School: The Exp. Elementary School of TzuChi University
    Hualien county, Taiwan, R.O.C.

8 students, ages 10~12 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 24, 2009. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2009

Classes and Teachers: Yao,Chang

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.tces.hlc.edu.tw

1. Description of Our Community

Hualien County locates in East Taiwan, facing endless Pacific Ocean in the east, connecting with magnificent Central Mountain Area. With mountains and the ocean make it a world-famous scenery, Toroko Gorge in the north, coastline national park scenery area in the east, Jade Mountain National Park in the south, East Rift Valley with fantastic countryside views passing through. Nature beauty is all around.  Hualien was called Qilai long ago. Hualien River goes east to the ocean and its waters surge with the waves; therefore, it is called “Huelan” (whirling fence). People use the assonance to say “Hualien”. Hualien County with 4628 square kilometers is the largest county in Taiwan. Population of 355,000 makes Fukienese, Hakka, mainlanders and aboriginal people living together. They get alone harmoniously with simple nice culture and work together to develop this pure land.

2. Summary of Our Project

In quiet dawn, standing next to a huge building in so-called “30 meter road”, facing the first ray of the morning sun, its radiance is growing gradually. The building is not only a spiritual fortress of Tzu-Chi, but it also contains the beauty of culture, history, architecture and arts. You can feel the level of living in this world without noise from transportation. No matter the solemn Still Thoughts Hall, Still Thoughts Bamboo Bungalow or the meadow, it combines modern views and simplicity from the past. It really is a place worth coming to experience Buddhism culture. 

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:more than 6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:1

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

The school's internet situation Currently our school uses ADSL cable connection in our computer lab.We have 35 computers for the students and one for the teacher utilizing AMD-Sempron-3000 facilities. Home internet situation Members of the team use 56K dial-up service and ADSL cable connection.At home we utilize MSN messenger, email, and FTP to discuss and to transmit information.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

1.we got help from rou principle ,School administration Department staffs, related units and persons. 2.Parents help on contacting narrator and project related people. 3.Project buget is relying on School Administration budget and sponsers found by teachers to support. 4.Teachers drive vehicle for transportion. 5. We want to thank the Department of Education Mission Development and Tzu Chi Foundation Archives provided information and introduction.  6.Use lunch break and school break time to research the project.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

We did most of activities outside school, for example, collecting data, arranging, discussing, cultivating interview skills, doing program beforehand, writing search reports and making pages. Through these processes, we develop many abilities and get very precious experiences.In the process of doing interviews, those people give much positive recognition of our aims.They think there will be more people love this land with respect through our study.

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

During the researching proccess, we have learned several very basic, but important abilities. For Example: Project website, Reading Professional Books. By reading books, we have generalized many data and finalized our learning notes. We have also seen our learning history by writing progress report. We also leanred how to communicate while making interview records and using proper sentences in the interviews and write important parts into records. By combining with eco-conservation and environment protection themes from the 6th Grade social course, we actually experienced and proved what we learned and extended our course to related outdoor materials. During the proccess of gathering and intervies, we have learned to use all kinds of resourses and multi-media equipments to resolve any difficulties we faced. For Example: Internet, Digital Camera, recording machine and computers... And learned how to coordinating these skills and use, then became a information creator, not a information copier.

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

Computers, Searching data, writing research reports, making web pages Internet, Searching data, uploading research reports, using emails, making web pages Computer Software, Searching data, writing research reports, making web pages Scanner, Sorting paper references Digital camera, Taking pictures of work and interviews Digital recorder, Recording interviews

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

The purpose of this project is to let others see the beauty of Still Thoughts Hall. Therefore, through Cyberfair, we let more people understand that besides doing good deeds Tzu Chi people also have abundant culture. Each team member cooperated by sharing work load to accomplish every task. By dividing into groups, discussion, collecting, sorting materials and interviews, we utilized the knowledge we had gained into life. Life testifies our learning. On each interview and field trip, our attitudes have become more concentrated and our skills of asking questions have improved. Team members also encouraged each other to make things work more perfectly. More importantly, we now care about every detail, but we used to be careless. Our interviewees could feel that we worked diligently and sincerely.

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

We did most of activities outside school, for example, collecting data, arranging, discussing, cultivating interview skills, doing program beforehand, writing search reports and making pages. Through these processes, we develop many abilities and get very precious experiences.In the process of doing interviews, those people give much positive recognition of our aims.They think there will be more people love this land with respect through our study.

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

We want to thank our principle and all the teachers who have helped us in our schools. They spent lots of time to give us information and to help us to finish all the works we need to do. Teacher Yao, he teach us using the computer skillfully. We also want to thank all the people with whom we had the interviews.They are happy about that we work on the project related to local Attractions. They think we are doing an important thing. We are very grateful to some student parents who had been giving us a hand in helping us connect with people whom we want to visit and how to do a good interview. Thanks for the help of these people.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Although we don’t know relevant skills and knowledge to do this project, we grew our enthusiasm for this project through teachers’ instruction and trainings. Still Thoughts Hall is not just a tall and big building but with Tzu Chi people’s strong minds. It is an individual with strong life standing by the street and telling us the unchanging philosophy. As we get to know it more, we love and treasure it more and feel like getting closer to it.