Yesterday, Carol and I visited the Experimental Elementary School Affiliated with the National Chiayi University of Taiwan. Attached are a number of pictures from our visit. Prof. Jean Chen is working with teachers (grades 3-6) and an “information literacy teacher” in a study of Big6 learning.
There are about 1,100 students, K-6 in a large, very impressive facility. The classrooms are large with LCD projectors from the ceiling connected to desktop computers. (However, we only saw one teacher—the information literacy teacher—use the classroom computer). There is an impressive computer lab, a very large library (staffed by parent volunteers), large playground facilities, a planetarium, and a celestial observatory.
Besides the facility, the main thing that struck us as how happy and engaged the students were! We visited a number of classrooms grades 1-6. The students were all smiles and very attentive. Many were studying Chinese, and the students were eager to participate, often being called on to present or write on the whiteboard. The school day is a long one by US standards – from 8am to 4:30pm. We were told that elementary students are very happy to go to school, but as students progress to junior high school and beyond, the pressure mounts to perform on tests.
In terms of curriculum, we were told that the emphasis in most schools is on content learning—leading to the national exams for high school and later university. This doesn’t leave much time for inquiry or project-based learning. In this school however, due to its connection to Chiayi University, the students do learn the Big6 and engage in some projects.
We observed a 6th grade class taught be the information literacy teacher. Although the class was in Chinese (which we don’t speak), it was clear that she was a terrific teacher—easily relating to the students, getting them involved, and excellent in teaching the Big6 in depth. The lesson was on Synthesis—to help the students to write their reports now that they have completed stages 1-4. The students participated very willingly and seemed quite knowledgeable.
The teacher started by having the students critique a concept map (on the Wright brothers) that one of the students did. The students discussed ways that the map could be expanded and restructured. This is an excellent example of engaging in Evaluation – 6.2 –not at the end, but during an assignment. I realized that we teachers need to do this more often—to have students reflect on various aspects of their work while they can still make changes. This is formative Evaluation, not summative Evaluation.
After the students reflected on the concept maps, the teacher moved to a discussion of the various parts of writing their reports—the introduction, organization of the content, and particularly the conclusion. Prof. Chen explained to us that the teacher was asking what should be in the conclusion—helping the students to realize that they must first summarize the facts of their report before giving their opinions. After the lesson, the students began working on their writing.
We had a chance to talk with a smaller group of students about the Big6 and what they were doing. I asked them about their projects—their topics and what was the hardest part of the process. A few mentioned Information Seeking Strategies, but most felt it was Synthesis. One boy commented that he had too much information. I shared that the best way to deal with that was to go back to Task Definition and narrow his task. With the help of a translator, I explained some options in narrowing. I also discussed types of sources. The students said that they preferred to use the Internet, but when I asked about accuracy, they said they were aware that you couldn’t always trust the sources. I followed by asking “then how do you get good information?” They answered that you needed to find more than one source and compare the results. Needless to say, we were very impressed!
It was clear to me that these students learned a great deal about the process of information problem-solving and specific Big6 skills. Because the emphasis in Taiwan is on memorization and content testing, it would be very interesting to see if the Big6 problem-solving learning transfers to performance on the tests or other assessments.
All in all, it was a very special visit, and we greatly appreciated the hospitality and having the chance to observe students and teachers first-hand.
Afterwards, we headed to Chiayi University for a session with faculty and graduate students. Then, on to Tai-Chung and the China Medical University for a presentation on the Big6 in higher education. I hope to report on both of these in the near future.
Mike Eisenberg
Dec 7, 2007
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