1. Description of Our Community
My hometown Pingluo County, Ningxia province lies to the west of Ertuokeqianqi in Inner Mongolia, to the north of Helan County in Yinchuan City, to the east of Ho-lan Mountains and Alashanzuoqi in Inner Mongolia, and to the south of Huinong district in Shizuishan City. It is a main thoroughfare connecting Gansu province and Shaanxi province to the south, Inner Mongolia to the north, Ordos Plateau to the east, and Alxa Prairie to the west crossing Ho-lan Mountains. The Yellow river flows across the land from the south to the north. The lakes and wetlands spread everywhere on the boundless plain, where the ditches vertically and horizontally drain. It is wooded near the cultivated field. Pingluo County is historically a fertile land where fish and rice are abundant in the western China. It is famous for the name of “the land of honey and milk in the Northern frontier”. Taole town in Pingluo County is located at the edge of the Ordos Desert which is a boundless mysterious place full of imaginaries. Our ancestors stayed here and made living by their industrious spirit and knowledge to change the desert from uncultivated land to the land of life.
2. Summary of Our Project
We did a serial of activities on sand mustard to promote our hometown publicity.
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:2-3
C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dial-up modem
D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:4-6
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
We have benefited immensely from the net fair this time. Our teachers and us cooperated to set subject and collecting materials. We experienced life that our parents never taught us and knowledge from outside of the class. When Ms Lee invented us to attend the competition, we were very proud. She told us that the net fair could help us communicate with friends from all around the world and we would introduce our hometown to them. In the following days we had a meeting to set subject for the competition. Principal Mo also participated in our meeting. Ms Lee proposed several plans through discussion. At last we decided to introduce sand mustard, the desert vegetable in our hometown. We divided the groups and the theme of our group was that teamwork and striving bring us confidence and success! It was easier said than done. We began to collect materials in order to create a website but a new question came. We needed a camera to take pictures. Luckily Wang Xueli borrowed a camera from his friend and we could record our activities and information of sand mustard. We were busy during the whole semester and The H1N1 flu pandemic appeared to be easing. So it took a long time for school considering allowing us to do activities in desert. Only Tian Pengfei and I went with teachers because other people were busy doing farm work at home. We rode to grandfather Cao, an expert on planting sand mustard, and knew much from his introduction. Then we went to Ningxia Taole Spring Trade Company and saw processing sand mustard there. Manager Fu told us about the workshop, their website, and the future of sand mustard industry. Aunt Wang told us that sand mustard is used as medicine besides vegetable. We really gained a lot and love our hometown more.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
We did a serial of activities on sand mustard to promote our hometown publicity.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
The No.4 Middle Schoo of Pingluo is built in city but near to rural areas. 70percent of students come from countryside. This is an advantage that can provide ground for biology courses including planting, cultivating and Environmental Protection. Taole in Pingluo County, Ningxia, is near to the famous Ordos Desert. We make use of the sandy plant, sand mustard to do the project. By getting familiar with the local plants and conducting biology courses and activities, students are encouraged to take advantage of science to do investigations, and love their homwtown.
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