1. Description of Our Community
Our local communty is located in Romania , a Central European Country. Situated in the center of the depression with the same name, at an altitude of 360-380 m, Radauti has established its hearth in the confluence angle of Suceava with Sucevita. The oblong form of the dumps (NV-SE) favors the conduct of the wind blowing in this way, and the numerous water surfaces introduce some changes in the normal way of meteorological elements. The average annual temperature is 6.9°C; the average annual temperature of July is 18.2°C and of January -5.3°C. The average annual rainfall is 643.6mm. The clime is temperate. At first sight, an opened territory, the area of the town called Radauti is well hidden in a natural way, by the swampy land that surrounds it. This natural protection, associated with the vast possibilities of practicing the agriculture and cattle rising, have made Radauti, from the ancient times, an adequated place for living (the oldest signs found are from 7000 years ago). The first document that certifies the town dates from 1392, where Radauti was mentioned as the village of Radomir, making part of his properties, from which, as some versions say, it is supposed to have derived the name of the town. Other opinions say that the settlement has its origins in old times and the name “Radauti” comes from the latin word Rottacenum, given by the soldiers to name the roman garrison in Siret. Under slave influences we assist at a distortion of the original name Rottacenum and its conversion to Radauti, as it appears in later documents. The name of the town proceeds from the name “Radu”, probably a ruler of the local community before the foundation of Moldavia. The oldest certification documentary of Radauti dates from 1413, in a document of Alexander The Kind. At the middle of XIV century, there was already a flourishing settlement here, so that Bogdan I (1359-1365) decided to build at Radauti the main church of the country, which became the center of a bishopry. The archeological researches have found, around the St. Nicolas church (Bogdana Monastery) some proofs of human habitance previous to Bogdan’s age, which would plead for the existance, in Radauti, of an anterior center to the formation of the state.
2. Summary of Our Project
It is known that water has a great influence on the inhabitants' health and on the life quality. Our group decided to analyse the rivers' water from Radauti area, and to offer some information to the people who are responsable for its quality. The discussions that we had with the local officials, who are in charge of the water quality and the inhabitants' health, lead to the conclusion that generally speaking, the water quality from Radauti area, is framed into admitted limits, but there is a potential risk, of water infestation with organic substances, resulted from residual waters from slaughter-houses and zootehnic farms or individual household. We have studied the surroundings and we found out possible sources of pollution then we established the necessary materials which the chemestry laboratory from our school can offer us. After we had got the consent of the parents, of the school principal and of the local officials we organised our team. The examination method is a didactic method which consists in the periodical ingathering of the samples, the water orago-leptic analysis and then a calorimetric analysis, by the estimation of the oxidative index. The oxidative index represents the number of milligrams KMnO4 used for the oxidation of the organic substances found in a litre of water. The water analysation has been made monthly from September till February. The analyses lead to the conclusion that in November and December, when the activity of the slaughter-house is very intense, the content of organic substances has come near to the maximum admitted limit.
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
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
Although the teachers had supported us and all the people we needed had been at our disposal we faced some problems,for example the bad weather,such as flurry,which worsen our travels. Also, because of the weather, we had some small problems with the internet connection, but we managed to finalise the project in time. Another problem that we faced with was the fact that we had to translate all the project in English. We are a francophone country and the origin of our language is romanic,so it was quite difficult for us.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
Our school takes part to a program called 'EcoSchool' and our participation at this CyberFair project and the propaganda that we made helped to inform the pupils about the concequences that could be brought by a deteriorated environment.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
This project taught us how to work in a team,to be tolerants, how to speak with the autorities about a problem, to take into account the opinion of the others and it was a chance to performe our English knoledge. The Internet is very useful in learning because it offers us many information witch are accesible in top speed. Our group is a small one,we all have the same age, sex and intelectual preparation, our group also has a coordinating and our work was an experimental one. First, the members of the group had had individual tasks, then, we put together all the information, we worked like a team and, finally, we elaborated this projet.
|