Vol. 16-1（2003/3）
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The Study of Concept and Foundation for School-based Curriculum Evaluation
Chao-yu Kau & Mei-ju Chen*
This study aims to explore the foundation of “school-based curriculum evaluation”. The main purpose is to understand the curriculum evaluators’ relativity between internal and external evaluations and to explore why it is school-based. Next, this study would like to make a prior definition and essence analysis for school-based curriculum evaluation according to scholars’ opinions and practical study. Third, the special functions of school-based curriculum evaluation will be analyzed from the ways of formative, summative, and physical or social-political. Finally, the study will explore the special meanings of school-based curriculum evaluation and clarify its developmental role in curriculum evaluation.
Keyword：curriculum evaluation, school-based, educational evaluation
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Chinghwa Lee*
Graders 5-6 of the primary schools in Taiwan were offered official English teaching program for the very first time in 2001, thanks to the innovative educational practice called the Nine-Year-Integrative-Curriculum. The researcher strongly advises teachers to adopt fairy tales as instructional materials for primary language education. Psychological, intellectual, and cultural benefits of fairy tales are reviewed to justify the proposal. In addition, to make the best use of fairy tales in the program, related pedagogical elements such as young learners’ general characteristics, various teachers’ roles and effective teaching activities are examined in an elaborate way. By the fairy-tale based instruction, the researcher intends to motivate the young beginners to get involved in the teaching program and to assist them in sailing through their second language acquisition experiences.
Keyword: Teaching English to Children, Instructional Materials for Children, Second Language Acquisition (SLA), the Nine-Year-Integrative-Curriculum, Teaching English As a Foreign Language (EFL)
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Applying Fuzzy Theorem to Curriculum Evaluation Model for Technology and Vocational Schools
Yen-zen Wang*
During the process of rapid development of technology and changes of industries' structures and diversifications of social values in Taiwan, many scholars and experts try to implement the school-centered ideas to design and upgrade the curriculum. However, the school-centered curriculum needed to be proper assessed in order to assure its quality. Therefore, this paper develops a curriculum evaluation model by embedding Fuzzy theorem into Context, Input, Process and Product (CIPP), a widely used model in Taiwan. Then the curriculum of Business Administration Department at Far East College is used as an example to be assessed by the model. The paper shows the model would provide a more objective and reasonable results. Schools can use this model to evaluate and to adjust the curriculum more often, in order to cope with the rapid changes of industries.
Keyword: Technology and Vocational Schools, CIPP, Curriculum Evaluation
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A Study of the Writing Process and Audience Awareness of the Writers with Different Abilities
Feng-ru Chen*
The purposes of this study were to investigate students’ writing process and audience awareness. Furthermore, this study intended to explore the differences between the students with high ability and with low ability in writing. This study was related to qualitative analysis involving thinking-aloud and thinking-by-questioning methods. The participants were 10 students with high writing ability and 10 students with low writing ability chosen from a junior high school in Taipei. The study intended to analyze the students’ writing process and audience awareness, and further to explore the differences between the students with high writing ability and with low writing ability. The results show that, between the participants with high writing ability and with low writing ability, there were a large amount of differences in their writing process. The participants with high writing ability were more excellent readers than those with low writing ability. Consequently, their writing quality was sure to be better. Implications for writing instruction and suggestion for future research were provided.
Keyword：audience awareness, writing process, writing quality
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Li-hua Chin & Shang-chen Chiu*
The purposes of the study were: 1) to explore the feasibility of Vygotsky's mediation model for the dynamic literacy instruction in the elementary resource room; 2) to evaluate the efficacy of the model on student learning, and its application and limitations. An action research approach was implemented.
Literacy instructions were carried out mainly through three types of core activities developed by the researcher: "The Little Journalists, " "The Little Writers’ Training Camp, "and "The Little Readers’ Club. " It was found that students' learning difficulties were revealed on an ongoing basis through the dynamic assessment, which provided guidance for subsequent instruction strategies. With the application of the mediation model, students demonstrated significant improvement in various aspects.
Efficacy of this instruction approach may be compromised by the following limitations: 1) time limit; 2)misconceptions on language teaching; 3) inadquate professional development; 4)the difficulties of demonstrating experimentally-based outcomes. Suggestions for the future research directions based on these limitations were addressed.
