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教育實踐與研究期刊
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Vol. 15-1（2002/9）

Engaging in the curriculum reform, the practitioners usually emphasize the concrete models, methods or procedures, but not the related curriculum theory. The consequence is that the educators devote their mind to the imitation of some techniques, so as being unable to create new ideas, and the process of curriculum development is full of copying and reproduction. Because of lacking of guidance from the theory, the work of curriculum reform becomes a disorderly error trial. Without the reference of curriculum theory, the practitioners will lose the base to reflect and the focus to evaluate in the innovation action. Some reasons result in the alienation of the practitioners to the curriculum theory. One is that the theories are too enigmatic even vague; the other dimension is that most educators care about the products of curriculum, and ignore the underlying rationales. However, the relation between theory and practice is dialectical; the divorce between them will hinder the reform of curriculum. If the educators in schools got close to the curriculum theory, even discovered theories in the action and reflection, and not blindly believed the authority, they would find that they themselves are curriculum expert. In the future reform movements, the practitioners should care about the curriculum theory.


Keyword: curriculum reform, curriculum theory, theory and practice

The third part of this study deals with the comparison among Taiwan, England and Scotland from the perspective of levels of curriculum decision making. This section not only substantively reflects the concept of curriculum decision making, but also methodologically considers the multi-level comparison in the field of comparative education.

The fourth section tries to analyze related concepts in the discussion of curriculum continuity. Based on these concepts, the rough comparison among Taiwan, England and Scotland is carried out. Finally, re-description of this study is carried out. Major points are as follows: 1. The issue of curriculum continuity between primary and secondary schools is a critical issue in terms of theoretical, practical as well as political aspect. 2. Methodologically, this study tries on a new approach of comparative education, i.e. multi-level of comparison. 3. Two main results are reached. First, the understanding of curriculum continuity between primary and secondary schools in England and Scotland is reached; secondly, the extending appreciation of curriculum continuity between primary and secondary schools in Taiwan also is achieved.


Keyword: Educational Assessment, Comparative Studies, Educational Transition, Multi-level of comparison

  • Network-Supported Writing-Across-Curriculum Environment: A MI-Model and Its Effects

    Yung-ho Huang & Shu-chin Chuang*

     

    The purpose of this study is to construct a network-supported writing-across-curriculum environment and to investigate the effects of the environment. The study consists of two stages. The first stage is to construct a network-supported writing-across-curriculum environment based on the review, analysis and integration of literatures on learning and instruction of writing, as well as web-based instruction. The second stage, through the quasi-experimental research, is to concern the effects of this environment. There are two classes of sixth grade students who are respectively assigned as control group and experimental group. The results show that the writing quality in experimental group is significantly better than that in control group, and the experimental group gives positive attitudes towards this network-supported environment. It is hoped that this study can offer some suggestions in the aspects of instruction, schooling, and future studies.

 

Keyword: Writing, Writing across curriculum, Integrated curriculum, Computer assisted learning, Multiple intelligences

  • The Effects of Questioning on Instruction

    Ming-charng Jeng*

     

    The primary goal of this study is to examine the relations between the patterns of questioning-answering in teacher-student interaction and the effects on instruction. The research was carried out in a 1 grade primary classroom for the period of one semester. The interactions between teacher and students on Chinese lessons were observed and analyzed. The analysis is based on the following three aspects, including instructional discourse, question-answer patterns, and instructional procedure. The analyzed data suggested that teacher’s questions are more frequent than student’s questions. Both the teacher and students asked more fact questions than other styles. When the teacher asked comprehensive questions, the leading role of discourse was then transferring from the teacher to student. When the questions were related to the classroom order, the instructional discourse became the teacher’s monologue. Moreover, the students utilized questions to resist teacher’s control. The rhythm of instructional discourse was observed to be adjusted to the type of questions posted by the students. To conclude, the effects of questioning on instruction have such effects as: to clarify the meaning of words, to maintain student’s attention, to resist teacher’s control, to assure class rhythm, and to control classroom order.



Keyword: questioning, question-answer pattern, classroom discourse, instructional interaction

  • How the Elementary School Teachers Decode Textbooks

    Pei-i Chou*

     

    Textbooks have a central place in the curriculum and instruction in school. The main purpose of this study is to explore the ways in which teachers decode and use textbooks through observations, interviews and the analysis of documents. The main findings are as follows: 1. Textbooks have important functions as well as limitations. They constitute a particular form of language and involve a special kind of textual authority. Preferred decoding, negotiated decoding and resistant decoding are three ways used to decode the text. 2.Preferred decoding plays a dominant role in classroom instruction. 3.Negotiated decoding, in part, influences teachers in designing the school- based curriculum in writing. 4.Although teachers sometimes use textbooks by negotiated decoding, they do not encourage their students to take similar stand. Resistant decoding is rare in this study.


