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1. Description of Our Community
The culture and religious custom of Fuxing Township is similar to that of Lukang.(Both Fuxing and Lukang are in Changhua.) Its renowned industries include the shoe manufacturing of Pou Chen Group, wood furniture of Shioucu Village and production of avocados, watermelons and peas. Coastal Fuxing Township, Fubao Diary Zone, and Sanhe Watermelon Zone has over 7000 dairy cows which ranked top in the country. Its major agricultural products include grains, peanuts, watermelons, broomsedges, and peas. The making of brooms through the use of dried broomsedges is an industry which is slowly dying. The handmade noodles of Fuxing Township which preserved the traditional techniques of noodle making are tasty and chewy. The sight of the drying of the noodles is a beauty to behold and many photographers came to take pictures of this wonderful scenery.
2. Summary of Our Project
Fuxing Silo located in Changhua County is the largest Japanese styled barn in Central Taiwan and it is also one of the few in existence in Taiwan. Up till now, its old architecture and facilities remain well preserved. Taiwan is a country rich in rice. In order to store stable food, small barns called “guting barn” or “gudeng shack” were used which were popular during the Qing Dynasty. In the Japanese Occupation Period, for the purpose of increasing storage capacity and production expansion, the barn was smartly designed to include storage space and a rice mill system which transformed the barn into a full-fledged manufacturing facility. Fuxing Silo is not only a significant mark of its time; the design of its unique architecture is of great ingenuity.
3. Our Computer and Internet Access
A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%
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):
Internet environment in school: Academic Network through the support of fiber optic cables. Internet environment at home: Through the ADSL broadband connection the team members are able to use emails and Messengers to communicate and continue on their project.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
From choosing the topic to writing the report, each and every member of the team had ideas of their own. Through discussion we noticed that there was limited resource on Fuxing Silo. In fact, up to now, there had never been a Cybefair team who had done their project on it. We wanted to give up, but Teacher Ching-yun Tsai encouraged us and urged us not to give up. He also spoke to us individually to ask about our thoughts. Finally, we were able to focus on the project as a team. We all had different thoughts but we had the same goal. We all worked toward the interest of the team which was one of the things we gained while taking part in the Cyberfair project. Since there is little resources on the historical information and photos of Fuxing Silo, we often visited the Changhua County Archives of Changhua County Cultural Affairs Bureau, a place rich in historical artifacts and resources. We were able to find the Fuxing Silo's restoration report. However, the report was so confusing that we couldn't make head or tail of it. Therefore, through the help of our parents who contacted related authorities, we were able to have access to the information and photos needed for our project. Teacher Tsai taught us the skills needed for collecting and organizing information. We organized some topics and we went to the tour guide and the Director of the Farmer’s Association for historical documents and photos. We even found the former Magistrate of Changhua County, Mrs. Chin-chu Weng. Our problems were finally resolved. Our teacher reminded us that to conduct a proper interview we must assign works such as interviewer, text recorder, recording pen operator, and film or photo taker, to each team members. This will prevent nervousness during interviews.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
When we first started on the Fuxing Silo Cyberfair project, we felt its difficulties. So, we begin one step at a time. Although it was hard work we encouraged each other. Whenever we were together we used our laughter to forget our hardship and slowly we developed an interest and a sense of responsibility toward the project. When we look back at the things we did together, the collecting of information, the interviews, the making of the web page, and the countless group meetings, these memories bond us even closer together. Now, we see the beautiful product of our effort and hard work. It’s so exciting! Our greatest reward would be the completion of the Fuxing Silo webpage. It is something we never thought we could have achieved. Therefore, we would like to thank the teachers and many others for their guidance and support. We get excited just by looking at the web page, because it’s a symbol of our team efforts.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
The primary goal of the Twelve-year National Fundamental Education is to enhance basic competence and nurture civic literacy of the common citizen. Through our study of the Fuxing Silo not only did we incorporated the subjects of history and language into the study, we also gained a better understanding of the development of our hometown Changhua Plain. We’ve learned to love it even more. Our interview with the interviewees is a comprehensive learning of language arts, history and even economics. These are knowledge and skills which we couldn’t learn from our textbooks and which also fulfilled the “Stimulate the students to have the ability of active research” and “promote cultural learning” aspects of the Grade 1-9 Curriculum Outline. Through the making of the Cyberfair project, Teacher Hung-ying Chen taught us to use PhotoImpact, an image processing software and FrontPage, a web page making software. All the typing and editing improved our word processing skills. We also learned to use various search engines for researches. The things we learned really implemented the information education aspect of the curriculum. Throughout the making of the project, we divided work and worked hard. Although it was a lot of hard work, we encouraged each other. From it all, we learn to truly understand the concept of “Team Work”.
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