Title:	APPLYING SOCIAL NETWORKING TOOLS TO ELEMENTARY LEARNING: TYPHOONS AS THE THEME OF AN INTEGRATED CURRICULUM UNIT
Author(s):	Hsu-Wan Chen
ISBN:	978-972-8939-31-1
Editors:	Piet Kommers, Tomayess Issa and Pedro Isaías
Year:	2010
Edition:	Single
Keywords:	Curriculum Integration, Social Networking Tools, Elementary School Education
Type:	Short Paper
First Page:	257
Last Page:	261
Language:	English
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Full Contents:	click to dowload
Paper Abstract:	Typhoons are one of the natural disasters which are common during the summer and fall in Taiwan. Last August, the typhoon Morakot smashed Taiwan. It has not only been a tragedy to all of Taiwanese people, but also shocked the international media. Thus, to recognize typhoons, to understand related knowledge and how to minimize the effects of typhoons, become important in children’s learning. On the other hand, social networking tools are popular among the young generation because of the sense-of-community. They are able to be implemented in educational settings with the characteristics of user-generated-content, convenience for sharing, flexibility, real-time interaction and simple connectivity. Since the Grade 1-9 Curriculum Guidelines have been implemented in Taiwan, there are more lesson plans of curriculum integration being implemented. However, most of the previous works which are related to typhoons focus on the natural science part. In this article, typhoons as the theme of an integrated unit are proposed as an example. In various subject areas, including science, social studies, language, art and music, the learning goals are presented. Each of them is practical in children’s daily lives. In addition, the procedure, structure, and linked areas are proposed. A curriculum integration approach to this unit aims at cultivating students’ abilities of critical thinking and perceptions toward everyday situations. Besides, it is expected that children will be more aware of their communities and engage more in place-based learning.
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