Keyword：Textbooks, Curriculum reform, Textual authority

  • An Explorative Conception and Strategy of Teenager After-School Programs

    Jia-mi Chen & Treping Lee*

     

    After-school programs for teenagers should be concerned as much as those needs for young kids from the following perspectives: the teenagers’ behavior problems, the weakness of school education, and the learning of kids from disadvantage families. After-school programs for teenagers primarily focus on kids’ safety and health, which should meet the adolescent’s needs, and which should be more active and diverse than the traditional learning activities in normal school days. The responsibility should not only rely on the school’s itself, but also be taken seriously more by parents, communities, and political parties. This paper explores the conception and strategy of the teenagers after-school program in Taiwan, and the contents include five segments: (1) the background of after-school programs, (2) whose concerns and responsibilities, (3) the feasible strategies, (4) problems, questions and solutions, and (5) the conclusions.

 

Keyword: After-school program, Teenager welfare

 

Recently professional ethics have become issues with the increasing business scandals. Business students will be managers in the future. This study use squestionnaire survey to investigate the business students’ (accounting and management administration majors) ethics of seven universities in the northern, central and south ern Taiwan, and whether the ethics differ due to their gender, academic major and classification. Results indicate that the female subjects have high level of ethics than the males; the accounting students have high level of ethics than that of management administration students; accounting students’ ethics have no difference with the increase of grade. The improvement of ethics in the accounting education is limited. Accounting education should enhance business ethics courses in their program of study.

 

Keyword: Business Students, Ethics, Accounting Education

 

  • Making Claims to Teachers’ Practical Knowledge in Action Research

    Pei-hsuan Lin*

     

    Action research is carried out by the practitioners to improve their understanding of their situations and problems. In action research, theories are not validated independently through practice. While traditional research works out of a view of knowledge that does not recognize the ways teachers hold within the context of their lives, action research claims that teachers function as central and autonomous figures within a practical context. This study argues that there is a paradox when the active role of teachers in the traditional research is denied, but the teachers are credited with a generous share of the responsibility for failure. Furthermore, this study asserts that teachers do not take a passive role in transforming given knowledge, but take an active role to interpret and construct knowledge based on their real life experiences. The practical knowledge is in teachers’ experience, in their present mind and in their future actions. It is knowledge that reflects an individual’s prior knowledge and the contextual nature. In final section, this study proposes that teachers’ practical knowledge is constructed and reconstructed as teachers live out their stories and retell and relive them through processes of reflection. Therefore, narrative approach can be seen as an appropriate approach to demonstrate teachers’ voice and story--teachers’ practical knowledge.

 

Keyword: action research, teachers’ practical knowledge, narrative

  • Critical Ethnography and Its Implication in Comparative Education Research

    Chia-ling Li*

     

    Because of the shift of paradigm, the study of ethnography has been paid much more attention by researchers. But conventional ethnography has been augured that its central considerations reside in the microsociological orientation. For bridging what have been conceived as incompatible micro- and macro-level concerns, critical ethnography has emerged. It refers to studies which use a basically anthropological, qualitative, participant-observer methodology but which theoretical foundation derives from critical sociology and philosophy. Different from conventional ethnography, critical ethnography emphasizes using their work to aid emancipatory goals or to negate their repressive influence that leads to unnecessary social domination of all groups.

This study involved four main sessions. The first session examined new trends and the issues in comparative education research. Next, it reviewed theoretical background of critical ethnography. The third session was about the approaches to critical ethnography and exploring practical examples implemented in comparative education research. Finally, the implications for comparative education research were elaborated in the conclusion.

 

Keyword: critical ethnography, comparative education, qualitative research

Through collecting and analyzing the language theories of philosophy （mainly hermeneutics）, this article concludes that: 1.Understanding the multiple nature and meaning of language, and providing language multiple research approach. 2.Reflecting questions as followings: a. The orientation and effect of language in educational procedure. b. The educational language policy in the past fifty years practiced in Taiwan. c. The educational language policy future development in Taiwan.

