Establishment and Evaluation of Science Curriculum Development Principles for Taiwan Indigenous Peoples

Abstract

This study establishes science curriculum development principles based on Taiwan’s indigenous culture. The 30 curriculum development principles are divided into five dimensions, namely cognitive style, learning interest, learning effectiveness, local-based, and cultural response. This study verified the five dimensions and found that learning assessments for indigenous students should mainly consist of operation-style items with illustrations. The curriculum design should contain game-based learning activities, outdoor teaching activities, and personal experience expeditionary learning; the curriculum design should improve indigenous students’ confidence and self-worth. Finally, a responsive evaluation is performed on “energy,” “robot” and “metacognition and creativity” courses for students in higher grades. In terms of “course objectives,” the course plans reached standards and described clear course objectives; in terms of “teaching instructions,” the course plans were coordinated with teaching activities and strategies of teachers and learning activities of students; in terms of “acquisition courses,” the course plans were favored by students and most students believed that they were able to apply what they learned in life; in terms of “curriculum development,” school administration actively assisted with curriculum development. Therefore, the science curriculum development principles established by this study can serve as reference for teachers or research institutes hoping to develop science courses for indigenous students.