Vol. 20-2（2007/9）
Shu-Ming Hsu & Lia-Hwa Lin
The purpose of this paper is to gain an understanding of the relationship between the concept of money and the consumption of the upper-grade elementary school students. Stratified and random sampling was used in this questionnaire study. The fifth and sixth graders in elementary schools in Taoyuan were the subjects of the study. The findings from this study included the following. First, male, sixth grade student, or the ones living in urban areas had improper concept of money. The second finding was that fifth graders from the rural areas who had less than NT$200 pocket money each month exhibited saving habits that manifest positive and reasonable consumption. Third, children who were less likely to show the dimensions of power, prestige and anxiety had positive and reasonable consumption, and they exhibited more sophisticated higher budget dimensions. The research findings could provide references for teachers to develop students’ proper concept of money and consumption.
Keyword：elementary school students, concept of money, consumption
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Integration of Taiwanese Memory Digital Photo Museum Into History Teaching in Elementary Education
Lin Ching Chen, Meei-Ling Horng, Ben Lung Li, Ya-Wen Pen
The purposes of this study were threefold: first, to develop an integrated digital archives curriculum in the social studies on the basis of Big6 model; second, to investigate students’ performance in history learning; and third, to investigate the possibility of application of Taiwanese Memory—the Digital Photo Museum—in the curriculum based on the viewpoints of teachers and students. The research results showed that most students had positive attitudes toward the integrated curriculum. They could share their family stories with the classmates, and learn more details about the past of their families and Taiwan. However, how to encourage students to develop inquiry learning attitudes, and how to help students overcome the presentation phobia demanded future efforts to improve the integrated curriculum. Furthermore, through the inquiry project of picture storytelling, students obtained historical time concept from 1895 to the present and understood the different traits regarding living styles among Taiwanese historical periods. Finally, some suggestions regarding the contents, media display, and interactive learning of The Taiwanese Memory were provided.
Keyword：digital archives, Big6 model, history teaching
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Junior High School Students´ Conception of Ecology and Environment
Ta-Sen Lin
The purpose of this study was to develop “The Test of Concepts in Ecology and Environment for Secondary School Students” and to investigate the junior high students’ conceptions of ecology and environment. This test was constructed based on related literature review, content analysis of textbooks, and interviews with high school students. This test and “The Test of Concepts of Bioenergetics” previously developed by the author were used in the study. 1735 students sampled from 50 classes in 16 junior high schools located in Chia-Nan area participated in this study. They all took the two aforementioned tests. Totally, 1702 questionnaires were complete. The data collected were computed basic statistics and analyzed with ANOVA and multiple regression to predict effects of environmental education by bioenergetics understanding, gender difference, and other backgrounds. Major results were as follows: first, there were significant differences in conceptions about ecological environment among the students with different genders, parents’ educational backgrounds and occupations, living environments, and school locations; second, the effects of environmental education could be predicted by bioenergetics understandings, gender, and other backgrounds; and third, .the students still had many alternative conceptions in ecological environment concepts after learning.
Keyword：ecology, environment, concept understanding, environmental education
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Accountability Control or Professional Development? A Dilemma of Faculty Evaluation in University
Chih-Lin Sun
Faculty evaluation in higher education is an issue of strong interest for different stakeholders, given its social, political, and legal implications. While the efforts for improving faculty performance have been made, the systems for assessing the quality of faculty on campus remain largely traditional. The credibility of faculty evaluation is one of the most precarious and sensitive problems. This study used the critical analysis approach to examine the practice of faculty evaluation system in the context of an education university. It focused on two different approaches to faculty evaluation: an accountability control approach and a professional development approach. It further compared their differences in evaluation theory and practice. A case study was used as the lens for understanding how evaluation was conducted, and for identifying the meanings given to the evaluation system. In addition, this study provided an alternative understanding of how decisions about faculty evaluation were made. Results from this study showed that school administrators adopted an accountability control approach to the evaluation of faculty in a climate of increasing control of faculty work and professional activities. That is to say, faculty evaluation cannot simultaneously serves as a mechanism of development and a tool of accountability. Thus, as institutional calls for college and university accountability continue, faculty evaluation systems need to be reexamined to see whether they can serve both to manage organizational performance and to enhance faculty development.
Keyword：faculty evaluation, accountability control, professional development
This action research study attempted to understand the transformative process and the teaching effect of applying the “fusion of horizons” to the curriculum of Life Education in a university classroom. In order to collect and analyze data for evidence, this study used two methods: circumstance observation and document analysis. In this course, the teacher transformed the conception of “fusion of horizons” into two essential concepts of “ground” and “vision” and put it into the teaching of Life Education to encourage students to apply it in their learning process. This study described five sequential stages for the teaching transformative process, including contextualization, concretization, activation, meaningfulness, and integration. Among these, “activation,” which linked the individual and teaching transformation, was found to be the key stage in this process. This showed that when students actively practiced the conception of “fusion of horizons” in their life, they reached a true understanding of it and experienced a real growth.
Keyword：life education, fusion of horizons, action research
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Jyh-Lung Tang & Ming-Fu Huang
This study aimed to analyze the correspondences between the special project courses in the universities and the need of industries in developing innovative abilities in the field of mechanics. Applying the method of field interviewing, this study targeted eight universities in southern Taiwan. This study investigated: the subjects of the courses and the application of the special projects, along with the types of products, innovative abilities, incubation methods, and teaching methods developed in the industry-university cooperation. The results of this study included the following. First, the special project courses in the universities tended to focus on the field of computerized simulation in automatic control. Second, the industry-university cooperation plays a crucial role in corresponding the demand and supply of mechanicial engineers. Third, the research team members of special project courses were mainly directed by the faculty of the universities. Fourth, it is necessary for both universities and industries to have evaluation tools to facilitate the use of innovative human resources demanded by the knowledge-based economy. These results further provided suggestions for courses to cultivate the innovative abilities of the industries and the students in the vocational and technical institutes.
Keyword：mechanic field, special project courses, domain creativity, innovative abilities
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Understanding as a Basis of Praxis:A Special Educator´s Self-Critique
Shu-Jung Liao
This paper begins with the stories about an eighth-grade autistic boy. Those connections and interests in his stories have led me to my work in writing, as an inquiry. It is that consideration of subjectivity that intrigues me. It provides the opportunities for me to enhance my understanding and further to consider how to shape my own pedagogical practices through critical reflection. I find the construction of school curricula cannot be understood without an understanding of how we acknowledge those students as whole human beings striving to learn how to live in the world as well as to gain knowledge in the classroom. These students’ individuality needs to be esteemed. This paper thus attempts to provide an organic view to examine the meaning construction process of teachers and students who work together.
Keyword：inquiry, critical reflection, understanding