 

Keyword: Language, Hermeneutics, Educational language, Education of language

  • Children’s Self-Efficacy Beliefs, Goal-Setting Behaviors, and Self-Regulated Learning

    Shu-shen Shih*

     

    This paper explores the relations among children’s goal-setting behaviors, perceived efficacy, and self-regulated learning. Individuals’ self-regulated learning comprises three subprocesses: self-observation, self-judgment, and self-reaction. Children’s self-efficacy beliefs and goal setting play a significant role in these subprocesses. Students enter learning activities with certain goals as well as perceived efficacy for goal attainment. When working on tasks, children observe their performance, gauge goal process, and continue their work or modify the approach on the basis of the evaluation. Satisfactory goal process heightens feelings of efficacy. Goal attainment further enables children to set new challenging goals. An interactive view indicates that children’s self-regulation is a dynamic process in which such variables as perceived efficacy and goal setting influence one another reciprocally. Finally, future research directions which might help further our understanding of the research in this area are suggested.

 

Keyword: Goal-setting, Self-efficacy, Self-regulated learning

  • A Survey and Interview Study on Adjustment Problems and Related Factor in Elementary School Students

    Hui-min Ou*

     

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between coping strategies and adjustment problems, and the effects of sex, grade, attribution styles on coping strategies and adjustment problems in elementary school students. "Adolescent Attribution Inventory," "Adolescent Coping Strategies Inventory," and "Adjustment Problem Inventory" were administered to 1087 elementary school students and "Focused Interview" was administered to 5 elementary school students. The main findings of this study were as follows : (1) Ability attribution styles and avoid-escape strategies were the best predictors of adjustment problems. (2) There were negative relationships between almost thirteen predictive variables and five criterion variables. Four canonical factors were identified. (3) The elementary school students who had efficacy coping strategies had less School-life problem and Psysical & Psychological Deveiopment problems. (4) Students who used uncontrolled attribution styles of elementary school had less adjustment problems.


Keyword：elementary school students, coping strategies, attribution styles, adjustment problems

The purpose of this study is to discuss the possibilities of using comparative study approach to investigate educational assessment phenomenon and policy. Firstly, the researchers described 3 assessment related events, then mentioned the difference of expectations about assessment between primary and middle school educational stages. The difference intrigues the importance of understanding of our educational phenomenon. The desire of understanding gives rise to the need of comparative educational study. The researchers suggested a two-year research procedure and concluded with the benefits of executing comparative studies.


Keyword: Educational Assessment, Comparative Studies, Educational Transition

  • A Case Study of Youths Who Lost Their Parents during the 921 Earthquake in Taiwan

    Pei-jung Li & Pei-yung Liang*

     

    The purpose of this study was to understand the mourning process and related reactions of adolescents who lost their parents. Two interviewees were participated this study. Case study research was adapted to collect and analyze data. The findings were as follows: 1.The reactions of mourning process in bereaved adolescent could be classified as four categories, thinking, feeling, behavioral, and physical reactions. 2.The mourning process involves four phases: (1) early mourning phase; (2) acute mourning phase; (3) faded mourning phase; (4) adaptation phase. 3.The mourning process in bereaved adolescent is conceptualized as a series of psychological tasks that must be accomplished over time. The early tasks include understanding and self-protection; the middle-phase tasks include acceptance and reworking; the late tasks pertain to identification and development. 4.The mourning process involves two control strategies: (1) loss-oriented control; (2) restoration-oriented control. Finally, the discussion and suggestion about the study were raised at the end of the article.

 

Keyword: Mourning or grief process, Case study, Earthquake

  • The Effectiveness of Parent Education Program for Parents of Developmentally Delayed Young Children

    She-kuei Tsai*

     

    Parent education plays the most important role during the early intervention of the developmentally delayed young children. The purpose of the study was (1)To investigate the needs of the parents of developmentally delayed children aged from 2 to 6 about parent education and survey the degree of satisfaction of these parents after completing the parent education program, (2)To develop a parent education program and, (3)To evaluate the effectiveness of the program on the growth abilities of young children and on the family environment.

A questionnaire survey and an experimental design were used in the study. Percentage, same nature test of regression coefficient, analysis of covariance and F-test were conducted for further analysis. The instruments employed were The Needs of Parent Education during the Early Intervention of Developmentally Delayed Children Survey, The Developmental Test of Individual Young Children and The Home Environment Assessment Form of Infant and Young Children. The samples of the experimental study were 59 developmentally delayed young children aged from 2 to 6 in preschool and their parents.

