Proceedings of the 3rd Teaching & Education Conference, Barcelona

ANALYSIS OF INDIGENOUS INFORMAL SCIENCE CAMP ON STUDENTS’ LEARNING

CHUN-FENG JOY LIN

Abstract:

The research aims to explore students’ learning interest and learning efficacy through a Informal Science Camp. The Informal Science Camp is a science camp designed for elementary school student with a culturally oriented focus. The Informal Science Camp intends to develop a culture-based link between indigenous culture and scientific knowledge, including mathematics, life science and technology, and also incorporate Indigenous culture and life. The research team had previously developed culture-based teaching curriculum for five different indigenous tribes, including Paiwan, Rukai, Amis, Bunun, and Yami (Tao). The team rewrote the teaching curriculums to incorporate them to become the content of the Informal Science Camp. Unlike one-way learning methods, students were able to explore their own ethnic culture, pass down indigenous wisdom, and discover science knowledge. In the process, researcher used assessments to understand students’ learning process and situational interest. The study is a 4-year project (2014-2017). The project aimed to implement 20 Informal Science at different elementary schools each year. The third year of the Indigenous Informal Science camp were carried out from August 2015 to April 2016. We had implemented the camp in 16 elementary schools, totaling 601 students (306 boys and 295 girls), 75 elementary school teachers, and 36 tribal elders. Among the 75 elementary school teachers, 69 are indigenous (23 Amis teachers, 18 Bunun teachers, 21 Paiwan teachers, 5 Rukai teachers, 1 Yami (Tao) teachers, and 1 Puyuma teachers). Paired t-tests were used to compare the situational interest, the exploration of science and learning efficacy of students both before and after the camp. We found significant difference in students’ situational interest, the exploration of science, and learning efficacy after participating in the Indigenous Informal Science camp. The favorite subjects were “Ocean and I” for Amis curriculum; “Paiwan Traditional Food” for Paiwan curriculum; “Super Hunter” for Bunun curriculum; and “the Cultue of Wood Carving Boats” for the Yami (Tao) curriculum.

Keywords: Informal education, Assessment model, Indigenous, Science education

DOI: 10.20472/TEC.2016.003.016

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