1. Description of Our Community
Ershui Junior High School is located at the southern tip of the Bagua Mt. hills. It connects with Nantou County in the east and looks over the Jhuoshuei River in the south. Commanding a superb helicopter view, the school is blessed with a beautiful landscape, fresh air and an excellent natural environment. Erbawan Ancient Trail, Eco-Hall for Formosa Macaque, Babao Canal and Mr. Lin’s Temple are all in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, the well-planned biking trails in the township are the best venue for the education of ecosystem preservation, local arts, history and literature. Ershui Taishan Adventure Camp, under the custody of the school and located behind the school, is one of the few rock climbing yards and sky adventure education camps in Taiwan. The Ershui community is known for its abundant agriculture outputs: pomelos, coffee and Luo River ink slabs. Ershui Township is also a hub for railway transportation, with the Jiji Line (one of the three Taiwan Railway routes) branching out from Ershui and passing through the neighborhood of the school. In fact, with Ershui Station and Yuanchuan Station, Ershui Township is one of the few towns in Taiwan that have two stations. The tobacco building established at the peak of the tobacco industry is the renowned historical site in town. With such a rich natural environment and historical background, Ershui Junior High School is the best choice for study tours.
2. Summary of Our Project
At the Peak of the Pomelo Town Shines a Legend of Green Light - Ershui Junior High School into its 50th anniversary. Ershui Junior High School, located in the town of pomelos, celebrated its 50th birthday in December 2011. In front our campus is waters and on the back of our campus are hills. In the campus are Pomelo Garden and many green trees. Babao Canal, Mr. Lin’s Temple, Shuishe, Yuanchuan Train Station are all in the proximity and part of the community. The Legend of Green sings of the story of Babao Canal, the spiritual symbol of Mr. Lin, the cultural sophistication of Shuishe, etc. The reconstruction of the campus, the front gate and the building, as well as the changes of the natural landscape, mirrors the emotions of the people living here. The Legend of Green sings of the evolutions of campus buildings, memories in the hearts of teachers and students, the growth and withering of trees and plants here. Of course, it is all about the people who have spent their lives here. The Legend of Green also tells the memories of the retired teachers, the lessons learned by the alumni and the development of current students in Ershui Junior High School. This is a friendly, colorful and diverse campus, offering all kinds of teaching activities and student clubs. People come and go but the memories created here will always stay in the heart of everyone who has been part of this place. It is only natural that we look back. However, we also look forward, making our wishes for the future. We are like a clear and melodious wind chime. As the wind is again blowing into the beginning of a year, we are voicing out our dreams.
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:4-6
C. Connection speed used in the classroom:not sure
D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:4-6
E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):
There are 6 desktops available to teachers in Student Affairs Office. Printers and other accessories are also available. Teaching Affairs Office previously had a number of laptops. It has added another two new ones as part of the preparation for teachers’ evaluations. Over the past years, it has purchased DV, digital cameras and graphic tablets. All these devices are basically open to long-term borrowers. This allowed us to access these tools for research and recording purposes. There are more than 30 desktops in the computer classroom. In addition, our school has established an IT Club this year. We could also use the facilities in the computer classroom for data collations during club activity hours. There are computer teachers, who we can consult any time for issues. The retired teachers, current teachers and school employees also provide us with software packages to facilitate the webpage production.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
Insufficient time: It all took time to select team members, outline the project plans, articulate the project objectives to the members and work out the details. The decision on the theme and the goal also required the approval from parents and homeroom teachers. Given the limited schedule flexibility in the junior high school, our team members had to give up their lunch breaks almost every day and slotted some activities in their student club hours, in order to complete the data collection. Students’ background: Elementary students tend to have limited access to information compared to the students in big cities. Therefore, it was necessary to provide instructions outside class hours regarding the collection, organization and analysis of data and the writing of texts. This was undoubtedly a daunting task given the already tight timeline. Tight schedule for student activities: During the previous semester, we had weekly meetings almost each week. This left us with very limited flexibility in terms of our school hours. All the students and teachers involved had to juggle between schoolwork, campus activities while they proceeded with Cyberfair Project. Everybody was extremely busy. Interview scheduling: The curricula for junior high schools is relatively rigid in terms of hours so we could only schedule interviews for after-school hours or as part of our student club events. Our scheduling also had to take into account the availability of retired teachers. However, some students who rely on school buses would need to take care of their transportation of the interviews were scheduled for after-school hours. To utilize the weekly student club hours, we needed to coordinate with the retired teachers ahead of time because they usually have their own event calendar.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
Chia-yu: Our results are accumulated bit by bit with our efforts. Yu-hsuan: We all developed superb chemistry during this period. Rou-hua: I was thrilled and excited when the project kicked off. Ya-chi: I learned a lot from Cyberfair Project. I would still be very happy even if we did not have great results for the competition. Chong-de: I managed to learn something during the interview, although I was having a nervous breakdown! Li-jing: We got to take photos with the interviewees at the end, no matter how challenging the process was. Tse-wei: It was difficult at the beginning but got better in the end. Yi-da: I cannot help smiling when I think about our interviews. Yu-hsin: I hope our efforts can produce great works. Hao-ren: I had a lot of great experience from Cyberfair Project that I could not get from textbooks.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
Language- Chinese: The analysis of data and the responding to questions are essential to language learning. The interviewing process, the analysis of photos and data and the writing of articles all present an opportunity for students to apply their linguistic capabilities. Society-History: Students are required to data, compare and analyse data and interpret the information within. They are also required to make records, relate their findings to daily life and create a milestone for the school. Society-Citizenship: Students learn to care about the people, events and objects surrounding them by interacting and speaking with others in the community. Nature & life technologies: Students show the world the school’s characteristics and local information by using computers. Art & culture: Aesthetics is, of course, essential to the layout of webpages and the development of blueprints. This includes the original design of the mascot and the integration of the concept for layout designs of newspapers and magazines. Various activities: A simple tour leads to memorable discoveries at different corners of the community. There is collagen in pomelos? The effects of Giant Hyssop, the gathering of Love Beans, and the humming of Muller's Barbet resemble the knocking on a temple wood block. IT education: Computers are an essential tool in the modern society for delivering information. We learned how to establish a web site and share information from this project and the webpage production process. Environmental education: We found garbage in Babao Canal and campus trees suffering from brown root disease caused by Phellinus noxius. We saw fish swimming back and forth in Dah Chiou Yun Community Farm. We notice changes in our environment wherever we go.
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