¡@
Project Narrative |
|
Title:
A Street with a Roof
Category: , Historical
Landmarks
URL:
http://gsh.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2005/3671/index.htm
Biography:
http://gsh.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2005/3671/english/research/reference.htm
School: Shing-shin
elementary school
Lugang Township, Changhua, Taiwan
Classes and teachers: Mr. Wun,
Mr. Hsu, and Mrs. Chen and seven students of 5A
E-mail contact:
ofcourse2538@yahoo.com.tw
Our school's website:
www.bsses.chc.edu.tw
TOP |
Description of "Our Communities" |
As a small township in the west seashore of Taiwan, Lugang
used to be the second largest city in Taiwan. Lugang has
been famous of its historical landmarks in Taiwan. For the
past two years, lots of the projects have been portrayed for
its beauty of historical landmarks. However, the glorious
history has gone. People of the township now work on
different kinds of job, although some of them still
participates those kinds of work related to historical
cultural. Comparing its prosperity in 150 years ago, Lugang
remained a population of 60 thousand. Most of people in
Lugang make their living by agriculture and manufacturing
crafts. Since Lugang was famous of its historical landmarks,
the tourists in Taiwan and foreign countries came from
different place to admire its beauty. People in this
township are friendly, and you will feel the hospitality
developed by traditional Chinese culture here. |
Summary of Our Project |
Lugang used to be the second largest city in Taiwan, but it
has lost its reputation for a long time. During its golden
years, Lugang was the largest harbor in central Taiwan. Lots
of trade happened in the streets of Lugang. Among the
streets, one of them was famous for its roof. Imagine that,
a street with a roof?? However, the roof has been removed.
As we try to probe the trace of the street, we find
something unexpected to be fascinating on why there was a
roof in the street. Through an overview of the development
of Lugang harbor, you could understand how smart the
merchants of Lugang were. Moreover, we find lot of similar
examples all over the world. By reviving the dead street, we
want to show the life of Lugang's golden years. Also, the
structure of the street and street house is very unique and
fascinating that deserves a notice. At last, we would like
to give some suggestions of how to preserve the story of the
street. |
Problems We Had to Overcome |
(1)
Selecting the topic: our
members were interested in different topic like Lugang folk
art museum, Lugang folk art and craft festival, and ¡§No sky
¡§street area in the beginning, but there remained no
decisive conclusion after members meeting. Worst of all,
Teacher Hsu, executor of this project, received his
on-the-job training for 2 months, and postponed our
conclusion of topic. At last, Teacher Hsu felt ¡§No sky¡¨
street area would be a fascinating topic worthwhile our
attention to put efforts on.
TOP
(2)
Recruiting the members: the problem of insufficient labors
became a heavy burden after selecting the topic. At first,
our team had Teacher Hsu and four students as key members.
To accomplish our project, we had to recruit more powerful
partners. As our members had their consensus in choosing new
powerful members, Teacher Hsu and students decided to find
their ideal partners to work with us separately. Due to
teachers and students were engaged in different activities,
it was hard for us to find our comrades. At last, two
teachers and three students were invited to join this
project. All the members being positioned, our research
began.
(3) Search
for ¡§No sky¡¨: comparing with other historical landmarks in Lugang, ¡§No sky¡¨ street area can be a contrast to others. As
¡§No sky¡¨ has been totally in destruction, little resource
was found. The limited data we had were a few books, gossips
and website retelling the same context, and we usually get
several usable lines after hard labor of surfing on the
Internet. Since the data resources were limited, obtaining
the data became the greatest challenge for our team. |
Our Project Sound Bite |
Our crews were aimed to enlarge our point of view by joining
cyberfair as well as our basic understanding of our culture.
However, performance of our students surprised use. It was
not only they pass the ordeal from their teachers, but
enhance their own personal ability. Besides, we do
experience the pity of historical landmarks disappearance
through activities in completing the project. This project
is a sweet memory for all of the members. The learning
experience is new and we had a great time .
TOP |
Project Elements |
According to Taiwan¡¦s elementary school curriculum
(Grade 1-9 integrated curriculum), teachers have to
integrate all the relative teaching lessons in different
teaching subjects. This research has integrated all the
lessons about ¡§No sky¡¨ street in the following subjects:
(1)
Chinese: lots of the
information in this research contained of old Chinese was
relatively hard for students to understand, and students
were forced to ask for help. Through asking their teacher,
they strengthen their literacy ability. Moreover, the
summarization of research data also helps them to enlarge
their ability in composition writing.
(2)
Social studies: One of
the units in our students¡¦ social studies was ¡§Memories to
the past¡¨, and it tells the story of how our ancestors made
their living in the island. Taking opportunity of research,
we asked our students to explore information about the
history of Lukang harbor. We also asked them to find it in
the library, internet, and field surveys, and students
developed better understanding after finish their learning
in the history of Lukang harbor.