Keyword: A mediation model for dynamic literacy instruction, resource room elementary school, literacy instruction, action research
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Teaching EFL Writing in the University: Related Issues, Insights, and Implications
Sy-ying Lee*
This paper attempts to summarize the findings of three consecutive studies, with each study progressing on variables investigated and research methodology applied. It is hoped that these findings could lead to the rethinking of the factors concerned on EFL writing, and stimulate more insightful ideas for implications in teaching. I also expect that these findings may provide more thorough interpretations of the cognitive and affective dimensions of EFL writing. There has been plentiful research on EFL writing, but few took both the cognitive and affective aspects into one comprehensive picture of students’ difficulties in writing in a foreign language. This field is also rich in teaching strategies, but few consider the root of the writing problems. My studies indicated that extensive free reading and a good composing process help reduce the cognitive and affective difficulties facing EFL students at the university level. My studies also revealed that error correction and grammar instruction are not effective in teaching EFL writing as people anticipated. This paper also discusses some related issues that are inspired by previous work in writing that helps us see the whole picture of EFL writing. These discussions are expected to help us determine what is more urgently in need when considering a writing curriculum at the university level.
Keyword: writing apprehension, writer’s block, cognitive and affective dimensions, EFL writing
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Beliefs about Assessment from Three Elementary School Teachers
Yuh-yin Wu*
This research aimed to investigate beliefs and praxis about instructional assessment of three elementary education teachers. Case study was the main interpretive approach. Data were collected from 2 semesters’ field observation, interviews, and assessment related documents. The main findings were as follows: Ms. Chu emphasized character education through her assessment praxis by pinpointing justice and fairness. Ms. May emphasized cognitive thinking by giving students difficult problems to solve. Mr. Sung emphasized affective devotion by giving students rough and challenging tasks. The uniqueness of the three teachers’ belief systems intrigued the researcher to rethink the concept—teacher-centered professional praxis.
Keyword: Belief, Classroom Assessment, Educational Reform, Professional Praxis.
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Elementary School Teacher’s Beliefs about Learning Assessment and Praxis: A Case Study
Ming-jane Chuang & I-lin Chu*
The importance of classroom assessment has reached the agreement in the educational community. In Taiwan, the need of curriculum reform called for the improvement for the educational assessment. In addition, it also forced the assessment to take a paradigm shift from psychometric to contextual assessment. This study, as one part of a comparative educational study, was confined to Taiwan and tried to achieve the following aims: 1. To examine teacher’s implementation of her classroom assessment in daily life; 2. To investigate teacher’s belief and practice in elementary classroom assessment; 3. To explore integrated curriculum influences upon teacher’s practice in her multiple assessment.
The data collection methods of this case study were interview, document review, and in-field observations. The major findings of this study were as follows: The teachers’ beliefs would truly affect their implementation of their classroom assessments; the beliefs and practices of the teachers’ classroom assessments were affected by their school ethos and continuous professional development. According to the findings, some suggestions for fulfillment and facilitation of innovative of classroom assessment that based on constructivist perspectives were proposed.
Keyword: teacher’s beliefs, curriculum integration, learning assessment, case study
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Li-yia Feng*
The purpose of this study was to test the relationships among three evaluations of teaching effectiveness (teacher self-evaluation, classroom observation, and student ratings). Teacher Teaching Effectiveness Scales (TTES) have three editions: teacher edition, classroom observation edition, and student edition. TTE’s content validity was addressed through expert agreement; construct validity was explored with factor analysis. The sample includs 30 junior high school teachers, 30 classes, and 3 classrooms’ observations. The scores from teacher self-evaluation are significantly different from classroom observations and student ratings. The scores from classroom observations are significantly similar to those from student ratings.
Keyword: teaching effectiveness, teacher self-evaluation, student ratings, classroom observation
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Alternative Paths of Teacher Professional Growth: A Knowledge Management Perspective
Chih-lin Sun*
Knowledge management (KM) has become a strategy for facilitating teachers’ professional growth. Methods of KM can help teachers develop their teaching ability, skill, and experience. This paper argues that KM has the potential to reform the professional growth model for teachers and move its control into the hands of the professional. The paper is mainly divided into four sections. Section one addresses the concept of KM and shows how KM differs from purely technology-driven information management. The meaning and framework of KM for teachers will be discussed in section two. Section three analyzes the dynamic relationship between KM and teachers’ professional growth. Section four explores the frameworks that apply to foster teachers’ growth and provides three types and nine methods for KM. It proposes a KM system as an alternative to, not a substitute for, traditional models of teachers’ growth.
