 |
|
 |
 |
|
1. Description of Our Team
Huang, aged 14 and Sia, aged 13, are the two members of the student of the group, while Mr. Paul Ho is their teacher-mentor.
Huang finds this competition rather interesting and love challenges, thus he decide to take on this competition as the group leader, he is also the person in-charge of administration works and researching for project information.
Sia is a good buddy of Huang and has an adventurous nature, thus he would like to try everything no matter what, and thus he decided to follow Huang’s idea of this competition and decided to assist him in it. Mr.
Paul Ho is our mentor-coach, who plays a very significant role in the project group. He always provides invaluable advices and encouragement to the participating students. As he is experienced in mentoring students in various competitions, he is the best choice available and his experiences that he shared were indeed motivating and interesting, providing the boost for the group.
2. Summary of Our Project
Our main purpose and motive of the project is to educate and instill the awareness among the public, on the significance and importance of terrorism and peacemaking. Through an interactive website package, we hope that people can enhance their knowledge on the significance of terrorism, how it could affect our way of life and the causes etc. Besides that, another key part is to allow the people to understand more about peacemaking and it effects. We hope that people now will not take peace for granted and than their leaders in gratitude for maintaining peaceful ties with other countries and encourage peace with the rest the world. We would obtain useful and relevant information from books, Internet and newspaper articles and put them up on the website package, with our own ideas and opinions too.
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):
Our school, as a “Future School” chosen by the Singapore Government, has entered a “High-Technology” era. Thus it is no surprise that there is wireless Internet coverage (WiFi) over the entire school campus. No matter where you go, as long as within the campus, wireless Internet is always conveniently available. Every student can also feel free to bring along their laptops for convenience. The connection speed is always at its peak and Internet access is never a problem to the school. Workstations with Internet are numerous in the schools; there are six computer labs in the schools, over 150++ computers with internet access catering to the students anytime.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
We had encountered numerous obstacles and difficulties in process of our project competition. The most prominent of all is probably the fact that we are racing against time. Time is always moving and will not stop. The competition duration is rather short, thus we had to make full use of every second to complete our project by the deadline given. The deadline itself was demoralizing, as we are obviously running out of time. Moreover, we are having our examinations for the term, which unfortunately coincide with the competition period, thus it was quite stressful and pressuring for us, as home works and revisions mounted upon us and bringing more burdens. Imagine having to juggle examinations and competitions at the same time, it was indeed difficult and we desperately needed more time and encouragement from our teachers. Fortunately, we had understanding peers and teachers, which helped us tide through this tough period. They unceasingly motivated us and provided words of encouragement. Some of them even selflessly volunteered to assist us in our project research, which we politely declined. Teachers also cared for us, as they understood our situation and extend our homework deadline; some even encouraged us to try our best effort in this competition. We are extremely touched by their help and motivation. Thus, we never give up hope, we strive to the very end, as we put in our utmost effort in this, we spared no time and in the end, we managed to overcome hurdles of obstacles and made it successfully to the end. There are other problems beside this, but these are more of a minor issue, such as research problems and registration problems, but they are easily solvable after trying twice.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
“Do Not Take Peace For Granted; Do Not Take Terrorism For Nothing; THEY ARE EVRYWHERE”
6. How did your activities and research for this Doors to Diplomacy Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
As everyone knows, our project aims to address the public on the significance of terrorism and peacemaking. This topic itself is highly debatable in Singapore’s society. Our country is very high-profile on counter-terrorism, thus we want to help the government too, in spreading the word of terrorism. Singapore Government wants its citizens to understand the severity of terrorism, especially the younger generation. Thus our project coincides with this purpose, and we felt that doing this project is extremely relevant to our society and at the same time, benefits anyone. As Internet is the form of communication and where people obtain information nowadays, we this it is relevant for us to present our project findings in the form of a website, thus people, especially young adults and teenagers, are more interested and likely to visit our website than rather to read a newspaper. This form of presentation is much more accessible and appealing to members of the public. This “fresh look” will enable students to pick up many understanding on the topic and other life saving skills that they have never heard of, or even bother to know in the first place, as teenagers and young adults tend to absorb more information on the Internet. Through this, we found out that our education system is very flexible, as students can on society problems and research on them without any interference. We found out that, even as mere students, we play a very significant role, base on the theory that we “reap what we sow”, we are what the government mould us to be in the future. Thus we can at a tender age, be an ambassador on society problems to others, and to spread the awareness within our generation. We can be initiative of such efforts. We also discovered that, modern technology also play an important role in moulding what we are, and how the world works. Modern technology enables people to access to things they have never been able to access in the past, but things changed now with the help of the Internet. Teaching through the Internet has been more interactive and effective than other traditional methods, this kind of learning environment had to be adapted to it social surroundings and the level of technology. People tend to like learning in a more advanced or “high-tech” way, as they believe they can “teach less, learn more”.
|
|
 |
 |
1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your Doors to Diplomacy project?
