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International Schools CyberFair 98

Project Narrative

NAKAJIMA

A Challenge of My Father

Project Overview

We entered our Web site in CyberFair Category:
Local Specialties
Description of "Our Community"
Nakajima Town is in the Inland Sea of Japan. The town consists of 6 inhabited islands with 7200 people and 22 uninhabited islands. Since this is a rural island-town, people highly depend on their most incomes from orange farming and fishery. Many of residents are farmers and fishermen or related to the industries.
Summary of Our Project
In 1972, the National Geographic Magazine introduced this island town, Nakajima, and mentioned the change of their lifestyles like decreasing number of residents on the islands during the high-growth economy of Japan in the 70s. The orange production in the town once boomed at that time and won their reputation for excellent oranges. But in 1991, the town suffered from an enormous typhoon and it left the damaged of 1499 acres for farming area and 73.8 billion yen of loss for orange growers. And again, people live here are struggling to survive. A high school girl, Toshinari Chiharu whose father is an organic orange grower in Nakajima, is to find out more about her town and her own father through its history, local specialities, and her father's challenge.
Our Internet Access
We have a ISDN connection on one Macintosh computer. We are quite satisfied with the speed of internet access, but we feel more computer facilities are needed to make our lesson more effective and exciting for our students.
Problems We Had To Overcome
We found out about the CyberFair Project a month ago, and we could only manage to have 1 student who can work on this project. But the students is eager to work on this, and told me that she learned a lot through the process. Interestingly, she is from an island town, and the most distant student from our school. We and the student made a commitment to achieve this project since the town, Nakajima, has interesting features to introduce. I believe the project work well even for just one student.
Our Project Sound Bite
Putting her work on the web site generated our student's motivation. She could not stop herself learning about her town, and her father, so she can be proud of them.

Project Elements

This section explains how your project addressed the project elements found in the CyberFair Assignment to Schools.

1) How did your activities and research for this International School CyberFair project support your required course work and curriculum requirements?

What new skills did you learn?
We did have a software to make a web site before we start this project but we were not sure how we can use it if we make ours and combine with the classes. But by knowing the CyberFair 98 help us great deal to get started. Now we know how to use the software, and we put our students' project to introduce their hometowns.
How do you better understand specific ideas?
We and our student were inspired by looking at other schools' web site. They are all great!
How does your project fit into the requirements for your school or class?
Since this is a small, neighborhood-style school, we are pretty flexible for taking a new program like the CyberFair 98 into our class. We would like to keep our school to be compact but practical for our students. And we believe that by connecting our school to others in the world through the net, is the effective way to learn English.
What discoveries did you make about your educational system? About the role you play in your school community?
The most of classes at Japanese schools are too big for both teachers and students. 40 students in a one-teacher class is a typical number, and schools are becoming a place only to pass the entrance exams for Universities rather than to learn about student's possibilities. We believe being "Small, but efficient," will be a key to bring a true meaning of education for Japanese Educational System and students.
Has using the Internet for teaching and learning been more effective than traditional methods? If so, explain?
Being small is great. But without educational facilities, we can't do much. We need a powerful tool to bring new ideas, different points of view into our classes. Students' lifestyles are changing rapidly, and we just can't teach them how to live in an information-oriented society with a piece of chalk, while they carry their handy phones and electronical pets like "Tamaggochi," if you have heard of it. We need to be advanced in every educational technologies, with a heart of Heraclitus (6th-5th century b.c. Greek philosopher).
"There is nothing permanent except change."

2) What information tools and technologies did you use to complete your CyberFair project?

We have used most of information tools we can get our hands on from oral interviews to Online Databases. And we realized how important to go out of the classroom and collect what you want on foot. Doing so, we can be more inspired. And sometimes we meet interesting unexpected story.

3) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

We asked people or organizations to help us for some information, and then we explained why we need them or how we use them on the web. We had only one student to work with and didn't have much time to speak out more about it. But if we make some documents tell about this event in Japanese, or carrying something like business cards, printed "CyberFair 98 Spokesperson" on the card, it might be helpful when we entry for next year.

4) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

How has your project made a difference?
The project bought us a goal to work with. Frankly speaking, it is so easy for Japanese students to lose their interests in leaning English which they don't use often except for their examinations. Learning English here in Japan, it is tend to be nothing but just a tool to enter universities. The project gave us a chance to focus on where on the earth live, and how we can relate to other people in different countries by explaining who we are. Students need to know more about themselves, and share what they found with others.
Have people in your community learned new things through your Web pages?
Yes. Not from the content of our web site, but from just one high school girl with a passion can do so much. Everybody we met was impressed with her work.

5) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

We get to know various people through this project.

1. Japan Agricultural Exchange Council

We talked spokesperson from the organization on the phone that she told me it was great opportunity for them too, to be introduced on the web. And they said they will look for the web site we made and the Global School Foundation Site.

2. Japan-U.S. Workshop for Agroecology

We met met Dr.Hideo Ueno, one of the organizers for Experiment Farm of Ehime University, He is an Associated Professor of Ehime University who allowed us to use the photo and sources on the web. We corresponded by e-mails also, we explained the project, and introduced the web address for CyberFair 98.

Dr.Hidoe Ueno told us he has seen our project and mentioned us that American Researchers at a workshop were very interested in Chiharu's father's speech. And he will tell them our project on the web to introduce Nakajima Town and the father's work.

3. Officials at Nakajima Town Office.

In order to get the sources on our project, Chiharu visited their town office and explained what she needs and why. And she was more than welcomed.

International Schools CyberFair 98

A Challenge of My Father

Information About Our Site

Project Overview

Project Elements