The results of the study were as follows: 1.For the needs of assessment, a need for information ranked the top (95%) followed by professional help (88%), mental support (77%), and economical support (63%). Ninety percents of the subjects were satisfied with the parent education program. 2. Young children in the experimental group performed betters significantly with respect to refined movement, language expression and the linguistic understanding. 3.The program was effective in improving the family environment in terms of the offers of the stimulus, the degree of participation, the provision of toys and family organization.

 

Keyword: developmentally delayed young children, parent education, early intervention

  • Functional Analysis and Assessment-based Interventions for Aberrant Behavior of Children with Developmental Disabilities

    Hui-chuan Chu*

     

    The purpose of the study was to develop a comprehensive functional analysis methodology for use in different applied settings and examine the efficacy of this methodology in identifying maintaining variables of aberrant behaviors on an individual basis, and to further investigate the effects of the functional assessment-based interventions on the aberrant behaviors and appropriate behaviors of the children with developmental disabilities. The participants in the study were three children with developmental disabilities who frequently exhibit serious aberrant behaviors. This study consisted of two phases: (1) the functional analysis phase and (2) the intervention phase. During the functional analysis phase, the alternating treatments design was used. The aberrant behaviors of three participants were observed during periods of brief, repeated exposure to a series of twelve types of experimental conditions in an instructional setting or a free play setting. During the treatment phase, a reversal design was employed to examine the effects of the assessment-based interventions on the rates of aberrant behaviors and adaptive behaviors of the participants. The results of the study indicated that the functional analysis methodology was effective in analyzing the functions of aberrant behaviors in different settings, and the implementation of the intervention based on the results of functional analysis could substantially decrease aberrant behaviors and increase appropriate behaviors. The findings of this study could serve as a basis for the continued refining of functional analysis methodology, and led to a better understanding of the functional properties of aberrant behaviors on an individual basis and the development of more effective interventions for increasing appropriate behaviors and reducing aberrant behaviors.

 

Keyword: Functional Analysis, Developmental Disabilities, Aberrant Behaviors, Intervention Strategies

  • A Study of Guiding Skills in Creative Drama Activities: Exemples of Song Song Song Children and Puppet Theater

    Chia-lu Hong & Ming Lu*

     

    The purpose of this article was to investigate teachers’ guiding skills in creative drama activities, such as teacher-in-role, side coaching, games, magic, and direct model. Continuous recording was used to collect observation data. The observation lasted for four weeks. Three teachers in creative drama classes of Song Song Song Children and Puppet Theater were the subjects in this study. The result showed that teachers’ guiding skills and styles were various, even though they implemented the same themes of activities. Besides, the thachers’ guiding skills influenced young children’s participation and creative performance.


Keyword: creative drama, guiding skills, young children

  • A Study on the Children Playroom Design at Kindergartens in Taiwan

    Tsau- ying Tsao*

     

    This study aims to examine playroom design for children at public and private kindergartens in Taiwan. A national sampling survey was conducted with 575 samplings, among which 521 were effectively retrieved (90.06 percent’s retrieval) and the results are generalized as follows: 1. In terms of efficiency and quality, special design constitutes the crucial key to learning structures, and therefore, the children play room of kindergartens should include consideration of Children-environmental ecology relationship, underlining the diversified feature of “potential space,” and along with the criteria of balance, harmony, rhythm, appraisal, proportion, and contrast, together to create a constructive and creative function of educational environment. 2. Most children playrooms in kindergartens are placed on the moving junction. The physical criteria such as the square measure, the wallboard, and the standards for windows and doors yet pass muster, whereas there’s still room for improvement that 71.3 percent’s kindergartens fail to set up a 50 cm-stage in front of the play room as the regulations stipulate. As for the visual environmental criteria such as ambient lighting and colors roughly meet the demand, though the lighting is less as desirable as that of children activity room. In a word, to provide children with perfect learning environment, kindergartens which bear education in mind as their ideal should try as hard as they can to set up all environmental elements leading to active learning in the process of designing children play room under the premise of safety. That’s how a high-qualified educational environment is achieved.