Keyword: teacher professional growth, knowledge management, knowledge-creating school
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Hsin-pei Shuei*
Play is the centerpiece of life for preschool children. Plays involved with physical activities are the key content for these youngsters to fully develop their minds and physical health. This article starts with the viewpoint of movement education, and then moves on to the creation of some pedagogical layouts for early childhood physical plays. The motivation to write such an article is that this author came to realize that if educators can infuse the ideas of bodily activities into early childhood’s physical education, it would simultaneously enrich young children’s minds and bodies.
This article covered multiple dimensions to detail the creation of pedagogical layout for early childhood’s physical movements. The dimensions covered are: bodily movement and plays, the range of early childhood physical plays, materials for early childhood’s plays, and the range of plays. This article concluded with case studies to give solid examples to support this author’s ideas. Main purpose of writing this article was to provide enriched reference for those involved in the early childhood education.
With a systematic approach, this article started from the discussion of the ideas of movement education, in which physical plays were viewed as a mean. The article then moved on to the elaboration of a sub-system, in which the factors needed to cover during an early childhood’s physical play for better pedagogical layout were further discussed. A structured framework was used to detail the interrelationships between factors within the system, followed by several case studies. This article was concluded with the suggestion of means and strategies to arrange the creation of the layouts.
Keyword: Early childhood Education, Physical Education, Play, Movement Education, Teaching Materials and Methods
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Nested-frames Analysis: A possibility of Data Analysis in Qualitative Research
Sheng-hsiao Chung*
The aim of this paper is to introduce a kind of techniques for data analysis: nested-frames analysis. It is developed during the process of directing the writing of a master degree thesis. In the article, the following questions are being explained: What is a nested-frames analysis? What is the motivation to have it invented? Why is it given this name? What are the procedures to conduct it? According to the actually practiced experience, the technique seems to be a rather successful instrument for analyzing the overwhelming ample data. In terms of science curriculum analysis, the merits of using the nested-frames include: It helps contrast the outstanding points of different versions of science curriculum standards; it makes the analyst more sensitive to the message contained in the texts; it helps the researcher detect the trends of concepts of different generations more easily. It is suitable to be used when the data collected are mostly of declarative knowledge, not of episodic knowledge.
Keyword: curriculum analysis; science curriculum standards; data analysis; qualitative research; nested-frames analysis
The main aim of this article is to argue that the traditional format of academic reporting is only one of a wide repertoire of approaches that qualitative researchers may choose from. In other words, alternative writing styles for qualitative research deserve their legitimacy.
The status quo regarding the writing style generally used in educational qualitative research is reviewed in the second part of this paper. Next, several reasons such as functional considerations, the re-thinking of the nature of language, and power relationships in the academic community are given to justify the main arguments of this article.
Finally, the statement of Charles Handy that, “We may need an earth-quake,” has been adopted as the challenge which concludes this article. In academic society, we may also need an earth-quake if our taken-for-granted assumptions are to be questioned.
Keyword: writing-up, representation crisis, qualitative research, border –crossing in writing
Physical education had been treated as a kind of educational methods by gross activities. This prior conception could not be accepted by contemporary physical educators. This study focused on the meaning of "what do you mean when you say ‘physical education’?" According to epistemology, this article attempted to offer a justifiable basis regarding the topic of why we needed to have physical education classes. Besides “gross activities” and “education”, this study also found that “skill” must be the family resemblances of physical education in the information era.
Keyword: Physical Education, Epistemology, Skill, Personal Knowledge, Family Resemblances
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Research on the Relationships among the Educational, Economic, and Political Indicators
Fan-chung Chang*
The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships among the educational indicators (e.g., the ratio of primary education, the ratio of secondary education, and the ratio of higher education), economic (e.g., per capital income) and the political indicator (e.g., political right; civil liberity). Five null hypotheses will be tested in this study. The study reaches following results: First, by using the multiple regression models, the relationships between the education indicators and political indicators are positive significantly. Second, because the indicators under investigations are different, this study will cluster the countries into three groups in the Cluster Analysis, including high, middle, low development countries. For instance, using six indicators in 1995 can cluster countries into three groups, that is, high, middle, and low development countries, and the numbers of these countries are12, 15, and 86, respectively. In order to test the consistency of the clustering, the Discriminant Analysis is used to reclassify the 3 clustered countries. These countries are 100% correctly classified by the indicators. Taiwan is classified as a middle development country in clustering analysis. The Spearman rank correlation is used to test the rank of the clustered countries by using six indicators. The correlation coefficient is .477. Third, to understand the any causality among indicators, the study employed a LISREL model. In this model, economic, educational, and political indicators are latent variables. The results show that the χ2 value is significant; although, the model is not well fitted, other indice like GFI, AGFI, and RMR are. At the end, the research points out some suggestions.
