1. Description of Our Community
Houbi Township is commonly known as owl-bi-liaow. Situated in the northern end of Tainan County, the northern and western sides are bordered by Pachang Creek and Chiayi County. It is connected to Baihe Township in the east, Yenshui Township in the southwest, Dongshan Town in the southeas, and Hsinying City in the south. In terms of natural terrain form, it is elevated in the northeastern part and is tilted toward the west. However, the relative height is not significant, and the land form is rather flat. The territory is mostly Chianan Plain in attribute. Geographically, Houbi Township is located at the border between Tainan and Chiayi Metropolitan. Houbi Township is bound to play the role of a rural village as a result of this location distribution. Therefore, the entire humanities and landscapes of Houbi Township are apparently plain agricultural town oriented. Fields are seen everywhere especially rice fields. In addition, commercial activities in major villages within the precinct are rather slow. It is especially so as compared to neighboring towns and townships.
2. Summary of Our Project
The topic covers an introduction of this irrigation engineering, the largest construction work in Taiwan. First, the natural environment of Chia-Nan Plain is first introduced. Then, the background and construction process of the canal are explained. The three-year-crop-rotation is also covered in the topic. Finally, the respected Father of Chia-Nan Canal, Hachitayoichi is introduced. Students will be able to understand agriculture. It is more than just cultivating crops, there are many techniques involved as well.
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:more than 6
E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):
Our school is equipped with 1 computer classroom. Almost every classroom has a computer. All the school computers are connected to one another though special line or internet. The online connections are quite smooth. The campus internet is a regional internet work where resources from each computer are shared.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
(1) Group member schedule: Since the school schedule is fixed, we had to use our break times on Wednesday afternoons and after school to discuss the topic structure, interview questions, and visitations.
(2) Transportation: Other than the canal nearby, interviews with work station staff or visitations to Wushantou Reservoir are quite far from our school, so, transportation was a big problem for us. The group consisted of many people so we had to send representatives for interview conductions.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
This year, we received a letter from the Houbi Township Office. It was stated in the letter that it wished to cite our school data and post it on its website. To us, it means approval, and encouragement. This year, we conducted more in-depth studies on farmland irrigation. Although the topic scope was extended to cover the county and the city, there is a connection between the two. Houbi Township is considered a rural agricultural town. Since the canal passes by the school, and enters our rice fields, we hope that more comprehensive data related to humanity, culture, and history can be gathered, which shall also serve as reference for future teachings.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
The study plan participation enabled teachers to enhance professional knowledge and skills so that students can be guided through. Children also understood that it was only with continual discussion and collaboration could the study be completed. They also understood the importance of group work. Student learning changed from passive knowledge acquisition to active knowledge construction. Interests and capabilities were fully explored and cultivated. Topic study is a type of topic or integrative learning. It easily combines with different learning areas. For instance, we have learned about simple function use and chart production in EXCEL at information class. (Tainan County Joint Program Test questions) This time, we compared tabulated statistical data on the government website with the rice production volume and annual rice consumption in Taiwan per person in the various towns and townships of Tainan County. Discussions have been made on the significances of these tables and charts. This type of activity could also be coordinated with “Statistics” in math class. All in all, the course of this topic study has intangibly integrated knowledge in respective academics.
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