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1. Description of Our Community
Our community is in central Taiwan, close to the Bagua Mountain Range. The weather here is usually mild and comfortable. Our county is well known for agriculture and is also along the coast, which makes it a nice place to live.
Even though we may not have as many cultural events or big-city attractions, the community feels warm and friendly. We also have many local traditions that are worth preserving.
In recent years, transportation has improved a lot. Now we can travel north to larger cities much faster, which makes studying and daily life more convenient. Better transportation has also helped boost local business and economic growth.
2. Summary of Our Project
Our project focuses on a local theatre troupe in rural Changhua County, central Taiwan: Pingpengcao Theatre Troupe. The troupe has been active for more than twenty years. Over a seven-year period, they completed a county-wide tour across all twenty-six townships, earned recognition as an Outstanding Performing Arts Group in Changhua, and were selected twice for the “Literature Cross-genre Theatre” program.
In our research, we did not rely only on online information. We visited the troupe, conducted multiple interviews, joined drama classes, and observed activities on site. Through these experiences, we learned how the troupe builds theatre literacy among local audiences, supports the growth of theatre talent, and uses creative work to respond to everyday life in the community.
At the same time, we extended our research into local action. We introduced the troupe to other students through classroom outreach, designed posters, created website content, and organized performance information so it would be easier for people to understand and access. By sharing what we learned in clear and practical ways, we hoped to help more community members notice the value of the troupe’s work and understand the effort it takes to keep local culture alive.
Through the Web-based project exhibition, we aim to present both our research findings and our community outreach. Our goal is to encourage more people to attend performances, pay attention to local theatre, and support cultural development in our hometown in a sustainable and meaningful way.
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):
In today’s digital age, AI has become an important trend, but our project taught us an important lesson. At first, we used AI to organize information and thought it would save time. However, our teacher found many serious problems in our drafts, including mixed-up theatre troupes, incorrect references, and factual errors. Even after these mistakes were pointed out, some students still relied too much on AI, which caused repeated errors and wasted a great deal of time. This experience taught us that using AI wisely is not the same as depending on it. The more convenient digital tools become, the more we need responsible research habits, a commitment to truth, and strong media literacy.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
1.Scheduling: Since we came from different classes, it was hard to find time when everyone could meet. Most of our discussions happened during lunch breaks, after school, or on weekends at school. Luckily, we shared the same interests and had solid computer skills, so we quickly formed groups, assigned tasks, and steadily completed many time-consuming parts of the project step by step.
2.Interview skills: At the beginning, we were shy and often did not know how to start a conversation with interviewees. With our teacher’s guidance, we practiced several times, improved our interview outline, and did repeated trial interviews with teachers at school. The more we practiced, the more confident we became—and we learned how to ask clearer questions and get to the key points.
3.Website building: None of us had built a website before, so we felt a bit lost at first. Fortunately, one teammate’s mom had experience in website development. She visited our school many times to guide us through the structure and settings step by step. With her support, we not only solved the problems we faced, but also gained many practical skills we can use in the future.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
This project centers on the local Pingpengcao Theatre Troupe in Changhua and focuses on what it means for students, the school, and the community. Students learned beyond the classroom by conducting interviews, doing community fieldwork, joining drama experiences, and organizing information. Through real tasks, they combined language skills, media literacy, digital production, and arts learning, while strengthening teamwork and public speaking. For our school, the project provides a practical, repeatable model of interdisciplinary, project-based learning. For our community, our outreach work—classroom sharing, posters, and a website that organizes performance information—helps the troupe become more visible, encourages families to attend performances, and supports local culture and storytelling to continue.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
Our International Schools CyberFair project supported our curriculum by turning required subject goals into one integrated, real-world task. It addressed key content standards in Language Arts (Chinese writing, English reading and writing, interviewing, summarizing, reflective writing), Social Studies (community fieldwork, local culture, civic engagement, media literacy), Arts (theatre appreciation, stagecraft, visual design), Technology (audio/video recording, data organization, basic analysis, video editing, website planning), and Integrative Studies (teamwork, role division, and public presentation).
The project fit our school’s competency-based curriculum guidelines because we learned through inquiry, evidence, and communication: we collected sources, conducted multiple interviews, verified information, and transformed findings into clear webpages and outreach materials. We gained new skills in interview techniques, note-taking and synthesis, script reading, digital storytelling, and web content design, while practicing group concepts such as collaboration, project management, and peer feedback.
We also developed a deeper understanding of how local theatre takes root in a community and how cultural work connects to education, families, and local development. Through this process, we discovered that students can play an active role in our school community by sharing reliable information, promoting local culture, and creating learning resources for others. Using the Internet was often more effective than traditional methods because it gave us access to diverse sources and tutorials, allowed rapid revision and collaboration, and helped us publish our work for a real audience—while our field visits and interviews ensured the learning stayed authentic and grounded.
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1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?
To complete our CyberFair project, we used a combination of school facilities, online platforms, and mobile tools. Our school has two computer labs with 60 Internet-connected desktop computers purchased within the past four years. These computers were our main workspace for online research, writing and editing, organizing files, basic data processing, and preparing webpage content.
AI tools that have become popular in recent years also helped us work more efficiently, especially when collecting background information, clarifying unfamiliar terms, and improving our drafts. For fieldwork and interviews, smartphones were essential. We used built-in voice recorders and transcription apps to create interview transcript drafts, which improved accuracy and saved a lot of time when we??, quoted, and analyzed our data.