Keyword：educational indicators; economic indicator political indicator; LISREL model
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Comment on Effects of School-Based Management: Theory and Practice
Chun-sheng Chen & Hsin-fa Lin*
School-based management (SBM) has become a key reform mechanism adopted by educational authorities and thus aggregated many empirical reports around the world in these two decades. This article reviewed some of major existing research papers on SBM from the UK, USA, New Zealand and Australia…etc., and explored several theoretical themes to examine the impacts and effects of school-based management on practice. The study reveals that the result of SBM is not consistent with its assumptions. For instance, school-based management leads to greater decision-making flexibility, improves student learning outcomes, or increases innovation. However, it does change the work role and also increase the workload of principals, lead to increased competition among schools, result in reduced funding, and affect the standing of the public education system. Based on these findings and current situations in our country, several suggestions are proposed to construct similar management strategies.
Keyword: school-based management, decentralization, shared decision-making
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Lin Ching Chen & Snowfeng Lee*
The library media centers in schools have evolved from mere warehouses for materials and equipment to dynamic information and resource programs in the information age. However, the lack of professional staffing and support personnel is a serious problem impeding this evolvement in Taiwan. To solve this problem, many studies suggested that a volunteer program should be established in order to help the school media specialist. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate an elementary school library media center volunteer program. Furthermore, problems occurring in the process of establishment were also examined. The collaborative action research was used as a framework in this study. The researcher and teachers cooperatively planned a volunteer program and evaluated its effectiveness. At the same time, the methods of interview, observation, document analysis, panel discussion, as well as surveys were also used in this study. The results showed that recruitment, training, supervision, and recognition of volunteers, as well as selection of a supervising volunteer and support from the school top policy level were all important elements.
Keyword: school library media center, volunteer, volunteer management
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Hai-sheng Lian*
Healthy children are a nation’s precious assets, and a teenage education system lays a solid foundation for a nation’s future hope. School education aims to cultivate healthy, active, well-educated, and polite nationals. Therefore, all developed countries pay special attention to the physical and mental health of the younger generation, hoping to cultivate, by sound educational and social welfare measures, human resources that can promote the nation’s competitiveness in this century. In 1957, the “School Food Service” first started at several selected elementary schools in mountainous or remote areas. Now it becomes a nation-wide practice.
Over the years, the program has been successful, wining support and recognition from both parents and communities. By providing lunch, schools enjoy a lot of added benefits. However, there still are some schools encountering a variety of difficulties because of school size, and these problems should be dealt with properly. At the time of educational reform, to respond to the calls for “small class, small school” and “school-oriented management”, this thesis is trying to explore the school size effect on management, taking the elementary schools in Keelung district as the sample. Currently, research papers on this subject are rarely seen. This thesis first analyzes and verifies relevant theories regarding school size and management efficiency through case discussion, research papers analysis, interviews, and observation. The status of the school meal program and the school size effect in this program as well as other factors are the second focus.
In this study, parents and faculty members who are involved in this program are targeted. All the findings and conclusions will be presented to city government agencies in charge for decision-making reference and to school authorities for management purpose. The following conclusions are reached. 1. To analyze the effectiveness of student lunch program and the school size effect, this thesis focuses on the following subjects, including “organizational architecture”, “contentment survey of faculty members and students”, “the interactive relationship between faculty members and students”, “the educational function school lunch program provides”, and “the activities designed for school lunch time”; 2. As far as the management effectiveness is concerned, school size does make a difference in Keelung elementary schools; 3. Among the elementary schools in Keelung city, the schools of medium size have relatively better management effectiveness in this program; 4. In the contentment survey, the schools of medium size also top the list; 5. The personnel expense is found to better be controlled between 10% and 20%, in order to have the best management; 6. Problems arising from the program, both regular and irregular, can properly and effectively be dealt with by school itself; 7. The school lunch program is up to the expectations of all aspects, as fas as organization, administration, and mission are concerned.