 

Keyword: children playroom

  • Meta-evaluation Standards for School Principal Appraisal

    Hsin-hui Cheng*

     

    The appraisal of school principals has been receiving attention in the field of education administration in Taiwan. At a time when every local government is developing its own evaluation system, it is most urgent to have a set of meta-evaluation standards to be referred to during the planning and implementing process. These standards are indispensable for examining current evaluation systems for that matter. It is the aim of this study to explore the feasibility of such a set of meta-evaluation standards in the Personnel Evaluation Standards issued in 1988 by Joint Committee on Standards for Education Evaluation in the United States. The 21 standards in four categories, with the proposed new standard on legal viability, provide clear rationale and guidelines to be followed, and to avoid common errors. They constitute a most comprehensive set of meta-evaluation standards for education administrator appraisal to date. These standards not only can serve as criteria for designing systems of school principal appraisal, they can be used to meta-evaluate ongoing principal appraisal systems as well. These 22 standards have been used to examine school principal appraisal systems in the United States, as well as Britain. Although they were formulated in an American cultural background, these standards are useful reference in both theory and practice in Taiwan. The empirical research in Taiwan also revealed that these 22 meta-evaluation standards should be taken more seriously when planning and implementing school principal appraisal systems. Most important of all were the utility and propriety standards. Nevertheless the feasibility and accuracy standards were also frequently mentioned among the interviewees.

 

Keyword: Principal appraisal, Meta-evaluation, Evaluation standards

  • The Study on the Essential Components in the Process of Expertise of Elementary School Expert Teachers

    Hsun-fung Kao & Mei-chuan Chen*

     

    The quality of education depends on the quality of teachers. The education will be improved only if teachers’ expertise enriched. For enhancing professional standards and performance, teachers have to put their professional development into practice and proceed all kinds of activities of learning. The forming of teachers’ expertise is a process of integrating teachers’ experience with the context. The purpose of this research was to study the essential components in the process of constructing the expertise of elementary school expert teachers in four dimensions: the expertises they should have, the sources where they reach, the strategies how they proceed, and the reasons why they continuously perform it. The investigation was conducted by questionnaire survey. The survey was mailed to 180 subjects, and 111 were responded (valid response rate = 61.67%).

The result showed that, elementary school expert teachers put their focus on the information of general pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, self-reflection, knowledge of learners and their characteristics, and subject content knowledge. The sources and strategies of their expertise development were received from multiple ways. The drives that inspired expert teachers to learn continuously were their instructional needs, interests and ideals of teaching.

 

Keyword：elementary expert teacher, professional expertise, professional development, process of expertise

  • Professional Development Schools： Rationale, Practice, and Implication

    Chih-lin Sun*

     

    Improving professional education for teachers is needed in order to successfully reform schooling. Fundamental change in professional education requires educational partnerships between schools and universities. The professional development school (PDS) represents a strategy of utilizing partnerships to effect redesign of teacher education programs. However, the development of school/university partnerships is not a simple process. It requires dialogue and collaboration between two groups of professionals who come from different cultures. In order to build a successful PDS in educational reform, it is necessary to focus on delineating the characteristics of PDS and the process of its operation. This article explores the origins, concepts, purposes, and types of PDS. The development and implementation of PDSs in America are also briefly described. The article provides a basis for analyzing the contribution that the PDS offers for reforms of teacher education in Taiwan. It is suggested that PDSs can serve as catalysts for school restructuring and teacher education reform, and enhance the professional development for preservice and inservice teachers.

 

Keyword: professional development school, educational partnerships, teacher education reform

Jeng-jie Tsai*

 

During the last years of the Chin Dynasty and the early years of the Republic of China (1895-1928), how did the YMCA, a foreign religion group, struggle to develop its physical education careers and end up mastering the modern times Chinese physical education development, especially in China, a severe circumstance which has its overwhelming traditional superiority both in racial and cultural. For inquiry the causes, the author has obtained following conclusions by collecting and analyzing enormous historical records and documents:

1.The time background of “utilize foreign advantages to fight them back”, and the moment of “save the country from destructions”, made felicitous conditions for YMCA to develop and carry on its physical education careers.

2.Strict organizational structures ensured the YMCA to develop its physical education careers substantively and in a highly efficient way.

3.Outstanding human resources, settled a firm foundati on for future prosperity of the YMCA physical education careers.

4.Healthy relationships with the political authorities, made free and favorable circumstances for the expansions of the YMCA careers.

 

Keyword: Physical education; YMCA

  • A Study on New Notations in Taiwanese Solo Piano Works since 1950

    Shu-mei Yang*

     

    One of the compositional techniques in the 20th century is using the existing musical materials to create new sound effects. Before knowing a piece of 20th century music, it is helpful for most music learners and researchers to study the types of these new notations and their corresponding performance interpretation.

