The Construction of an “Affective Education” Curriculum for Fourth-Grade Taiwanese Students

Author: Ya-Jane Chuang(Dept. of Early Childhood Caring and Education, Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology),Kuo-Nan Mao(Dept. of Educational Psychology and Counseling, National Taiwan Normal University)

Vol.&No.：Vol. 51, No.2
Date：October 2006
Pages：121-146
DOI：10.3966/2073753X2006105102006

Abstract：

The purposes of this study were: (1) to design a curriculum for fourth-grade students based on the “affective” approach to education, that is, a curriculum which will stimulate an optimistic, positive attitude toward life and learning; (2) to use a qualitative method to analyze the effects of this affective curriculum on fourth-grade students and more specifically on the interaction between teachers and students. The subjects of the study were a group of fourth-grade students from one public primary school in Taipei County. The “teaching time” for the project was taken from students’ rest time and free periods. The researchers discussed what was going on in terms of affective interaction during the actual classes. The data were collected from observation, inventories, document analysis, and written, audio and video recordings. Using the qualitative method, the interactions between teacher and students could be observed and recorded in detail. The results of this study support the researchers initial assumption that we need a more affective and thus also effective, interaction-centered curriculum for fourth-graders in Taiwan. Suggestions for future research are also made here.

Keywords：positive emotions, action research, optimism

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