School: Fushan Elementary School
    Taipei County, Taiwan, Taiwan

7 students, ages 11~12 years old worked together to complete this CyberFair project on February 10, 2007. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2007

Classes and Teachers: Mr. Shi-chang Gao

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.fses.tpc.edu.tw/

1. Description of Our Community

The suburban of Taipei is known as “Taiwan Amazon”. Nature lovers would visit Fushan Village to enjoy the beautiful nature. At the end of Fushan Village road, there is a place gifted with both nature and culture - Hapen Old Trail. Over the past hundred years, Atayal ancestors resided here and nurtured their decedents. Their hunting, living, and nurturing of offspring have been closely related to the nature. However, under the transition of political and historical moves, the aboriginal tribes of the Hapen Old Trail have withered. This project incorporates historical development and environmental issues to explore the life and spirits of our ancestors, so that we could inherit the wisdoms and concepts of the elders. On the other hand, we visited the community to cohere the environmental awareness of the residents, and contribute to the ecological protection of Fushan Tribe with community resources.

2. Summary of Our Project

This Cyberfair project aims to inspire the students realizing the beauty of Hapen Old Trail, the culture and Fushan Atayal, the life style of aboriginal ancestors, in turn, gaining affection toward their hometown and cherish their land. Although the use of the trail today is not the same as in the past, people who live here or those who care about this place have revived the trail with new life. On the trail, besides variety of animal and picturesque sceneries, there are remains of the aborigines. Besides introducing the natural landscape, Hapen Patrol also brings everyone back to the tunnel of time, see the environmental changes and utilization of the trail in the past and present, and discuss the migration and loss of culture of Atayal over the past 200~300 years.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:less than 20

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:1

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:not sure

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:2-3

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

Our Computer and Internet Access: At school: T1 At home: ADSL and dial up, broadband

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

When the teacher told us about the project and tried to recruit some members, we were all hesitant to try because the word “project” sounds quite difficult to us. With encouragement from the teacher, we finally joined. The project was indeed difficult to us because we never received any training on doing a project, and there were so many tools that we never used before. Therefore, we would like to thank Hope Agent Development Association for providing sufficient fund on field investigation and equipment, as well as the faculty and community members who helped us to overcome problems. Your help warmed our hearts, thus, we would like to express our sincere gratitude. Because of this opportunity, we learned so much. As we engaged more discussions with the teachers and classmates, the content of our project became more and more solid. However, there were still many bottlenecks that we encountered. For example, during our interview, we were very shy and nervous. Although we prepared the reserved, we were nervous. After a few interviews, we became more influent, and felt free to talk to hikers and elders. During the project, teachers and volunteer teachers from NTNU taught us about photographing skills, image processing, and webpage editing. These have been helpful to the webpage making. Although the webpages we make are quite simple, yet we believe that given a few more years and hard work, we would have better skills. Because we needed to spend weekends and after-school hours on the project, to carry out our project, our teacher, volunteer teachers from NTNU, and community parents selected the interviewees and planned time and location. In terms of teamwork, it sounds easy but difficult to do so. Before we came with our mode of teamwork, during the task assignment and job execution process, we could not finish it smoothly. Until the teacher and volunteer teachers guided us to draw the task table and list the tasks, responsible persons, and deadlines, we overcame the problem

5. Our Project Sound Bite

“Starting from scratch” is the path we walked on. Whether using digital camera to take pictures, Photoshop to editing photos, scanner to scan photos, using Dreamweaver to edit webpages, are all new to us. After numerous corrections, we became better and better. That’s because of the help from he teacher and volunteer teachers from NTNU. From several interviews, we gained new knowledge and experience, especially on the habit of Hapen Old Trail and Atayal culture. We gained more understanding and recognition of Fushan Tribe. Therefore, we treasure this experience, and hope this project could facilitate the understanding and love for the native land

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

This school is a specialty school of Taipei County. Along with the school-based curriculum, our project not only incorporates native courses to cultivate students’ concern for their native town, from their community, home town, society, to the world, and also introduces IT and environmental education for extended learning and communication.

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

To allow students having an early start to adapt to the information-based society, we taught them the use of the following tools. Hardware:12 P4 PC, Sonya, Fujifilm a303 digital camera, Sony D8 camcorder, recording pen. Software:Dreamweaver 8, Photoshop 8, Cute Ftp 3.0, 2003 Office, Internet Explorer, Flash 8.

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

After we visited Hapen Old Trail, we gave a presentation to our classmates. By interviewing Pastor You, Uncle Gou-mei, Uncle Houla, and Grandpa Heidai, we realized that our tribespeople are facing the problems of deteriorating culture and survival competitiveness. To better understand the needs of our tribespeople, we met with the ranger of Hsinchu Forestry Bureau Wulai Workstation, Mr. Cheng-hsiung Li, who gave us a thorough explanation on the historical transitions and cultural impact faced by Atayal, in order to enhance our knowledge on the environmental issue. We also invited Mr. Shen-cai Song who is experienced in this field, Mr. Shi-chang Gao, and volunteer from the Society of Wilderness Mr. Cheng-chou Liao, to lecture us on “Important Notes on Conducting a Research Project” and “Interview Skills During Field Investigation”. All the parents of the team members would contact and encourage us, they were the best support. To us, Cyberfair project is not only a competition, but also an event where the community, school, and residents came together to seek solution for a problem. The role of every person involved in this project is not only contestant, but also ambassador of love and hope

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

The problem of land loss for Fushan Atayal has been an issue we all concerned about during the last ten years, and is highlighted during this democratic trend. We cannot estimate the impacts of this project on our tribe, but we give our best efforts to complete this project to show our love and guardianship over our beloved land.

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

Volunteer teachers from NTNU, Uncle Gou-mei, Uncle Houla, environmental workers, and parents have been our long-term volunteers during the research process. They not helped us to solve the technical problems on webpage design, but also became our friends when we needed them. We would like to thank volunteer teachers, rangers of Hsinchu Forestry Bureau Wulai Workstation Mr. Cheng-hsiung Li, who found time in his busy schedule to teach us about the ecology of Hapen Old Trail, and our principle, who always shows up at the right moment with a smile to inspire our confidence, and provides us the administrative resources. Lastly, we want to thank our parents and teachers, who have led us throughout the way and helped us to complete this project.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Without the opportunity to really explore the history of Hapen Old Trail, we would think of it as a hiking trail with beautiful sceneries. With length of only 10km, it contains old legends about the migration of our Atayal ancestors from Nantou to Wulai Township. In face of the problem of land loss in the recent years, we completed this project with our utmost concern to who our concerns and supports. To those who are not familiar with Hapen Old Trail will find it a place with abundant animals and plants species, geological and water resources, and Atayla culture. When you have the chance to walk on this pollution-free trail, please feel the life wisdom of Atayal with a respectful and humble mind. It will be a superb enjoyment.