Keyword: Pupil (student) Lunch, School Food Service, School scale / size, Economics of Scale, Effects of scale in school, The optimal scale
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Su-chen Chen*
Li Shang-Yin’s poems, especially his “self-creative style” poems, have long been designated by his multi-scope reading comprehension (Dou-Yi) and hard reading. Since Min and Chin Dynasties, many authors have tried to explore the meaning of Li Shang-Yin’s poems from different viewpoints and resulted in non-consistent and various interpretations of the same issue. Nevertheless, non-consistent and various interpretations are the central thinking of modern Western Reading theory. In this paper, an attempt was made to re-explore the interpretation of Li Shang-Yin’s “ Fong Wei Shang Lou” based on the recent findings from the Interpretation and Translation Books published in Min and Chin Dynasties, poems in Tang and Song Dynasties as well as custom in Tang Dynasty. In addition, the correlation between reading and interpretation is established to figure out the wonder of multi-scope reading comprehension behind the Li’s poems.
Key words: Li Shang-Yin, No-Title Poet, Fong Wei Shang Lou, Multi-Interpretation
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The Appreciation of Farewell Poems in Prosperous Tang Dynasty
Ling-wan Tsai*
Prosperous Tang Dynasty was a flourishing era. In order to pursue ideals, the intellectuals departed from their families and friends. While the intellectuals, who were either the travelers or the lefts, were close to leaving, they expressed feelings and thoughts through writing poems, which caused the widespread of farewell poems. Integrating with materials in different topics, farewell poems were enriched not only in parting sentiments, but also with deep appreciation of the content itself. The study is divided into the following sections: 1.Sincere and moving feelings of human relationship. 2.Outstanding and admirable description of characters. 3.Plentiful and varied representation about scenery, objects and folk customs. 4.Natural and straightforward spirits. 5.The cultural function of commutation and social coherence.
Keyword: Prosperous Tang Dynasty, Farewell Poems, Appreciation
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The Characteristics and Contributions of Hui Dong Compiling I-Ching Studies
Chien-chiu Sun∗
Hui Dong was the leading figure of the school of Wu in the Qing Dynasty, and a reputable scholar in Confucianism and Chinese characters. His major achievements were in the field of I-Ching study and philology on Confucian classics and Chinese characters. This article emphasizes the distinguishing features of his I-Ching study, as well as his inspirations and contributions to the researchers in later generations. There are two sections in this articles: 1.The contents and evaluations on various thesis of I-Ching study. 2.The characteristics and contributions of I-Ching researches. Through these discussions, we expect to substantially demonstrate that Hui Dong was highly recognized in I-Ching study in the Qing Dynasty.
Keyword: Hui Dong, Confucianism of the school of Wu, I-Chings studies, The characteristics of I-Ching, The contributions of I-Ching, I-Ching study in the Qing Dynasty
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An Investigation on Injuries among Athletes on the School Game of National Taipei Teachers College
Yi-hsiang Chen*
The purpose of this study was to analyze injuries among athletics on the competition of National Taipei Teachers College. Sixty-six athletes were recruited as the subjects (26 males and 40 females). This research examined the injury type, location, factor, post injury responses, and attitude of the subjects. This study found that strain (68.2%), sprain (21.2%), and abrasion (12.1%) were the three injured types that most frequently occurred. Leg (83.3%) was the most common injured body part. The two most frequent factors that cause the students’ injuries were lack of warm-up (51.5%) and over-practice (24.2%). Most of the injuries occurred in team relays (48.5%), followed by track race (36.4%), and field race (21.2%).
Keyword: injury
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An Action Research of Violin Playing in Small Group Teaching
Heng-chi Chiang*
The importance of individualized instruction was found from the action research of violin small group teaching. The individualized instruction in violin small group teaching should hence be emphasized. The first part of this paper is collection of information about the beginning of violin group teaching in the end of 19th century. The publication of varied violin, or strings, playing textbooks, and the varied violin pedagogy were all influenced by the violin group teaching. Using the method of observation and interview with students’ parents, this study analyzed the instruction principle of violin small group teaching and the basic requirements for being the small group violin teachers. Suggestions for large group violin instruction and use of heterogeneous musical instruments will be provided.
