Visiting Taiwan scholar introduces social interaction learning tools to U.S.

When elementary school children go to the park on a class field trip they can learn the facts about the local birds, animals and ecology through observation and discussion. But new learning tools under development by the Research Center for Science and Technology for Learning (CL) the Taiwan home base for visiting scholar, Ben Chang, may offer a deeper, richer and more meaningful learning experience by engaging students in a new level of study.

With a grant from the Taiwanese Ministry of Education and National Science Council, CL is developing tools to foster active social learning, the learning that takes place through activities and social interaction with classmates and teacher. Under CL’s model, elementary school children will experience school activities in a new way.

One example of how the tools change learning can be seen on a bird watching field trip in which Chang participated with Professor Yuh-Shyan Chen at National Chung Cheng University.

“First, the student finds a bird,” explains Chang from his office on the fourth floor research laboratory of Wallenberg Hall where he is studying for one year. “If this were the traditional field trip you would look at the bird and you can do nothing. But with a laptop computer for your use, you do very much. You can take a photo, you can try to find out on the web what kind of bird it is by searching databases, you can read about how the bird eats and behaves, you can have a discussion over it while you are looking at it, you can even watch a video of it.”

Students participating in the active social model of learning appear to be much more engaged, and to understand and remember what they have learned because they have experienced it, he says.

Based on this belief, Taiwanese researchers have developed a system of learning technology that uses EduCities (schools linked by interactive computers offering activities and online communities), EduTowns (individual schools) , EduVillages (classrooms), and EduCitizens (individual students).

So far more than 30 professors from across Taiwan have joined in the multi-disciplinary research aimed at developing a broad system that can eventually be employed by schools at all levels.

One of the unique aspects of Chang’s vision is that students and classrooms can begin creating curriculum in a bottom-up model, rather than relying on the typical top-down model in which curriculum is produced by educators and trickles down to students.

“If you are a student living in San Francisco, for example, you may have classmates who do not know much about San Francisco,” says Chang. “We can ask students to make a movie about what they are feeling about the city or the culture. If each student has a computer and a camera, they can make a movie about anything. You can then bring the video to class and discuss it with the teacher and other students. Maybe you talk about why is the air quality bad? Is it because of pollution? Students can learn by producing content.”

By obtaining inexpensive laptops for every student, Chang hopes, such projects become possible and beneficial to all.

During his year at Stanford, Chang hopes to introduce his team’s research to U.S. educators and researchers, and to collaborate on further development of the idea of active social learning.

For more information: www.cl.ncu.edu.tw

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