Making a pair of chopsticks from Taiwan cypress wood

To put into consideration both environmental and cultural experience, I think chopsticks will be the best representation. Chopsticks are shaped as pairs of equal length sticks that have been used as the eating utensil in Chinese history for at least two thousand years. Especially, we could use local-grown wood to make chopstick to highlight our “environmental protection” and “maker” specialties.

We help students participate in international exchange.

Rainwater harvesting system

To reply Global Warming and Climate Change, we built a Rainwater Harvesting System four years ago. The system can save 15 tons of rainwater to irrigate butterfly flowers and host plants. (Reference: https://ecodaping.blogspot.tw/2015/07/us-taiwan-eco-campus.html) Therefore the garden is rich in butterfly diversity. According to our investigation, there are about 40 kinds of butterfly on the campus.

Butterflies will come when flowers in efflorescence. 

Signing on the World Map drawn by students

The world map is drawn by children and teachers. In the start, children draw crisscross grids on the wall. Then they outline each continent and each country on earth. The next step is to color each country (Reference: https://ecodaping.blogspot.tw/2015/12/blog-post.html). Finally, we stamp our palm and foot prints on the wall. I really appreciate my coworker, Teacher Liu, who is the artistic director for the world map. We give the map a name: “Keep the world in Daping”. By the way, the maps of Taiwan and Miaoli County are drawn by me.

Signing on the World Map drawn by students

Return to the forest

In the presentation, I talk about the idea: Return to the forest!  Thus I focus on our environmental education curriculum including three pathways: water, energy and biodiversity. In addition, I also outline how we interact with partner school, Tequesta Trace Middle School.

We are in the center of a big forest.

國際接軌─美國生態學校師長蒞臨

在我任期屆滿前，105年7月13日（三）這一天，終於「把大坪的孩子送上國際舞台」！這幾個身份弱勢的孩子落落大方地教導美國教師製作環保原木筷，孩子們表現真是超棒的！過去一年我們的國際交流方式包括有i-Earn社群、E-mail、Blog等資訊媒介，再加上專題動手作的航空包裹，這次夥伴學校教師來訪，讓孩子有機會與美國人真實互動。

羅主任指導的節令鼓隊

GIS on the wall

The world map is drawn by children and teachers. In the start, children draw crisscross grids on the wall and then they outline each continent and each country on  earth. The next step is to color each country. (Reference: https://ecodaping.blogspot.tw/2015/12/blog-post.html)

Stamp our palm and foot prints

The Hakka style chopstick set

We are all excited to hear that the U.S.-Taiwan eco-campus partnership delegation will come to visit our school. That’s an international exchange for environmental education. What kind of environmental lesson should we prepare for them?

The Hakka style chopstick

Hakka sachet

This is a hands-on project of Taiwan culture. The project is a reply to the “Folk Art Project” of Tequesta Trace middle school in Florida, our partner school in USA. It’s also a pathway of Maker Education in Daping elementary school.

Handmade Hakka sachet

小校如何轉型？

家長們對於小校整併的政策強力反彈，我可以理解；然而將這樣的情緒遷怒給「4年多來傾心照顧與教導他們子女的校長、主任」，實在是令人訝異！也不經讓人質疑，家長訴求的「兩年轉型」如何落實？轉型實驗教育，除了家長的力量，更需要全體教師有共識，據我了解，老師們也未受到這方面的徵詢。

苗栗縣三灣鄉大坪國民小學

Opening presents!

Our partner school, Tequesta Trace middle school in Florida, sent a package to us on April 8. Our partner teacher guided her students to complete a folk art project. This is really a big surprise because all presents we received were done by handmade. What is the folk art project? Maybe we could understand this project from these artworks such as the bird house(common American icon), totem pole, dream catcher, pet stone, quilling art and snow flakes. I believe that we could more deeply understand the part of American common culture through appreciating these handmade presents. Thank you very much, Teacher Carolyn.（105-04-10）

Opening presents!

能源調查報告─全民節電行動

自從日本福島核電廠311災難發生以來，核能發電的議題在世界各國發酵，德國因此宣布全面廢核，我國許多公民團體也開始一連串的討論，各自提出擁核與廢核的論述；對於小學階段的孩子，我們能做的就是「節約用電」！

兒童專題發表−Energy Pathway（US-Taiwan Eco-Campus）

臺美生態學校─銅牌認證

本校自104年4月正式投入「臺美生態學校夥伴計畫」，在大坪國小全體教師、學童與家長努力下，也承蒙諸多長官、好友、教授的慷慨相助，今天(2/15)我們成為苗栗縣第1所「臺美生態學校夥伴計畫」通過認證的學校（全國目前僅35所通過）！這不僅是培養地球公民的環境教育成果，也是跨域統整的專題做中學，更是引領孩子走出臺灣、跨國學習的國際教育開端。