The term “special effects” in piano playing refers to those untraditional playing methods, which involve playing inside or outside the piano, or those techniques combining other instruments or objects to produce various desired special sounds. Examples include the tone cluster, harmonics, the glissando or pizzicato inside the piano, and silent depression of keys. (Other instruments, pedals and vocal are not included in these articles)

Fifty-two pieces of piano works of twenty-three Taiwanese composers, dating from 1960 to 1999, were selected for this study. Among them only forty-five pieces of music were finally chosen. Basing on the nature of notations used, each piece was analyzed and assigned one or more types among ten basic categories of notations. In order to show the basic interpretation of each category, each piano piece is described using five related items: the explanation of symbols, register, fingering, performance, and acoustic.

This study concludes that, starting from the 1960’s, Taiwanese composers began to develop new notations in piano music. This practice grew and became even more proliferated in the 1980’s.

 

Keyword: new notations, special effects, Taiwanese piano music, Taiwanese composers

  • A Study on Prospective Teachers’ Knowledge in the Domain of Multiplicative Structure

    Ing-jye Chang*

     

    The purpose of this study is to set up an evaluation model in order to evaluate the prospective teachers’ mathematical and pedagogical content knowledge in the domain of multiplicative structures. The study was conducted in two steps. Initially, 417 seniors at one teachers’ college were given the written test. After completing the written test, thirty seniors, selected from eight departments in three different major groups, were interviewed. The reliability of the written test was determined as .81 (coefficient Alpha).

These mathematics knowledge profiles indicated that the prospective teachers were not ready for teaching. Their level of pedagogical understanding was unacceptably low (35% correct). The mean score (80% correct) on the test of mathematical content knowledge was better but not completely satisfactory. The findings showed that the prospective teachers were lacking in diagnostic teaching and remediation teaching, suggesting they were not able to represent appropriately their teaching methods using a wide variety of models. They were not willing to prove their formula, and applied incorrect mathematical knowledge to solve problems. Their explanations relied on procedural approaches, rather than a pedagogically oriented understanding.

There were significant differences between the different major groups in the mathematical content knowledge (F = 46.03, df = (2, 409)) and the pedagogical content knowledge (F = 21.74, df = (2, 409)). As a whole, the mathematics majors performed the best among all of the three groups. The education majors did better than the art majors on all the tasks except for remediation teaching.

 

Keyword: Prospective teacher, Teachers’ knowledge, Multiplicative structure

The result shows that the students applied their knowledge of integer to deal with the problems of fraction and they regarded numerator and denominator as separate numbers. This phenomenon was evident in students’ problem solving strategies. When judging the problems of equal-sharing, they only noticed the number of parts but neglected to judge if each part was equal. Students were confused by the unit terms of unit and content. Middle-graders tended to take the whole content as unit. When the remainder needed to be divided, students added or deducted the content to make the content divisible by integer. Many students compared numerator and denominator separately instead of comparing them as an amount when comparing fractions. Besides, the research also found that the connection between half and one half was not held very solidly by middle-graders.

This research will bring up some suggestions for the material, teaching, evaluation and future research on fraction teaching in elementary school.

 


Keyword: equal-sharing, simple fraction, unit, equal-quantity, equivalence fraction

  • Is Math Ability Beneficial to Performance in College Computer Science Programs?

    Tai-sheng Fan & Yi-ching Li*

     

    The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between math ability and academic performance. Students enrolled in five universities providing computer science programs were surveyed. A total of 940 valid questionnaires were collected, 796 males and 144 females. The results showed that performance of math courses taken both at high school and college level related significantly to the average score of core courses taken at the college computer science programs (CS-MAJOR, r > .38, p < .001). Average score of college math courses (C-MATH) was also found to significantly relate to performance in introductory computer science course (CS-INTRO) as well as average score of computer science core courses(r > .35, p < .001). The benefit of math ability to academic performance in college computer science programs was confirmed in this study.

However, correlation coefficient found between math score obtained in College Entrance Exam (CEE-MATH) and performance in college math courses did not reach significant level. More surprisingly, CEE-MATH was found to negatively correlate to CS-INTRO and CS-MAJOR in most cases. As a result, using CEE-MATH as a sole mean for prediction of performance in college computer science programs is considered not appropriate. The results of this research can be used as a means for better advice for high school graduates in choosing college majors. It can also be used as an additional screening tool during the college admission process.


Keyword: Academic performance prediction, math ability, computer science education

This study revealed the following results. Most first grade teachers are female and under 5-year experience of service. The student numbers of each classroom are below 35. The Kang-Shang publisher provides half textbooks of mathematics in the Pingtung County. The first grade teachers complain that the curriculum doesn’t set enough time for mathematics teaching. Small group discussion is the main method to be used. The assessment turns to more multiform. Suggestions were provided to related education departments, in-service elementary teachers, textbook publishers and researchers for future studies.


