Elementary school teacher' action research about Kangdu nature park

• Main Author: 梁翠萍
• Other Authors: 王佩蓮
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2002
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/64392333989423496131

碩士 === 臺北市立師範學院 === 科學教育研究所 === 90 === Elementary School Teachers’ Action Research About Kangdu Nature Park Abstract Bird-watching with my family has cultivated my kids’ interests in our ecological environment. The thought of bringing more students’ attention to the ecological environment with teachers’ instruction led me to conduct this research. I’m in charge of developing outdoors curriculum at the school I work. Kangdu Reserve Park where international activities have been taken places, is located not far away from my school, so teachers involved in this research chose unanimously Kangdu Reserve Park as the place to give outdoors classes. As 9 Year Joint Education Reform has been put into practice, school-based curriculum is highly emphasized and teachers are encouraged to work as a team to develop theme-based curriculum. Applying the approach of action research, a group of teachers participated in designing the theme-based courses with specialization in outdoors teaching materials. Basing on students’ reactions to my classes, lesson plans of the designed courses were modified to see if the designed courses work well. Meanwhile, teaching strategies on students’ learning effects were also discussed. The ultimate objective is to help students explore Mother Nature spontaneously and cultivate their awareness of environmental protection. The designed courses were slightly revised depending on students’ feedback to my classes and panel discussion with other teachers. Feedback from students was acquired by means of observation, interviews, journals, student’s task sheets, reports and questionnaires. Analysis of the above data came to the following findings: teachers’ dedication and profession play a key role in the development of theme-based curriculum. By integrating different subjects to enhance teachers’ professional knowledge, the role of teacher expands from an instructor to a course designer as well as a researcher. In terms of findings from the instruction, (1) Instructors’ explanation on respective spots helps students to get more completed cognitive concepts and abilities. Ex. The ecology concepts of estuary wetland were boosted up to 70%. (2) Flow Learning’s various teaching methods highly arose students’ curiosity, interests and class participation. Ex. Successful teaching activities went to “Happy Birthday”, “Searching for Roots” and “Photo Exhibition”, all of which were basically about keeping records for mangrove, fish and crabs with photos. (3) Students enjoy activities with direct hands-on experiences. Ex. Students felt that “Making Friends with Birds”, an activity to know different species of birds from the chirps and direction, was very interesting and practical. (4) Students’ direct experiences can’t be acquired from teachers’ lectures, and tangible feelings make the classes impressive for students. It is concluded that the outdoors theme-based curriculum is feasible. Instructional approaches had dramatic effects on students’ learning, especially in the second time of my class when Joseph Cornell’s Flowing Learning was used. The four stages, “motivation, concentration, first-hand experiences, inspiration”, led students with direct experiences and soon came to appreciate natural surroundings. As for developing students’ abilities to explore and appreciate Mother Nature, intertwining instructional activities were taken into the course design. Ex. In “Searching for the Root of Leave”, students learned knowledge about a plant’s life circle from its leave and moreover, about the whole ecology system. This kind of instruction enables students to learn spontaneously. Their discovery encourages them to move on with sense of achievement and enthusiasm. Gradually, student’s abilities to appreciate natural surroundings and to protect the natural sources have enhanced. The research comes to the following suggestion for the aspects of teaching, learning and research. In the aspect of teaching: (1) Joseph Cornell’s Flow Learning is suggested to be in wide use for outdoors teaching activities. (2) Outdoors courses ought to integrate with other subjects of classes, to come up with interdisciplinary courses. (3) Teachers’ participation allows teachers to enhance their professional abilities in combining theory and practice. Peer-learning in team work enables teachers to expand their horizons. In the aspect of students’ learning, it’s suggested that (1) teachers assist in students’ learning mechanism, especially monitoring and feedback mechanism. (2) theme-based course should be related to social events and meet students’ needs. (3) a variety of learning methods and direct experiences should be adopted in the classes. In the aspect of future research, it’s suggested that (1) development of 1 & 2 graders’ courses be continued. (2) feasibility of Flowing Learning to other types of teachings.….Above suggestion is for reference of educational authorities concerned. It’s highly expected that theory and practice can be combined successfully and teaching and research can have breakthrough; by doing so, teachers’ professional growth and confidence and be increased and school-based curriculum can be carried out thoroughly.