Keyword：violin, group teaching, individualized instruction, instrumental teaching, music education
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The Musical Life of Germain Tailleferre
Shu-mei Yang & Shu-juan Yang*
What began as schoolmates in a music conservatoire and good friends, a group initially known as Les Nouveaux Jeunes (The New Youngs) evolved into the famous Les Six (The Six) in 1920. To most music lovers or music students who first come to know Tailleferre, the only female French composer in The Six, her music styles or composition may not be so familiar.
This paper attempts to introduce the life of Tailleferre, including her music education, work as a composer and pianist, a brief history of The Six, and her experience in piano ensemble with other famous musicians, and how these experiences affect her later music career. Her ninety-one years of life is presented in a chronological way in this paper.
Recognized as a music prodigy in her early childhood, Tailleferre was encouraged and helped by many senior famous musicians during her learning stages. Eventually she was able to composed in as many as eleven different music styles.
In addition to performing her own composed works in concerts, Tailleferre also routinely played music ensemble with other pianists in various places. These accumulated experiences enabled her to compose quite a few two-piano works, among which “The Outdoor Game” eventually gained international popularity. One of the most moving things was that, at age eighty-three, Tailleferre still worked at L’École alsacienne as an accompanist. Her life-time devotion to music was finally recognized and awarded by the French government.
Keyword: Tailleferre, Les Six, Piano Ensemble
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Study of the Time Concept in Students’ Life
Jing Chung, Yu -fen Teng, Shu -chen Cheng*
Time is part of children’s daily life; however, it is not a material we can actually see or touch. Therefore, it is an abstract concept for children. In this study, we observed and interviewed 16 students, whose ages are between five and twelve in one week, with the purpose to understand their time concept. We found that the students’ time concept development overall fits the findings of earlier researches, only with few differences on the quantity and cyclic of time. Regarding quantity of time, we found students usually used the unit, such as hour and minute, to describe time in their daily life. As to the expressions about sequence and cyclic of time, they were rarely seen, which shows us the difference between textbooks and their living.
Keyword: time concept, students’ life
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Ning-chun Tan*
The purpose of this study was to explore preservice teachers’ professional development through electronic portfolio assessment. The study was conducted for two years. Researcher created a tool, based on the data from the portfolios written by the junior college students who participate in the first-year research period, to facilitate the social interactions for junior college students next year. All data were collected and analyzed according to the content of portfolios. Findings showing that the awareness of the preservice teachers on mathematics teaching and learning were listed as following: (1) to aware of the complexity of teaching and the key role of teacher; (2) to expand application in teaching by exploring the web-based resources; (3) to promote teaching flexibility by providing mathematics teaching knowledge; (4) to find the misconceptions by practicing a problem-based teaching; (5) to facilitate the social interaction by infusing technology into teaching; (6) to promote the quality of document by sharing experience; (7) to improve computer competency by providing digital environment; (8) to implement cooperative learning by providing assignments in groups; Some questions were also found that the intellectual property rights should be respected, the computer literature should be cultivated. Through the reflections of the preservice teachers, some suggestions were provided.
Keyword: action research, electronic portfolio, elementary mathematics, teacher education, professional development
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Chia-te Wang & Kaung-hsung Chen*
The purpose of this study was to investigate (a) the situation that teachers used class computers in classroom at Taipei elementary schools, (b) the problems of integrating computers into instruction, (c) the relationship between the situation of using class computers and the problem of integrating computers into instruction, (d) the performance of instruction on using class computers for school teachers with different background, and (e) the teachers’ opinions and suggestions of using computers.
This study adopted two methods: interview analysis and questionnaire survey. The samples were chosen from 1,010 teachers at Taipei elementary schools. The data were analyzed using three way ANOVA, factor analysis, and canonical correlation analysis, etc. The findings were as follows: 1. The most common situation of using class computers at Taipei elementary schools was in the process of instruction, but the computers, overall, were not frequently used. 2. Gender and academic major, and teaching experience and academic major both have significant interactions in the situations of using class computers at Taipei elementary schools. 3. The problems of integrating computers into instruction at Taipei elementary schools are computer literacy, support from school, situations of computers, and time. 4. There is a significant relation between the use of computers in instruction at Taipei elementary schools and the situations of using class computers. 5. After advanced interviews, we find the main factors that influence the use of classroom computers for elementay school teachers are lack of multimedia LCD projectors, insufficient hours of computer study, limited teaching time, computer hardware, and software.