Keyword: 9-year integrated curriculum, mathematics teaching

  • The Diagrams of Framework of Natural Resources Education for Junior High and Elementary Schools

    Huai-tzu Hsin & Tzy-lee Chang*

     

    This research is aimed to construct concise and clear diagrams, in which the teaching contents, methods and objectives of natural resources education are illustrated. The goal of this research is to help junior high and elementary school teachers enhance their competence for natural resources education (or environmental education) in the nine-year integrating curriculum. In addition to references to the method of concept mapping, the diagrams of the framework of natural resources education were designed on the basis of the outline of natural resources education which we drew up before and consulted from other materials. Since a diagram usually has better visual effects than words, the concise and clear diagrams designed in this work should easily be accepted by teachers and can be used as reference for preparing natural resources teachers. Moreover, since the diagrams in this work are inclusive of teaching contents, methods and objectives of natural resources, they can be used for comparison purpose for teachers to inspect and evaluate the amount and weight of their own design of teaching contents, strategies and objectives. In this way, teachers can obtain better teaching efforts by preventing themselves from teaching from partial information or memory. Furthermore, teachers are able to design a series of more complete teaching activities for natural resources education（or environmental education） by referring to the diagrams.


Keyword: Natural resources education, Diagrams of framework of natural resources education

  • A Study of Elementary Students’ “Scientific Attitudes” & “Attitudes toward Science”: From the Learning of Plants’ Growth

    Shih-chuan Lin & Hsiao-man Ho*

     

    This research paper purports to compare elementary students’ change of “scientific attitudes” and “attitudes toward science” before and after the plants’ growth activity designed by the researcher. Of students of different preference to the plants’ growth instruction, the research further analyzes their changes in “scientific attitudes. ” Dimensions to measure students’ “scientific attitudes” include flexibility, objectivity, relationship between cause and effect, curiosity and critical thinking. “Attitudes toward science” defines as the attitudes to plant activity. Qualitative and quantitative approaches take equal part in conducting this research. Pupils took the “Instrument for Measuring Elementary Students’ Scientific Attitudes” and “Attitudes Toward Planting.” T-test is applied to pupils’ performance before and after the instruction. Meanwhile, students’ portfolio and teacher’s journal, observation and interview are other important data for collection. The results showed that: 1. After the plants’ growth activity, both boys’ and girls’ “attitudes toward science” upgrade. 2. After the plants’ growth activities, pupils’ variation in “scientific attitudes” stay unchanged, girls’ “scientific attitudes” are boosted, but boys’ “scientific attitudes” in flexibility and objectivity turn out to recede. 3. A learner-friendly teaching activity motivates students’ involvement and thereby enhances pupils’ “scientific attitudes” and “attitudes toward science”.


Keyword: scientific attitudes, attitudes toward science, the learning of Plants’ Growth

Hsiao-tseng Keng & Chan-chai Hsiao*

 

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of a teaching model, Concept Mapping with Dynamic Assessment (CMDA), on the processes of conceptual changes observed from 6th graders. The characteristics of concept mapping and dynamic assessment were explored based on the Constructivism perspective. Subjective sampling was used to select the participants in this study. Direct observations were conducted in a class consisting of 28 students who, in general, were active in group discussions. 8 students from this class were interviewed individually three times. The data gathered from observations and interviews were analyzed qualitatively. The findings were summarized as follows: A. The Teaching Model of CMDA B.The Misconceptions of “the Earth’s Motion” Preoccupying Elementary Students C. The Conceptual Changes of the Participants While Applying CMDA D. The Conclusions of Applying CMDA in the Classroom

 

Keyword：CMDA, concept mapping, dynamic assessment, conceptual change,

  • Creative Thinking in Elementary and Secondary Science and Life-Technology Curriculum

    Chi-jui Lien & Yu-ling Lu*

     

    This study used literature review and content analysis to analyze the creative thinking related contents of the nine-year integrated curriculum in science & life-technology domain. Based on this analysis, this study provides information for curriculum developers and science teachers in developing more creativity-oriented curriculum and teaching. Suggestions for elementary and secondary science & life-technology teaching are also proposed to prepare more creative individuals.


