Marine education through cooperation: A case study of opportunity in a remote school in Taiwan

Abstract

This case study of marine education, or ocean literacy education, took place in a remote and mountainous elementary school in Taiwan, in which students were well-acquainted with terrestrial reptiles and insects but knew little about the ocean. The authors were motivated to understand how students' knowledge of the marine environment could improve in a school with deficient resources, and whether curricula that would motivate students to learn on their own could be designed. Due to the compulsory mode of marine education in Taiwan, cooperation among formal and informal stakeholders is difficult but essential for successful teaching. This chapter reports the results of a marine education curriculum design and implementation study. The chapter begins with an introduction of the history of marine education in Taiwan and then proceeds with the combination of resources and professional staff needed to design curricula. Two specific curricula were designed and tested: One about sharks and the other about molluscs. Both these curricula included hands-on activities, integrated resources and were based on educational theories. After teaching on the basis of these curricula, descriptive statistical analysis and student interviews were made to assess the learning outcomes. The results show that the students improved their knowledge of the ocean and at the same time indicated that they were motivated to explore marine issues independently, at least for one curriculum design. These findings point to the learning opportunities that close cooperation between stakeholders for curriculum design open up for, especially for remote, small schools like the one examined in this case study.