We have used quite a number of Information tools and technologies in order to complete this project. These are listed below: - Adobe Dream Weaver Software -Website Template from Freewebs.com -1 Asus Laptop -Books from various Libraries -Information & Images from the Internet -Newspaper Articles -Videos from YouTube.com These information tools and technologies have helped us a great deal, without which we would not have been able to complete our website so easily and successfully. They provided us invaluable information and sources, and also soft wares that help us reduce time and energy in creating our own website packages. The tools are mostly located at the Internet, such as soft wares, which are downloaded from the Internet. There are other instances such as books, which are located not at the Internet, but rather at public libraries. None of the tools are donated by our school or community; they are all taken at our own account. The most valuable tool, but I would rather described it as “invaluable”, is undoubtedly the Internet! It has a vast or rather an unceasing collection of various kinds of information, by just typing in the keyword of our search in Google.com or Yahoo.com, various kinds of information that we desired immediately popped up in front of our eyes, we can even spend days browsing through the heaps of information. Sometime, we even found information that we did not knew exist or that are essential to our project which we had missed out. Thus, it is true to say no modern man can live on happily with his life without his Internet. The most helpful technology we used is probably the Adobe Dream Weaver Software, which arguably helps us the most, there is never an easier or faster way to create a website, which is the main component of this competition, with this software, furthermore, it is convenient to download and use.
2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your Doors to Diplomacy project both on-line and in person.
We while on the Internet, we would spread the message through the MSN, and we encourage our friends and relatives to visit our website and learn more about what we are doing. With the creation of the website, spreading the massage came to a whole new level, thanks to the advancing technology; people can easily view our website package and benefit from them. However, we do not just sit and wait for people to approach our website, we also take the initiative to advertise our website through “word of mouth”, and we spread the message to our friends, then to our class…so on. In actual person, we can encourage them verbally, that they must always be vigilant and do take terrorism seriously. As ambassadors, it is our duty to inform the masses on the seriousness and significance of terrorism. We felt that even though conveying the message through the Internet is a convenient and easy way, telling the public the actual story face-to-face can serve a lot of purpose. First of all, it is the fact that when you tell them in person rather through the Internet, they can sense the seriousness in you, and they would probably remember what you said and do them due to influential reasons in the speech. Secondly, it is the accuracy of conveying the massage, spreading the message personally can be more accurate than saying it on the Internet, people tend to understand further and will take in more of what you said in person than on the Internet. We will also set up an online forum, to get people engaged in deep discussion and critical thinking. People will have their freedom of speech, they can provide suggestions or state their queries, and this will also help raise awareness among the public as an ambassador in diplomacy.
3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?
As you know, the aim of our project is to spread the awareness of terrorism and vigilant. Even in a community considered safe in Singapore, anything could peacemaking. As terrorist attacks are on the rise nowadays, it is important that people always remain happen, thus we must never let our guard down and let terrible things happen and change our lives forever. Singapore is a densely-populated community, thus casualties will be high if a terrorist attacks should strike here, thus saving your own life can also be equivalent to saving up to hundreds of other lives. Singaporeans can enhance their knowledge of terrorism, after viewing our website package. As the government is always conscious and concerned about the national safety, thus this website package can elaborate on this point and spread the awareness about the importance of a safe environment in Singapore. People will take the initiative to promote this point, and spread the message to others, thus people will always be on their guard and vigilant against possible attacks, and look out for one another. In conclusion, the impact on the community is that we will be able to promote the importance of a safe environment in our community and possibly create an alert and vigilant community.
4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?
Our students have been the main volunteers and helpers for our project. Our students has sincerely and selflessly dedicated themselves to helps us advertise and promote our project website. Some send e-mails to their friends and relative promoting our website package and encouraging them to visit our project website. While others, tried through the “word of mouth” to convey our project aim and objective, and also encouraged others to view our website. Their selfless help and effort had go a long way, as many had send feedbacks to our e-mail about our website and commenting that it was an excellent job done and how helpful and productive it was to them and the community, some even encouraged us to go on and continue to strive for greater heights. Most sent their best regards and wished us good luck in winning the competition. This was a significant emotional and metal boost for our project group, as we are deeply encouraged and touched by their efforts. So in conclusion, our students had both physically and mentally supported and helped us in our project.
5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)
Throughout this fruitful competition project journey, we have gained a lot of experiences and knowledge, not to mention surprises all along. We have learned and understood more about terrorism and peacemaking, so this shows that this project not only benefit others, but mostly benefit to ourselves. We are surprised to learn the facts about terrorism, like how much terrorist attacks happen in 2006-2008, we are shocked to learn that there are almost up to 500 incidents. We also understood the principle of peace and the importance of it. We had also uncovered some secrets and mystery of why some people joined terrorism. This has always been a subject that aroused debates, and yet unclear among common citizens like us, and we find it unexplainable and hard to believe why some people chose terrorism. Thus it was a breakthrough for us to understand the in-depth reason of why some people chose terrorism over a peaceful lifestyle. This project has brought us many now, unfound knowledge in the past, thus we are very glad to have this project chance and experience. We definitely appreciated this invaluable opportunity and tried our best in it.
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
View our Doors to Diplomacy Project
(Project ID: 5860)
|