Keyword: nine-year integrated curriculum, science & life-technology, creative thinking, curriculum analysis

  • The Design of a Multi-Situated Teaching Module on the Topic of the Temperature-Volume Relationship of Air

    Jin-yi Chang*

     

    A unit on the temperature-volume relationship of air was provided as a concrete example to illustrate the characteristics of a multi-situated teaching module. Eleven teaching activities are included in this unit, and they are arranged in an order from fundamental observation of phenomena to the establishment of concepts and then to the application of concepts to problem solving. Bruner’s spiral curriculum conception and the theory of situated learning were combined as the rational of this module. The teaching activities had been conducted to some elementary students in Taipei area, and the experimental results showed that, by the detailed explanation of the teaching activities, the participants of this research realized how the ideas of learning by playing.

 

Keyword: the Temperature-Volume Relationship of Air, Multi-Situated Teaching Module, Learning by Playing, Spiral Curriculum, Situated Learning.

  • A Case Study of an Elementary Teacher’s Conceptions of the Nature of Science into Practical Teaching

    Jan-jong Liou & Chao-ti Hsiung*

     

    The purpose of this study, mainly through an elementary science teacher’s (Mrs. Lee) conceptions and practical teaching, explored the effectiveness of the self-designed curriculum based on the nature of science. Techniques such as classroom observations, interviews, Kelly’s repertoire grid, and document analysis, were widely applied in this study, as well as the questionnaires needed for collecting more data. Results showed that the Mrs. Lee’s conceptions of the nature of science inclined to constructivist’s perspective. Firstly, regarding to the dimension of the nature of science methods, she indicated that (1) the beginning of science research was initiated from raising questions, (2) multi-ways to solve problems, (3) emphasis on hypothesis formulation, (4) decreasing the errors from each experiment. Secondly, as the nature of science knowledge, she described it as experimental, temporary, replicable, and as becoming public knowledge. Thirdly, for the dimension of the nature of science enterprise, she believed that there was close relationship between science and life, and focused on the cooperative discussion among community. Mrs. Lee put all three conceptions into the science planning and classroom instruction. The study also provides the conclusions and suggestions for curriculum and instruction, educational administration and further research, and also functions as a valuable reference for the study on science education reform.

 


Keyword: the nature of science, elementary science teaching

  • The Acceptance and Implementation of Affective Education Theory－A Case Study of an Elementary-School Science Teacher

    Chow-chin Lu*

     

    The aim of this paper was to explore an elementary-school science teacher who used observed research to infuse affective education ideas into science teaching, which implemented by means of the cooperative action research. Under the qualitative research, collected the records of science activities from the individual teacher, teaching diaries, students' notes, interview and observers' diaries, etc. A three-year period research focused on the exploration and analysis of teachers' acceptance in affective education, edited the contents of curriculum, interaction between teachers and students, and reconstruction of teacher's role. The results revealed that the individual teacher gratefully accepted the strategy of affective education infused into science class. Besides enacted in own behaviors, also adopted the sensational and rational coordinative integrated theories of affective education, and edited the curriculum contents of STS teaching theories. The main model of teaching was to conduct students' thoughts by inquiring questions and coordinated with the formative assessment to clarify students' viewpoints about value judgment. The research also found the individual teacher's difficulties and engaged efforts. This case research hopefully will offer elementary school science teachers with a concrete teaching paradigm, which shows how to improve students' thoughts and accept affective education.


Keyword: Cooperative action research, The sensational and rational coordinative integrated theories, Natural science teaching

  • A Study on Creativity and Critical Thinking of Earth Science Instruction in Teachers College

    Ching-san Lai*

     

    The purpose of this study is to explore the outcomes of preservice teachers’ creativity and critical thinking on earth science instruction in a Teachers College. Qualitative methods are used in this study. There are four preservice teachers participating in this study. The results of this study are stated as follows: 1.For preservice teachers, creativity and critical thinking are teachable. 2.The instructional activities and strategies used in this study do improve preservice teachers’ creativity and critical thinking. 3. The instructional strategies of critical thinking also help preservice teachers in clarifying their science concepts.


Key words：creativity, critical thinking, teacher education, science instruction

  • Analysis and Dynamic Simulation for Paper Feeding Mechanism of Printer

    Su-jen Huang & Cheng-shun Chen*

     

    The purpose of this research is to investigate the dynamics of a paper feeding mechanism. The research employs a mechanical system simulation software (ADAMS) to study the bending stiffness of paper and the motion of paper moving through the paper feeding mechanism of printer.

In this study, five types of design with different angle of feeding guide are used to simulate the motion behavior of paper. Important outputs like displacement of front edge of paper, contact force are summarized and supposed to be useful for determining design crucial parameters to ensure printer quality.


Keyword：printer, dynamic simulation, ADAMS.

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