Journal of Educational Practice and Research

Standards-based Unit Design: The Experiences of Middle School Teachers

Hsiu-Lien Lu

This study examines middle school teachers’ experiences of learning standards-based unit design. Ten middle school teachers who received a series of four-day 32-hour three-stage workshops on standards-based unit design participated in the study. The collected data for this study includes field notes, informal conversations, learning reflections, lesson designs, and semi-structured individual interviews. Results indicate that the teachers valued the importance of deconstructing standards, which helped them break the tradition of teaching by the textbooks. This first learning stage was filled with agony but they walked away with a sense of achievement. In the stage of designing learning assessments, the teachers were convinced that performance assignments promote students’ learning motivation, positive learning outcomes, and help evaluate the attainment of learning objectives. The difficulty level of performance assignment design is determined by the attributes of each subject. Furthermore, they believed that rubrics are objective and effective student learning data collection tools. In the stage of developing learning activities, the teachers were ascertained that learning activities designs should tie closely with standards and that developing learning activities was the easiest stage. Finally, this study recommends that in addition to teachers’ professional development, pre-service teachers need training on standards-based curriculum design to fulfill the curricular expectations of the Twelve-Year Basic Education.


Keyword：curriculum design, learning assessments, learning objectives, standards-based, the use of curriculum standards

Perceived Organizational Support, Collegiality, and Teacher Efficacy of Novice Social Studies Junior High School Teachers: The Problems They Faced and Solutions

I-Wen Huang & Chia-Wei Tang

This study aims to look into the relationship among novice social studies field teachers’ perceived organizational support, collegiality, and teacher efficacy in Junior High School context and their perception of the workplace challenges and corresponding solutions. The data was collected using interview and survey methods. Valid survey data was collected from 120 social studies teachers, among which 12 teachers were interviewed. The main findings can be summarized as follows: 1) Collegiality partially mediates the relationship between teachers’ perceived organizational support and teacher efficacy; 2) the challenges of novice social studies teachers are not the same as those of other subject areas teachers and it takes the school administration, novice teachers and their colleagues altogether to overcome the hurdles. Based on the findings, suggestions are provided for educational administration authority, school leaders, novice social studies teachers and for future studies.


Keyword：collegiality, novice teachers of social studies, perceived organizational support, teacher efficacy

Longitudinal Study of Economically Disadvantaged Student´s Learning Attitude and Academic Performance

Chin-Wen Liao & Po-Wen Cheng

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between learning attitude, academic performance, and developmental changes in economically disadvantaged students. Using a longitudinal approach, panel sample data were collected from 1,265 financially disadvantaged students within the Taiwan Database of Children and Youth in Poverty (TDCYP) in three waves: 2009, 2011, and 2013. Data analysis was performed using the autoregressive cross-lagged model (ARCL) and the latent growth curve model (LGCM). Results are as follows: 1) In the ARCL model, there was mutually influential relationship between learning attitude and academic performance. 2) The initial state of learning attitude could forecast the growth rate of learning attitude for economically disadvantaged students. 3) There was a causal relationship between learning attitude and the effects of academic performance. The initial state and growth rate of learning attitude exerted significantly positive effects on the initial state and growth rate of academic performance. The study provides suggestions based on the results.



Keyword：academic performance, economically disadvantaged, learning attitude, longitudinal study

Learning from Students: A Case Study of How Teachers Construct Their Knowledge of Content and Students

Yu-Ting Hung

Under the impetus of the 12-Year Basic Education Curriculum, increasing attention has been devoted to its goals, which include taking initiative, engaging the public, and seeking the common good. Urgent discussion is required regarding the ways in which teachers should construct their knowledge of teaching content and students (KCS) to accommodate different multicultural subjects in class and allow for individualized learning in order to achieve the goals above. This research entailed a two-year case study that delved deep into a professional learning community (PLC) of teachers at a junior high school ninth grade class in New Taipei City. The researcher investigated how teachers construct KCS through participatory observation, intensive interviews, and literature analyses. The study found that teachers ‟listened” to students´ dialogues repeatedly throughout the learning process, and that both parties could gradually understand teaching and learning. The teachers connected all the information related to the students´ learning context through a systematic process, which consisted of design, doing, diagnosis, and decision-making. Three main conclusions, which can hopefully serve as references for teachers, are as follows: 1) KCS can help teachers provide more accurate scaffold for learning; 2) Teachers must listen in order to outline KCS; and 3) evidence of student learning is an important medium for constructing KCS.


Keyword：case study, knowledge of content and students, learning from students

The Influences of Personality Traits, Social Capital, and Creativity on the Entrepreneurial Intentions of Tourism Students on a Remote Island

Chao-Tung Liang, Hsueh-Ti Chuang, & Chaoyun Liang

The current study investigated the influence of personality traits, social capital, and creativity on the entrepreneurial intentions of students on the Penghu Island, Taiwan and the study also examined the mediating effects of student creativity. The research participants were students from the tourism programmes of National Magong High School and National Penghu University of Science and Technology. Valid survey data were collected and analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. The results indicated that the originality type of creativity, bridging social capital, and trait openness were the factors most strongly affecting entrepreneurial intention. Whereas the originality type of creativity possessed the overriding mediating effect, the usefulness type of creativity had a significant effect on entrepreneurial preparation. As ecotourism flourishes and more young people consider entrepreneurship, identifying effective methods for strengthening the entrepreneurial intentions of students has become a crucial objective of talent development. The complex interactions between the variables used in the current study as well as their synthesised effects could have critical implications for the instructional strategies and guidance interventions for local education institutions and for industrial policies and entrepreneurial incentives offered by the local government.


Keyword：creativity, entrepreneurial intentions, personality traits, remote island tourism, social capital