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1. Description of Our Community
Yi-Sheng Village was established in October 1945. Through out its territory is mostly mountainous terrain except for some slower slopes on the right bank of Tanan River. Indigenous tribes are found at an altitude of 400 to 700 meters. Currently there are five tribal settlements in the Yi-Sheng village. (Gihing, Triqan, Ynbangulay, Rahu’ and Qapn)
Yi-Sheng village has abundant scenery sites such as the Siaowulai scenic area, wind stone, a cluster of waterfalls, He-wei sacred trees and countless natural landscape. Yi-Sheng village is filled with rich Atayal aboriginal culture, and within our school district tourists come visit all the time for hiking, excursions and sight seeing. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Tao Yuan County.
2. Summary of Our Project
The teachers from Yi-Sheng Elementary had the idea of combining local tourist attraction with a learning map since May 1998. After several months of brainstorming and discussions we decided to approach this by conducting a teacher guided student research project. On September 1998 we began to implement this project into the school curriculum and created our very own learning map and learning resources about our village.
Our project is based on planning a traveling route around Siaowulai, by integrating pictures, information, photos, and videos of various sights, we want to provide a deeper understanding of Siaowulai scenic area for tourists, visitors of our website and to teachers and students of Yi-Sheng Elementary school. Our website contains profiles of Yi-Sheng village surveyed by our students, 5 different travel routes to enjoy the Siaowuali scenic area, photos and videos of tourist attractions. Our aim is to publicize the characteristics of our local tribe, teach our students about environmental awareness, and to achieve our long-term goal of promoting local tourism.
3. Our Computer and Internet Access
A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:none
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
E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):
There are 6 classrooms in our school, each of them have Internet connection with 100MB bandwidth. We also have 2 to 3 wireless hotspots within our school. There is a computer classroom with 13 computers including one teacher’s computer. The computer room is where we do most of our word processing and Internet research during our project. We have Internet connection whether it’s in the classroom or in the computer room, this enables us to have discussions, research and print out documents. We usually do our discussions in the Year 5 classroom and move to the computer room when every member needs to use the computer. Some of the students have second-hand computers at home from donations by other people, but none of them have Internet access at home.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
Time limitations: Sometimes our discussions finish at 9pm, it is a bit late if we have school the next day. So we need to finish our work first then communicate with our parents. Once we leave for Siaowulai waterfall at 3:20pm. It was already 4pm when we arrive, and then we spent 40 minutes there. On the way back when we crossed the forest trail, the leaves blocked the sunlight, it was spooky for me. That’s why we need to leave early so we can have enough light.
Psychological barrier: I had difficulties overcome the fear of crossing Yi Shing suspension bridge because it was very high and below the bridge is a long stream. The wooden boards on the bridge shakes when you walk on it. To walk through it I needed a lot of courage and confidence in myself. I tried not to look down but the bridge was shaky because of the wind but because I needed to overcome my fear so I blocked out my fear and finally walked through it while holding the cables.
Communication problems: I don’t have the courage to talk to strangers. On the day we went see the wind stone there was two visitors. The teachers told me to go interview them, after one question I stopped and can’t come up with anything to say. To overcome this problem we need to interview other people more often to be braver.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
In the past few months… we actually learned a lot. For example: we learned how to use the computer, how to introduce our hometown and it’s attractions to other people… etc. I was very pleased! I never missed a session in this project! Because I love it! But, during the class activities we were also faced with many difficulties. I tried my best to overcome it and improve myself! In addition, I didn’t have any pressure participating this project!
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
1.This project was combined with our school curriculum, the activities were conducted in cycles: 1. interview planning 2.inspect 3.upload. To gradually construct an e-learning travel map with our school as the center extending out to our community.
2. The project was combined with the humanities curriculum. By letting the students to interview people, we try to inspire them to anticipate about the learning tour and the places we research. The students also learn more about their hometown and acquire useful knowledge from the interviews.
3. For this project, the students need to constantly arrange travel plans and brainstorm. This allows the students to develop comprehensive thinking, ways to spot problems and look for solutions.
4.We would visit all the places in person in our planned learning tour, so the students can experience the beauty of their hometown. The project would support language and technology curriculums, as the students need to describe their findings in writing and taking photos and shoot videos to record it.
5.We combined information technology with teaching; the students were required to use video cameras, digital cameras, use word processing software to type, use the internet to research, and upload their thoughts and photos. The activities were posted online using You Tube, Picasa web album and Kimo web blog so we would share it. The students learn to use free online resources to share the beauty of their home using their own words.
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