Can't have too much fun
What's so novel about field trips? Most primary school classes only go about once or twice a semester, whereas the experimental classes go once or twice a month if possible. And at the Forest and Caterpillar academies, the students are exposed to the outdoors on a routine daily basis. In the morning they study "the keys to civilization," including Chinese language, natural sciences, and mathematics. After lunch comes the free period. The pupils can cook, build things, do art work, learn film appreciation, practice piano, take photos.... they join in whatever they like.
Here a teacher has taken his students outside with hammer and saw to knock together a small wooden treehouse, missing only a roof. With the sun shining down, some of the kids, under the supervision of a teacher, go to a nearby stream to explore, catch fish, and look at the rock formations. In the unbearable heat, some of the kids just strip down and play in the water to their hearts' content.
Grades are not everything
In these experimental classes, the teachers do not consider grades to be the main object. As for who gets to be class leader or arts section leader, teacher Lin Pei-hsuan lets the children vote under a rotational system so that everyone gets a chance. These roles are not just the monopoly of those with the best grades, as in normal classes. "We do this to build self-confidence in all the kids."
The evaluation methods are also very different. Traditional pedagogy emphasizes giving numerical or letter "outcome evaluations." But the experimental classes stress "process evaluations." The number of traditional pen and paper exams is cut back to two or three a semester, or even none at all.
"If there are grades, then there will be competition," says Lin Hui-chen, principal at the Lung An Primary School. Written exams are of course convenient and immediately allow the student to know whether he or she has mastered the subject matter. The negative side is that students only care about regurgitating the correct response, and not about the thought process. "At the primary school level, it is more important that the student understand how to think than have the answer," she says.
With fewer written exams, the scope of evaluation is broader. For example, assignments are no longer limited to repeated writing of vocabulary, math problems, or compositions. Instead teachers design novel assignments such as "estimate how many kilos of garbage there are in your house," "write about the flora and fauna in your neighborhood," "do housework," "draw up a classroom design of your own invention," "decide which math lesson you know best, and which you still understand the least"....
Teachers no longer assign grades based solely on tests. Keeping your desk clean, showing concern for others, outside assignments, reports, dramatic performances, or class participation all are weighed in assigning a grade.
"Sometimes a child will say to me, 'Teacher, I didn't realize you kept an eye on those things too," says Lin Pei-hsuan. The hard part for the teacher in this grading process is to avoid emotional choices and subjective feelings. "The children don't care as much about the grades as they do about whether or not the teacher is fair," she adds.
Parent-teacher cooperation
New forms of education place more emphasis on parent-teacher cooperation than traditional forms do. Parents are encouraged to come to the school to see how the teacher performs, to make classroom props, or to accompany the class on field trips. There are parent-teacher meetings virtually every month, and frequent contacts between the two sides.
At the Lung An Primary School, students wanted to know how cream was made. One parent stepped forward to arrange a tour of the dairy factory where he worked. In another case, when the aboriginal dance company-which normally gets tens of thousands of NT dollars per show-performed at the Tatun School, they did so for free through the friendly mediation of a parent. And there are many parents who go to the school early in the morning to tell stories to the children....
Of course some parents don't agree with the overall scheme, and remain skeptical of these experiments. "Since when does playing all day count as learning?" wonders one adult. And teacher Lin Chiu-chin adds that whenever instructors give an untraditional assignment, parents think they are just playing games. One parent even charges that some parts of experimental education are just "excuses for lazy teachers. The teachers just let the kids play and don't have to do anything themselves."
As far as education experts are concerned, some of these concerns are too extreme. Hsu Hui-ming, a specialist in preschool education, says that children are in the "sensory stage" until about age six. Everything they learn is through stimulation of sight, hearing, touch, and so on. Beginning at age seven they can accept a bit of intellectual learning, but still the main sources of learning are through the stimulation they get from observing the environment, doing things themselves, and playing. "The important thing is that their environment be rich in resources, and that the teacher be adequately active," she suggests. Relatively open teaching methods definitely are more effective in this respect than traditional compulsory rote memorization.
There is still a long way to go for both parents and teachers on the road of experimental education. But there has been a start, the issues have been raised, and discussion is underway. Will these experiments be able to follow the road increasingly nearer to their ideal destination? Anyway, it will be a learning experience for all of us.
[Picture Caption]
p.19
(courtesy of the National Institute of Translation and Compilation)
p.20
The sun is shining, the stream water glistens. The older children join the younger, presenting a lovely picture of life at the Caterpillar School.
p.21
What's the difference?
(table by Jackie Chen)
p.22
It's no crime to emphasize grades; the only problem is that the system only emphasizes regurgitating memorized answers, not how to think.
p.23
In experimental classes, which focus on the experience of the student, the children are the core.
p.24
A child's learning is like building a house. After the foundation is firmly in place, you can build upward and outward.