1. Description of Our Community
We are living in Haishiwan Town which is located at Honggu District -- an outer suburban district in Lanzhou City of Gansu Province. Although it belongs to Lanzhou City, it is located at the eastern edge of Tibetan Plateau, i.e., the border land between Gansu and Qinghai. It is separated from Minhe County of Qinghai Province by winding Datong River. Mamenchisaurus presents our culture. In addition, our hometown is abundant in coal, plateau summer vegetable and characteristic fruit.
2. Summary of Our Project
The teacher gathered us together for the first time on October 30 and arranged us to collect some information about Hehuang Huar. It was easy to search and sort those materials, and we took not much trouble to get all introduction texts ready by relying on the frame the teacher gave us in advance. Huar is a popular way of singing here, and many people are able to sing a little. Therefore, it is not very difficult to get some information about it. We occasionally found several leisure places for Huar near the Hualong Square, so we decided to go there for more information. We went there to interview some Huar singers and enjoy their songs on November 2 to 3. We set to sort materials and pictures and input texts under the guidance of the teacher from November 5, moreover, we began to learn how to upload materials in frame. Through collecting and sorting materials, we have learned more about Huar and got interested in the way of singing. The web pages have been primarily completed by November 16. We hoped that our web pages will be liked by the public.
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:2-3
C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dial-up modem
D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:1
E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):
Every office in our school is equipped with a computer and 2M broadband access. There are 50 computers in computer room without Internet access. Moreover, we have no access to Internet either at home. We finished inputting texts and sorting pictures in computer room, and got materials uploaded in teacher’s office.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
(1) Having little knowledge of Huar. Although we confined the subject of our web pages to “Hehuang Huar”, we didn’t know much about it at the very start. When the teacher sang a few words, we knew that we had heard that before. However, we just had heard it and didn’t get deeper into it. Through surfing the Internet and consulting others, we got a little bit of information about this art form. (2) Limited computer proficiency. We had no professional computer teacher in our school. We didn’t have any idea of how to use some software. Since we knew nothing about PhotoShop, we encountered the biggest difficulty in processing pictures. Finally we got the problem solved when we found the “PhotoAdjuster Batch Picuture Resizer”, a kind of software which could quickly process pictures into the required format.(3) Limited live-action material. Huar Gathering is the most unique way to represent Huar. Every year people will spontaneously organize such activity in Qili Temple of Minhe County, Tulugou of Yongding County. Because these places are far away and activities are often held in spring and summer such as March 3, May 5 and June 6 in lunar calendar, we are unable to get any live pictures. However, we have many leisure places for Huar around us, where we finally get some materials there.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
The subject we made has not only enriched our musical vision and taught us some musical knowledge outside the classroom, but made us know more about local cultural characteristics and especially computer skills, such as how to edit and sort out texts, process pictures and upload materials and other skills that we can’t get in the classroom.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
The subject we made has not only enriched our musical vision and taught us some musical knowledge outside the classroom, but made us know more about local cultural characteristics and especially computer skills, such as how to edit and sort out texts, process pictures and upload materials and other skills that we can’t get in the classroom.
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