Keyword: Class Computer, IT integrated instruction, Factor Analysis
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A Case Study of Affective Teaching Method Adopted by a Science Teacher
Pai-hung Lin & Chow-chin Lu*
The purpose of this study is to observe a teacher who applied the affective idea, affective curriculum design and affective teaching in the sixth grade science instruction of primary school. The teacher thinks that the affective teaching is one major part of affections. The teacher uses affective teaching method to encourage students to learn science and to touch them in a variety of ways.
There are five aspects of affective teaching methods. 1.Respect, which includes (1)respecting every student’s opinion, (2)treating students honestly, (3)asking permission before doing something beyond teaching, (4)being polite, (5)acting like what you say, and keeping your promise. 2.Tolerance, which includes (1)treating students tolerantly, (2)encouraging instead of punishing, 3.Appreciation, which includes (1)admiring, encouraging and complimenting on students’ performance. 4.Concern, which includes (1) care for students’ learning situation. (2)care for students’ living situation. (3) teaching students the importance of sympathy. 5.Others, such as (1)interesting and motivating students by social issues and headline events, (2)using Question & Answer or guidance for instruction to promote the trust between teachers and students and students’ ability to express their thoughts, (3)teachers’ being able to accept the suggestions and corrections very calmly.
The success of affective teaching depends on the teachers’ capacity of affective teaching. Teachers can promote their capacity of the affective teaching through reading, discussing, and experiencing the authors’ life experience. To carry out the affective teaching for science education, teachers’ panel discussions which will make the greatest progress on teacher’s affective capacity and will create the chance for teachers to share their emotional experiences is emphasized.
Keyword：affective, affective teaching, science instruction, sixth grade science teacher of primary school
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Chow-chin Lu*
This research used “operation-and-interview” to analyze the microscope operative skills and the conceptional cognition of the elementary and junior high school students, and based on the theory of the two-tier multiple-choice instrument of the world under microscope（TIWM）. The purpose of the instrument is to testify the rationale of students’ answers. The content revealed that TIWM was divided into two parts: （1） elementary school test papers which included the microscope operative skills, recognizable characteristics of living things, microorganism with living environment, and micro-object in environment; （2）junior high school test papers which included all parts, except micro-object in environment. This research also took grade 7 and grade 5 students as subjects in Taipei areas, simultaneously. The result revealed that the reliability of internal quality for TIWM was 0.98（elementary school test papers）and 0.85 （junior high school test papers）; the retested reliability for TIWM was 0.81（elementary school test papers）and 0.67（junior high school test papers）. This research also built up validity of content, validity of profession and two-tier factorial analysis of TIWM. The research found that reliability and validity of the test papers of two-tier multiple-choice instrument of “the world under microscope”（TIWM）were good on the elementary school, a little low on the junior school, and adequate on the rest.
Keyword: operation-and-interview, two-tier multiple-choice instrument of the world under microscope, microscope operative skills, recognizable characteristics of living things.
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Tzyh-lee Chang & Huai-tzu Hsin*
This study aims to investigate elementary-school teachers’ attitudes toward physics and their opinions about physics teaching and learning. Two classes were chosen as subjects for survey: one included 45 non-formal teachers and the other included 24 formal teachers. The questionnaire used in this survey was designed by the researcher with references to literature. The results indicate that non-formal teachers’ attitudes toward physics are more positive than formal teachers.’ All teachers are more attentive to experiments than lectures and admit that physics learning is beneficial to the teaching in elementary schools. Even though none of teachers disliked physics in his or her elementary-school years, about 75% of them started to have a dislike of physics in their high school or college years. Physics is a headache for most of the learners on account of the necessity of logic thinking and mathematical skill for learning it. More than half of the teachers thought that half or more than half of the elementary-school students did not like physics teaching. About 95% of the teachers agreed that the best way for them to learn physics is that it can be instructed by clarifying concepts with experiments and by including everyday life experiences. The above-mentioned results may provide physics teachers at teachers college evidence and directions to improve their teaching.
Keyword: Attitudes toward physics, Phys
