The Affiliated Experimental Elementary School of Taipei University
A Smart School Encouraging Thinking
【The leading expert of technology in the Affiliated Experimental Elementary School of Taipei University: Principal Qiu, Shi-Ming 】
| Education level： | Ph.D. in Education, National Taiwan Normal University |
| Experience： | |
| Director of Center for Teacher Education and Career Development in Taipei University Teacher and director in different elementary schools |
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| Current job： | |
| The Principal of the Affiliated Experimental Elementary School of Taipei University The Associate Professor in the Department of Education, Taipei University |
【A brief history of the development of the Affiliated Experimental Elementary School of Taipei University: “A Smart School Encouraging Thinking”】
| 2010 | Winner of the “2010 Team of Innovative Applications of Fusing Information Technology with Teaching” Ministry of Education” held by the Ministry of Education |
| 2011 | Established two e-backpack smart classrooms |
| 2012 | Established two more e-backpack smart classrooms and eight smart classrooms |
| 2012 | Winner of the “Team of Innovative Applications of Fusing Information Technology with Teaching” Ministry of Education” held by the Ministry of Education |
| 2014 | Established seven smart classrooms |
| 2015 | Received 270 tablets for learning subsidized held by the Department of Education, Taipei City Government |
| 2016 | Winner of the “Team of Innovative Applications of Fusing Information Technology with Teaching” Ministry of Education” held by the Ministry of Education |
| 2017 | Elected as the model school for teachers’ professional development held by the Ministry of Education in the school year 2016 |
| 2017 | Elected as the seeding school for the 2018cultivation program of digital learning in elementary school held by the Ministry of Education |
| 2017 | Established 14 more classrooms with e-whiteboard, expanding the school’s e-whiteboard rate to 84% |
| 2018 | Promote the certificate of application of teaching with “easy and wireless technology” |
| 2018 | The school has become the mainstay school of the Ministry of Education’s 12-year compulsory education and the research school collaborating with the National Academy for Educational Research |
| 2018 | Winner of the 2018 elaborate digital curriculum of the cultivation of digital learning in elementary school held by the Ministry of Education and became one of the five schools targeted for promotion |
【A researcher’s mindset is conducive to elaborate teaching; the community of professional teachers embraces prosperous development】
As a research school, the Affiliated Experimental Elementary School of Taipei University is tasked with acting pursuant to the government’s education policies and trends. The mission of the school is to conduct relevant experiments and researches with the principle “teaching is researching” in its mind and fulfill the exalted idea of education with researches on actual teaching scenarios.
With the “flying-geese model” and “learning organization” as its base and “the research attribute of the affiliated school” as its core, the teaching team of the school conceives a unique team development model called the “flying-geese golden triangle learning dynamics,” which creates a perpetual cycle and dissemination of “elaborate teaching and learning” via “research and develop,” “practice,” “reflection,” and “re-innovation.”
Brainstorming with peers and conduct research to make teaching more systematic.
Model teachers share their teaching skills to enhance teachers’ teaching effectiveness.
Develop a community of teachers dedicated to professional learning to develop novel materials and curriculums together.
【A smart school encouraging thinking】
The cornerstone of all learning is the “ability to think,” which is also the crux of elevating the students’ ability to learn. The school develops its courses and teaching around the core of “enlightening the students’ ability to think” and uses technologies to create the best learning results. The picture below is our developmental structure:
Picture 2: The developmental structure of the Affiliated Experimental Elementary School of Taipei University: “A Smart School Encouraging Thinking”
The meaning of the developmental structure of the smart school encouraging thinking is elaborated as follows:
I. The teacher teaches with the core of “deep interaction”
We develop a teaching that resorts to the core of “deep interaction” in the smart school encouraging thinking, use technologies only to “fulfill the needs of leaning,” make judicious use of “smart technologies,” and develop smart teaching models.
Model of e-backpack classroom
Model of TBL
II. Learning that targets at the “high-level thinking” for students
In the smart school encouraging thinking, “the student” is the main part of learning, and we are trying to create learning that targets at the “high-level thinking” for students. Starting from this perspective, technologies should only be used to “create meaning” and become one of the best tools for students to practice “organization,” “representation,” and “re-innovation.” An example of this is that when the school develops a curriculum that involves an interdisciplinary theme, we ask the students to play the role of the “ambassador of the historic Taipei City.” They are required to conduct investigations to find out what backpackers really need and be the real problem solvers. To resolve these hassles for the real subjects, they have to integrate knowledge and abilities they acquired from different subjects and wisely use new technologies such as “AR and 3D printing” to try to design and create things. In the end, we put together their creations and come up with “the e-map of the historic Taipei City: Easy Go” that can be used by backpackers in real scenarios.
Echoing with the spirits of Taiwan’s 12-year compulsory education that entail “taking the initiative,” “engaging the public,” and “seeking the common good,” we allow students to integrate the abilities of “diverse thinking,” “systematic organization,” “innovative application,” and “real life practice” in real scenarios via interdisciplinary themed learning, the use of new technologies, and teamwork. Our goal is to cultivate a world citizen who is “initiative in learning, capable of deep thinking, a great team worker, brave enough to take actions, and equipped with knowledge of humanities and culture.”
Picture 3: “Serial course in the little traveler of the historic Taipei City” that entails new technologies
III. The three-tier promotion strategy of the smart school encouraging thinking
【Socrates: Smart class observation and lesson discussion】
Under Principal Fang, Hui-Qin’s technological leadership, the school has gradually metamorphosed into a “smart school encouraging thinking.” Integration is made possible with the school’s “technology cloud” and teachers can collaborate and share stuff with each other by “developing the teachers’ platform for lesson preparation.” There is also a “model comprising highly interactive classroom scenarios combined with TBL” in place that will add vibrancy to teachers’ teaching and make it more elaborate. We, teachers, are now capable of precisely and quickly tracking students’ learning results with the auxiliary, systematic, and analytic help form the “multifaceted evaluation system” and “analytic and diagnostic system.”
With the upcoming promotion of the program called “a thousand teachers make millions of talents”, the school will spread the seed of “using technologies judiciously to increase students’ ability to think” to every corner of the campus.
