the members were able to be present at the meetings held. To overcome this problem, we created an e-group where messages could be sent and files could be uploaded for all of our members to view. However, the e-groups were not very efficient. For example, some files uploaded would not appear and messages not sent.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
This project has allowed us to experience what we will never be able to experience in the classroom. It has shown us the wonders and beauty of Mother Nature and made us feel compelled to protect it.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
Our CyberFair Project gave the students exposure and increased their awareness on environmental issues and Singapore being a Garden City. It also gave us insight on the different various plants found in Singapore.
We learned more about the different various plant species in Singapore and learnt how to appreciate their existence. Normally, we would have assumed all the plants we see in Singapore to be about the same. However, after doing this project, we all learned that each and every plant is unique in their own ways. We also learned more about the nature reserves in Singapore by taking fieldtrips and this helped us to further appreciate the Mother Nature in our island home.
We also learned more about the importance of environmental awareness and how each and every one of us should do our part to help conserve the environment. We must take care of our Mother Earth. Mother Earth has given so much to us; it is our duty to take care of her.
We also learnt to appreciate Singapore as a Garden City. This fits into our school curriculum standards by fostering national pride for our country being a Garden City. It is in a sense part of our National Education as not every country can have the honour of being called a Garden City.
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