Progressive Feedback in Tzu-Chi University, Taiwan

In Tzu-Chi University, the early educators have completed the final exhibition and sharing workshop 23 November 2018. This sharing exhibition of the project lasted for three weeks in front of university library., On 17th November was the final sharing workshop including 40 minutes of statistic report of observation and 3 hour oral presentations of development tasks(8 preschools presented), 1 hour of educational market (11 preschools presented), and one hour of river plan workshop. There were also parents bringing their child to try to activities in the educational market. The six oral reports were excellent in developing the curriculum, and educators said that they learned a lot from the project!

Taitung University cooperation

Professors Shu-Jane Chien ja Elaine Shih from the University of Taitung visited University of Helsinki in August. The students also accomplished a two-week practicum in Kerava at Lapila and Keravanjoki day care centres. We agreed to strenghten both the research and exchange cooperation in the future. Professor Nina Sajaniemi was invited to visit Taitung University to work out the details of the future research.

EARLI 2017 presentations

We have three presentation in EARLI 2017 conference 29 Aug – 2.Sep:

Enhancing Physical Activity in Taiwanese Early Childhood Education and Care Jyrki Reunamo, University of Helsinki, Finland; Li-Chen Wang, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan; Hui-Chun Lee, Tzu Chi University, Taiwan.

How to implement the observation strategies to raise the Quality of Early Childhood Education (ECEC) James Ko, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Jyrki Reunamo, University of Helsinki, Finland; Hui-Chun Lee, Tzu Chi University, Taiwan; Li-Chen Wang, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan; Hui-Hua Chen, National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan; Shu-Shuan Shih, Tzu Chi University, Taiwan.

Progressive feedback in Finnish Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Jyrki Reunamo, University of Helsinki, Finland; Li-Chen Wang, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan; Hui-Chun Lee, Tzu Chi University, Taiwan; Shu-Chuan Shih, National Taitung University, Taiwan; Hui-Hua Chen, Dong Hwa University, Taiwan.

Progressive feedback in Early Years

In Finland, Progressive feedback in Early Years is a project funded by the National Agency for Education. There are 12 municipalities participating in the project, which aims for sustainable development of ECE. We develop tools, measures and practices, with which we can get valid and reliable research results on Early Education activities.We also aim for data driven feedback for the educators and experts of Early Education. We have a conference describing the project and working out future plans 16 August, with some Taiwanese examples to share with the Finnish participants.

Taiwanese colleagues have arrived

Taiwanese researchers, teachers and students have arrived in Finland. They will be introduced to Finnish Early Education, day care centers, kindergarten teacher studies and research on the subject. Our colleagues also have produced new development models for their work and they are eager to discuss them with Finnish teachers. We have also done similar data collection in Finland and the comparison have resulted in a lot of interesting similarities and differencies across cultures. You can meet the Taiwanese colleagues, for example, at the Progressive feedback conference in 16th August in Helsinki.

Strenghtening ties

Cooperation between Finland and Taiwan has been strenghtening already for nine years. On Wednesday 2016.12.21 Da Ai Television reported about the cooperation between Tzu Chi University and University of Helsinki. Both partners have learned a lot from each other. The video includes inspirational examples of combining learning with physical activity. By the way, the tree house in the video has been build solely by the pre-school staff and children without any extra help. Building a strong and practical tree house is not an easy task as anyone who has tried to do it can tell! The video can be seen by clicking the link below.

Workshop in Taipei

taipeiworkshopThe workshop in Taipei on Sunday 20 November collected together the teachers, who had participated in the observation and data collection. The main content of the day was the sharing of teachers experiments and examples of their development models based on the research results. Many of the development tasks were related to outdoors and physical activity. Taipei is a cramped metropolitan, in where the pre-schools may not have a proper outdoor yard of their own. It was very inspiring to see creative solutions for fun and creative physical activity in constricted environment. Of the participating researchers were included, for example, Hui-Chun Lee (Tzu Chi University), professor Li-Chen Wang (Chang Gung University), professor Doris Cheng (Tung Wah Collegesta Hong Kong) and professor Karen Liu (Indiana State University). As an example, in Sanmin pre-school, the children go to the park every day. The group collects smiles from the people they meet in their way. They get smiles a lot! There were people waiting for the children to pass by. For example, a choir of senior citizens were waiting for the children and performed a song for the children. In the park the activities were fast, but the path to park and back took a long time, because there were so many familiar and unknown things to explore.

 

Yilan-Hualien area workshop

hualienworkshopThe workshop in Hualien on Saturday 19 November 2016 collected together the project early childhood educators participating in the data collection. The teachers presented examples from tree houses to using stumps in math. We also compared the Finnish and Taiwanese research results. In the workhop the teachers input, examples and sharing were essential. There were researchers from Taiwan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Turkey and Finland. Participating researchers included professoriHui-Chun Lee (Tzu Chi University), professor Li-Chen Wang (Chang Gung University), professor Doris Cheng (Tung Wah College of Hong Kong), professor Shu-Shuan Shih (Taitung University), professor Hui-Hua Chen (Dong Hwa University), Yeni Rachmavati (Pendidikan University), Mehmet Sahin (Dong Hwa University) and Wei-Chen Zhang (Dong Hwa University). The natural resources, Pacific Ocean, rivers, mountains, plants and animals give the pre-school settings a unique environment, which calls for respect and exploration. Thank you for the participants for a very inspiring day!

Plan – Act – Share

sharingIn Taiwan children spend time outdoors on average only 29 minutes a day and they are highly physically active only 23 minutes a day. In several pre-schools, the teachers have chosen as their development task increasing  both outdoor activities and physical activity. In the picture there is a map of the pre-school yard. Before children go out,  the map and outdoor possibilities are discussed with children to enrich children’s ideas. The time of outdoor activities has been extended from 30 minutes to one hour. Both children and teachers feel good. The weather is hot and the children sweat a lot! All teachers are outdoors together with children. After washing up children come indoors and the map is used again to deepen the experiences. In the photo, teachers of the group share their experiences with the teachers of other pre-schools and new ideas are developed. For example, the heavy rubber tiles that have been removed may not be thrown away, they can be used in building, math and exercise. The map can be left on floor for children to play and deepen their outdoor horizon.