Award
2009 19 and Under: 2nd place
Team
Shuwen Shanghai International School, China
Ian Raffles Institution, Singapore
Qiao YuShanghai International School, China
Lea Shanghai International School, China
Hubert Raffles Institution, Singapore
Albert Shanghai International School, China
Age Range
19 & under
Coaches
Aileen ChorRaffles Institution, Singapore
Yap CherylRaffles Institution, Singapore
Category
Social Sciences & Culture > Conflict Resolution
History & Government > Disasters
Audience
Ages 12 and up
Language
English, Indonesia, Japanese
Site Features
Reading Guide / Book Guide
Teacher Resources (Lesson Plans, Worksheets)
Video / Sound
Team Collaboration
The team comprises six members of four different nationalities (Singaporean, Japanese, American and Canadian) from 2 different schools (Shanghai International School and Raffles Institution) in two different countries (China and Singapore). Both sides of the team have never met each other before, yet, our passion and constant efforts to communicate with each other has allowed us to form a strong bridge between us. We have bridged this 3,700 km gap between us with the use of advanced communication technologies such as emails, voice calls like Skype, chat applications like Windows Messenger, working as one in bringing this over-looked food crisis issue to people’s attention.
The team was also split into two divisions the Shanghai and Singapore division. The Shanghai division worked on the content while the Singapore division worked on the website design. For the group discussions, we had two levels of meetings. The first level would be a local divisional meeting. This involved the divisions meeting at their own location to work on their assigned tasks. After each divisional meeting, the minutes of the meeting would be sent to their overseas counterpart. A second level meeting would be when the whole team meets on a virtual communication platform like Windows Messenger and updates each other on the progress of each division as well as faced issues that required a combined effort. This level of meeting was highly important as both the content and web design was highly interdependent. This allowed both sides to work hand in hand throughout the entire journey.
We were also assigned jobs that suited our specialties to ensure maximum efficiency. Ian and Hubert excelled at IT, so they were responsible for the website design. QiaoYu was a more versatile worker, so he had the jobs of being leader. Lea writes very well, so she mainly transformed the rough drafts into polished pieces of writing. Shuwen has good language skills, so she mainly translated the whole content into Japanese. Albert likes science and research, so he mainly wrote the outlines of the content.
During discussions, the team sometimes had various personal views that clashed and friction between members did occur once in awhile. As such friction is inevitable, all we could do was to put aside our differences and continue moving forward, stepping up from each setback stronger than before.
From this year’s ThinkQuest Competition, the team has learnt more about the true spirit of teamwork. Through this project, we have emerged not just as teammates, but as true friends.
Team Diversity
The global food crisis is not just another calamity that we read in the newspapers, or watch on TV. This crisis is real, it’s happening here and now, and it’s affecting every single one of us, no matter where we are, what we are or who we are. Working together this year to create this website are Ian, Hubert, who are Singaporeans, as well as Qiao Yu who lived in Singapore before migrating to China; Lea, who is American, Albert, an inner Mongolian who lived in Canada, and Shuwen, who is Japanese. The latter three, Lea, Albert and Shuwen, originate from three different countries, but most coincidentally share the same last name, Zhang. This coincidence shows us that people, no matter, what race are actually closer in relation than we think.
Our team name, GlobalFusion, is a representation of this fusion and collaboration of ideas and people from various nationalities. This diverse team was formed when the team initiator, Qiao Yu, migrated from Singapore to China. Upon meeting new friends in China, Qiao Yu brought both halves of the team, one from Singapore’s Raffles Institution and the other from China’s Shanghai International School, together to form a dynamic team of passionate individuals.
Each of our different cultural, social, and geographical backgrounds gives rise to the wide range of views, ideas, and opinions. Because of this, we particularly emphasize on the different cultures, background, and history that come into play. We aimed to make our website as culturally diverse as possible. We got our information from websites of many different countries. Our surveys were taken by a diverse range of participants as well. Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Australians, Americans, Taiwanese, Malaysian, Indonesian, British and other students from Shanghai International School, along with students in Singapore took part, providing a very broad spectrum to reflect the public’s views and opinions. We also included overviews about several worldwide nations in our interactive country map, impacts, government action, and history. To further add diversify our content, we included a secondary language, translating the entire site into Japanese.
The multifariousness of our ThinkQuest group has definitely enhanced our learning experience. It has pushed us to obtain a greater understanding of the global food crises, as well as to develop a more global perspective.