For communication, we relied on LINE group chats—one for our team and another that included parents. This was especially useful when we met at school on weekends, and it helped parents stay informed and feel reassured. For storage and collaboration, we used Google Drive to keep notes, photos, and videos, and to co-edit documents online in real time. We also used Google Meet for online meetings when we could not gather in person.
For outreach, we uploaded videos to YouTube and designed digital posters using Canva. During site visits, Google Maps helped us navigate to the troupe’s studio, theatre venues, and interview locations. Overall, our most valuable tools were Google Search and ChatGPT, because whenever we faced something we did not know—such as how to build a website or how to verify news—we could look up step-by-step guidance and complete tasks one by one.
2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.
Our students served as ambassadors for our CyberFair project both in person and online by representing our school, explaining our goals, and building connections with the community. In person, we contacted Pingpengcao Theatre Troupe to request interviews, arrange visits, and invite the director to teach at our school. During each contact, students introduced the CyberFair project, shared what we were researching, and asked permission to record and use information responsibly. We also spoke with community members and leaders, including the community association chairperson, to collect local stories and confirm details.
At school, students acted as spokespersons through classroom outreach. We designed posters, shared weekend performance information, and gave short talks to encourage classmates to learn about local theatre. Online, we organized our findings into web pages, uploaded videos to YouTube, and shared updates through school channels so more people could follow our work.
These ambassador activities led to meaningful outcomes. After watching performances, some students were invited on stage and later received training for formal productions. Some parents also joined the troupe as actors or backstage helpers. The director’s community theatre lessons helped us organize and document early stories from our school’s founding and perform them for the whole campus. Through this community theatre connection, the chairperson visited our school and reconnected us with former PTA leaders, bringing more support for our CyberFair project. The troupe also performed at our school for free, which strengthened our outreach and helped drama become a distinctive part of our school culture. This year our drama team won a national top award, and our new principal continued to support the project together with our families.
3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?
Our project has already begun to strengthen the relationship between our school and the local community by turning research into real participation and shared cultural pride. After our outreach and website launch, many classmates visited our webpages, went to the theatre, and gained a clearer understanding of the hard work behind a performance—from rehearsal and stage management to lighting, sound, and teamwork. Because our county government values the CyberFair program, our website is also more likely to be shared with other schools, giving more students chances to learn from our work.
Beyond our campus, the website helps people in other parts of Taiwan and around the world discover something they might never see otherwise: how a rural theatre troupe can stay rooted in its community, cultivate local audiences, and slowly build a theatre culture over time. We also formed new working relationships through interviews, school visits, and community theatre activities, including close collaboration with the troupe, community leaders, teachers, and parents who supported fieldwork and performances. Feedback from classmates, teachers, and community members was encouraging; many told us the website made the troupe’s story easier to understand and inspired them to attend performances or support local culture.
The impact was not only digital. When we joined a community theatre performance, even though our acting was still inexperienced, the audience gave us warm applause. That support built our confidence and helped us feel that students can contribute to the community in meaningful ways. Looking ahead, we hope our project can also reach decision-makers. As the troupe director emphasized, rural arts need long-term commitment—ten or twenty years of steady planning and support—so that rural areas can become fertile ground where theatre, arts education, and local stories can truly grow and flourish.
4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?
Our CyberFair project depended on many helpers and volunteers in our community, and their support made our work possible. First, we sincerely thank the Pingpengcao Theatre Troupe for welcoming us into their rehearsal space and backstage areas during performances. The director and troupe members agreed to be interviewed, guided us through cultural experience classes, and shared professional knowledge about theatre work. Through this partnership, we were able to present the troupe’s educational value, and they also showed a long-term willingness to support our school in strengthening performing arts teaching. We also received valuable help from local community members. We thank the community association chairperson, the PTA chairperson, and local businesses who accepted our interview requests and shared local perspectives. Many of these contacts were made possible through the director’s long-time journalism connections, which helped us reach people who care deeply about the community. In addition, we appreciate support from government offices such as the Education Department and the Cultural Affairs Bureau. Their encouragement and resources provided a strong platform for presenting our work and helped us connect with wider audiences. Our parents were key volunteers as well, supporting transportation, field visits, attending performances with us, moving equipment, and helping us complete tasks on time. Finally, we thank our principal, teachers, and classmates for giving us opportunities for outreach and presentations. What we value most is that this project did not stay inside our classroom. It created a working network among students, families, the school, the troupe, and the community—so local stories can be heard, local arts can be supported, and learning can continue long after the contest ends.
5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)
One of our biggest discoveries was that theatre is much more than what happens on stage. Before this project, many of us thought drama was mainly about acting. Through interviews, backstage visits, and community theatre activities, we learned that every performance depends on rehearsal planning, props, lighting, sound, stage management, and many people working quietly behind the scenes. This changed the way we see theatre and the people who make it possible.
We also learned that local culture does not continue by itself. It needs people who are willing to give time, patience, and long-term care. Pingpengcao Theatre Troupe showed us how a rural theatre group can slowly build audiences, train young performers, and connect schools, families, and the wider community. That was one of the most meaningful lessons of this project.
Another surprise was how much this project changed us. At first, we were nervous about interviews, public speaking, and performing. But through repeated practice, classroom outreach, and participation in community theatre, we became more confident. Some students were even invited to receive further training and join formal performances. Parents also became more involved, and the relationship between our school and the community grew stronger.
This project also brought recognition. Drama became a more visible part of our school culture, and this year our school’s drama team won a national top award. Most importantly, we discovered that students are not only learners. We can also be researchers, cultural promoters, and active members of our community.
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View our CyberFair Project
(Project ID: 8833)
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