School: TAIPEI MUNICIPAL DAAN SENIOR VOCATIONAL INDUSTRIAL
    Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwan

9 students, ages 15-17 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 10, 2006. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2006

Classes and Teachers: Xing- zhao, Lee

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.taivs.tp.edu.tw/english/taan-0.htm

1. Description of Our Community

Out of curiosity and memory from our childhood, we began our quest by interviewing the renowned folk craft master, Mr. Wung Teng-hsien. He is skilled in both sugar blow and “dough sculpture.” With respect and thrill, we walked in a world full of memory, which is a red and orange mixed house. Here at Yuan-shan Children’s Entertainment Center we found what we wanted. Follow up and we will show you the past, the present, and the future of sugar blow and dough sculpture.

2. Summary of Our Project

methods we used to conduct this project are as following: (1)Information collecting (2) Telephone contact (3)Interview (4)Questionnaire (5)Photographic recording (6)DV recording (7)Note-taking (8)Practice Before set out interviewing our target, we went through group discussions and modeled interviews for several times. Once we obtained part of the information, we distributed it for further editing and reorganizing. At the final stage of modifying and coordinating, we were exhausted but proud to see the result.

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: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 facilities include 3 computer labs, in which the computers are equipped with 15'LCDs, PENTIUM 4 CPU, 30.GHz speed.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

While doing project, we met many problems, such as that Mr. Wung’s reluctance to be interviewed, and little access to further studies of sugar blow. Language problem was the toughest because the less we got, the less we could put on the webpage. So we tried our best to persuade Mr. Wung to bring his tools to the center, and we also dragged our teacher to the interview site. Then our member, Huang Mei-Ting, could communicate with Mr. Wung in Taiwanese, so that we were able to observe when he was demonstrating how to blow sugar. A.Raw data collection: While searching for news about Mr. Wung, we actually did not find much of him as well as folk crafts. Therefore, we decided to focus on interviews. The present content is an integration of the interviews and information on the Internet. B.Interviews?visits: Mr. Wung was the main interviewee. He provided us with much knowledge, like how to blow sugar, what are the tools needed, and materials for sugar blow, etc.

But with all this knowledge, it was still difficult to figure out how to make a smooth dough and how to blow a perfect miniature. So fortunately Mr. Wung decided to demonstrate for us. What a precious experience!

C.Software know-how: It took us a while to get to know how to use FrontPage. Luckily some students taught us and we began to make the web pages. We used Photoimpact to edit the frames, which would give the content a fabulous look. Besides, we employed Flash to enrich the visual effect. D.Fund source: Unfortunately, we joined this contest on our own, so the money we spent all came from our pigs. The expenses included transportation fares, tickets, material purchase. They were necessary and worthwhile.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

While we were interviewing Mr. Wung, we were so nervous that we were shaking and sweating. But after all, practice made perfect, and we got more and more smooth. When we first begun the project, we were just like plain paper. As we got more and more done, it was like the plain paper got more and more ink. The more we did, the more we learned. We are glad that we had these experiences and knowledge. They are the biggest harvest!

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

Dough sculpture and sugar blow has no direct relevance to our present curriculum design, but the folk culture does have a relation to our life. We realized the importance of dedication to the things we love, and we also learned how to communicate and cooperate in a team. In doing this project, our ability of using computer technology was greatly enhanced, like web editing, image processing, and animation filmmaking. Our writing was improved as well.

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

***Telephone Using telephones, including cell phones, to contact with our interviewees, to maintain the connection between our team members.

***Digital Videos Shooting the interviews and converting the tapes into VCDs

***Digital Cameras Taking photos for our project, like the photos of the interviews, the relevant pictures for diversifying our webpage and the process of our teamwork.

***Books& Newspaper Used as references for more information about Dr. Chu and Far Eastern Memorial Hospital.

***Interview Visiting Mr.Wong is our main-source of data.

***Internet Searching for relevant websites for more information. Uploading our project data to Internet or downloading them to personal computers. Serving as a communication tool among team members.

***Scaner The scanner was used in image processing.

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

We are going to present our topic by photographs, tape recording, interviewing, practicing, note-taking, etc. Among them the interviewing is the most important way to make this topic known. We hope to catch the very glimpse of the character, the unique sense of folk culture, and the very moment of two generations getting connected and skills being passed down. With such expectation, we hope we can be the ambassadors of Taiwan to promote our local culture and to tell a story about enthusiasm and perseverance.

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

This topic reawakened our childhood memory. We did not feel too excited in the beginning, but after doing it, we could still feel the excitement and joy. Looking at every miniature being made smoothly and skillfully, we felt like taking a time machine back to our childhood. We discovered the elders’ hard word and persistence, so we hope to explore further and more about their work. This project generated and brought our attachment to and identification of our own culture.

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

First we would like to name one who has always helped us and guided us- Ms. Li, our computer instructor. She gave us suggestions and feedback honestly and specifically. Of course we would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Wung, who kindly shared with us the culture and stories behind dough sculpture and sugar blow, their renovation, the tools, and the passed-down skills. Our senior students helped us in using the software. There are many others that we would like to thank: the students and teachers of our school, and other nearby school, the pedestrians on sidewalk and in the parks, street vendors, who patiently did the questionnaire for us. With their help, we could be able to obtain the data and have them analyzed.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

A. Discovery We barely knew each other when doing this project. However, thanks to the very many problems and difficulties we met, we got to know each other better and better. Thus, we become good teammates and close friends, now, we have same goal. Also, by conducting many interviews, we met different folks and situations. We’ve found that by studying the past, we would know more about our origin, the traditions that we were born in, and because of it, history and the past could mean a lot to us. B. Lesson Learned We have gone through many frustrations and mistakes, such as time control, organizing the data, and web page editing. Mistakes appeared most often when we started to interview people, so we learned to review the findings that we had collected, so that we would not make the same mistakes next time. Not being able to communicate with Mr. Wung in Taiwanese, we suddenly realized that how little we knew about the culture and the society. By speaking the interviewee’s language, he/ she will lay more trust on us and thus be willing to share with us. This experience is a lesson of the importance of language learning. C. Surprises We had the honor to witness how dough sculpture and blow sugar were done. When we watched Mr. Wung shaping the dough, we were amazed by how fast and how beautifully he could turn the dough into miniatures, which actually are very lively and vivid human figures. More surprisingly, within a few minutes, he could blow the sugar syrup into all kinds of shapes. What an incredible man! To tell the truth, folk crafts are so much more fun than Xbox!