(3)
Art and Human science:
All the façades in the Jhongshan road were precious treasure
for us, and students had their ability in appreciating the
beauty of them. Students were also demanded to draw pictures
about the road, facades, and house structure, and they sure
had a deep impression of the houses in the Jhongshan road.
(Today¡¦s ¡§No sky¡¨ street¡¨) |
The Information Tools and Technologies We Used |
Image:
TOP
1.Digital
camera: image of our interview and research process.
2. Camera:
for the use of when digital camera is not usable.
3. DV: to
create the video of our interviews.
4.Printer:
output of image.
5.TV: output
of image.
Sound:
1.Digital
recorder: sound record of interview
2.Recorder:
for the use when digital recorder is not workable.
Communication:
1.Phone:
negotiation and communication for implementing interviews or
getting information.
2.
Computers: email and MSN to communicate with others
3.Cell
phone: communication of interview or crew.
Data collection:
TOP
1. Computer:
surf on the net, data analysis, and learning.
2.
Newspaper: reading and reorganizing data.
3. Books:
reading and reorganizing data.
4. Software:
compiling documents, images, sounds and creating webpage. |
The Ways Our Students Act as "Ambassadors" and Spokesperson
for Our International Schools Cyberfair Project both On-line
and in Person. |
(1)
Interview: We visited
several street houses in the ¡§No sky¡¨ street area. We also
made good use of interviews to have a better understanding
of the beauty of ¡§No sky¡¨ street area. Moreover, we offer
some suggestions for reviving of ¡§No Sky¡¨ street area in our
interview with town mayor.
(2)
Field survey: During the
field survey, we met a lot of people who live in the street
and asked us what this project is all about. We explained to
them the importance of preservation of historical landmarks,
and we also told students of our school the outcome of field
survey to let them understand the problem of our historical
landmarks.
(3)
Parental participation:
Although most of the parents only took part in the picking
up their children in the beginning, they began to engage in
the activities as we encourage them to work with us. The
experience is sweet, and they respond that they learn
something from this project.
(4)
Questionnaire: Our crew
carried out a questionnaire to understand students¡¦ concept
about ¡§No sky¡¨ street area. We first developed a
questionnaire, and then asked students of the fifth grader
and their parents to respond to the questionnaire. At last,
we analyzed and explained the questionnaire to them.
TOP |
The Impact of Our Project on Our Community |
(1)
Wisdom of our ancestor:
we have never ever thought about that the reason for
developing the ¡§No sky¡¨ street is to create a ¡§guest first¡¨
shopping environment, and we are much even sure about the
wisdom of our ancestors in comparison to other examples in
Taiwan or worldwide. Through the consensus of residents in
the street, they created the glory history of Lukang harbor
by their wise decision.
(2)
Extension of learning
experience: The goal of the project was aimed to let
students have a new learning experience, and they do.
Through interviews, surfing on the net, and lots activities
of research, they do enjoy a brand new extension of learning
experience.
(3)
Teamwork: It is our
first time in joining the contest of cyberfair, and we do
not have lots of experience to organize our team. In the
beginning, teachers and students were not quite used to work
with each other. However, our team members got more and more
enjoyable in cooperating with each other. The outcome of
teamwork, the project, tells everything. |
The Way Our Project Involve Other Members of Our Community
as Helper and Volunteers. |
We firstly encouraged our member¡¦s students to pick up their
children during the research process, but they were even
much more involved in the project as the research went on.
Besides, parents of the fifth grader were invited to
investigate their understanding of the ¡§No sky¡¨ street. Some
of the parents were demanding the school to have an addition
of relative curriculum. We interviews with lots of people in
the Jhongshan road alone with the process of research, and
all of them were much impressive of our research. Finally,
we interviewed and gave our suggestions to the town¡¦s mayor
how we thought in reviving the ¡§No sky¡¨ street.
TOP |
Discoveries, Lessons, and Surprises (optional) |
In the beginning, our team merely wanted to solve the
mystery of ¡§No sky¡¨. Surprisingly, team members found out
that the development of ¡§No sky¡¨ street area was an outcome
of our ancestor¡¦s wisdom. Above all, we understood how the
street was built and the beauty of the street. We
experienced how our ancestor planned the area and cooperated
with each others, and they created a comfortable shopping
environment for the sake of their customers. It was amazing
that people had such a great commercial concept in two or
three hundred years ago. Also, the ¡§No sky¡¨ is not a ¡§No
sky¡¨ which all the members would surely do not have thought
of that before they started the project. |
|