| Summary: | 碩士 === 中華大學 === 休閒遊憩規劃與管理學系 === 105 === This study investigated students’ cognition and attitudes toward wetlands after given a self-developed educational course on wetland ecology. The course was designed for eight-grade students in a junior high school, and 27 students participated in this course. Based on the goals of environmental education and the formative assessment method, the course instruction involved use of teaching materials developed by the author and a field visit to Siangshan Wetland. Based on the course schedule, the students had to prepare for the class at home, make presentations and discuss in class, and reflect their learning after school. The course effectiveness was evaluated based on their performances on learning sheets. In order to improve the students’ learning effectiveness, the author kept contemplating on ways to modify and improve the instruction during the experimental period.
Results indicated that in cognition of wetlands, most students showed a remarkable improvement, especially in the definition of wetland and mangrove forest. The formative assessment allowed the students to have more thinking and deepen their impression of the learning materials. During the instruction, the students were asked to conduct group discussions. Brainstorming with group members was helpful for their learning. Through discussion and presentation, they were able to internalize what they had learned. By discussing with others, they could listen to each other’s ideas and evaluate the degree to which they understood the learning materials. In design of the teaching plan, considering that there were numerous concepts that the students had to clarify, the author used only four periods of class time to offer the instruction. Given limited time, the author included mainly general issues in the course. In the future, more periods of class time could be used to ensure that students have sufficient understanding of the learning materials. Overall, the students liked the visit to the wetland most. Most students enjoyed the opportunity to have an outdoor visit. Field observation increased their learning motivation. They also looked forward to having similar courses in the future. All teaching methods, if properly applied, can contribute to both teaching and learning. When applied with a theoretical foundation, they can benefit students even more. For instance, cooperative learning and behavior modification techniques can effectively promote students’ learning effectiveness.
To sum up, judging by the students’ improvement in cognition of wetlands and responses, the effectiveness of this course was good. The field visit had a significant effect on the students’ learning and cognition. The formative assessment increased the students’ thinking and feedbacks, allowing the teacher to constantly examine the course design and employ various teaching methods according to the students’ needs. Being enabled to capture each student’s learning progress, the teacher could flexibly adjust the instruction content in a way that could boost the students’ learning motivation.
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