生態學校：以兒童為中心的 Global Project-Based Learning《點選相關連結

把「世界」留在大坪！

國際教育有很多方式，英語學習只是一個工具；而我認為，一幅「世界地圖」也是國際教育所必需，無論國際時事新聞、社會領域教學、全球化的環境議題，都需要一幅「世界地圖」。莉玫老師具有美術專長，也有深厚的熱忱，在我們多次的討論之後，她帶著準畢業生在斑駁的司令臺牆面上動手畫地圖，要把「世界」留在大坪！感謝莉玫老師的心力付出，以及登凱主任、敬軒老師、儀華老師與其他同仁的後勤支援。

一幅「世界地圖」是國際教育所必需的！

獨一無二的生花妙筆（for Partner School in USA）

本校因為參與「臺美生態學校聯盟計畫」，與美國佛羅里達州的 Tequesta Trace Middle School建立夥伴關係，在iEARN課程中，我也與該校老師進一步討論了Global PBL的合作方式，未來的的跨國學習令人期待！同時間與儀華老師討論，決定讓孩子動手製作樹枝筆，並寄到美國去，以增進互動。

Tequesta Trace Middle School 的學生正在拆禮盒（Partner School in USA）

老鷹想飛！

昨日老鷹之死，必是人類明日的寫照。以前看過《寂靜的春天》這本書，今日看這部片，很有感觸！《寂靜的春天》一書論證美國DDT的問題與毒害，讓小鳥都消聲匿跡，所以春天突然「寂靜」了下來！紀錄片「老應想飛」有著異曲同功之處，視覺的記錄手法更令人震撼！尤其是屏東縣萬丹鄉紅豆田裡堆積如山的死鳥與老鼠，以及農民在紅豆採收前噴灑落葉劑、一片枯黃的景象，不知道是否已經喚醒臺灣的百姓們？我們到底還要吃進多少農藥、殺蟲劑？

大坪國小師生與曾科長在尚順威秀影城合影─老鷹想飛！

臺美生態學校典範─臺南市虎山國小

自從行政院環保署推動「臺美生態學校聯盟計畫」以來，臺南市虎山國小算是非常有成效的學校，讓校園徹底的生態化，但是這「生態化」不只是關注自然生物多樣性而已，應該是說更為「友善環境」！如何做到？非常感激林勇成校長的深入淺出、娓娓道來，把最精要的概念、思維與做法全都傾囊相授，讓我們3位師長、5位學童增加許多環境教育的素養！

大坪國小師生與林校長在虎山國小正門合影

PBL: Presenting Student Outcomes and Evaluating Results

Our students can present final product by verbal reporting with posters or slideshows because there are only 25 students in my school. Even though we can invite parents and other people in our community to the presentation. Secondly, we can record a video of the process of students’ presentation and then upload the viedo on iEARN international conference to share it for collabrative peers around the world. We can also post relative photos, essays, articles, poems, etc. on the Blogs so that either of local and global audiences can accurately understand the project outcomes and discusss it. The most important element of sharing outcomes is the “Internet”!

PBL: Community Outreach and Engagement

I think some technology tools are good to enhance my students project work such as blogging, website design, wiki, video-conference and so on. The video-conference is especially important for students because they can talk with other peers around the world in the real time. Face to face will interest everyone. A village head is the key person of our community. With the village head’s help we can find more resources for our collaborative work such as business owners, government workers and community activists. Inviting the non-profit worker into our school for consultation is also a good way.（大坪國小，104-11-07）

你今天消耗多少水？

有水當思無水之苦！透過臺美生態學校的行動團隊會議，我們選擇了「water pathway」，決定讓孩子自主檢視（green audit）本校的「水資源」現況，這是很成功的一次「做中學」，會議由孩子主持、檢核人員由他們自行推派，檢視成果也是由孩子自行整理報告，最後，也透過腦力激盪，想出了一些節約用水的妙招。

這是很成功的一次「做中學」

Developing a Project Plan

Here is my assignment of iEARN orientation curriculum for week 3. A good project of global PBL will be produced via the five steps. In the beginning, consider national content & skills standards, and ensure the project will meet existing learning goals of our curriculum. Second, we must envision our project ideal that will be found out from real-world issues, our class interests and community challenges etc. The next step is to develop a driving question which must be open-ended and will help us better focus on the goal. Fourth, decide on major collaborative final products with our peers around world that have met the learning goals and answered the driving question. The final step is to engage local and global audiences including how students engage with their community and global peers as a participatory audience and how students draw on resources.