Every summer break, teachers and students from the NPUST Center for Teacher Education conduct Schweitzer Service-Learning activities designed to provide middle school students in rural areas of Pingtung County with an interesting summer learning experience. The theme of this year’s event was “Life×Nature: A Summer Camp Where Life Meets Nature”. Under the guidance of Karin Ya-Ling Wu of the Center for Teacher Education, 10 teachers and students put their respective strengths to practice, and used their personal knowledge in such areas as agriculture, forestry, animals and livestock, aquaculture, biotechnology, civil engineering, fashion design, food, child care and more to provide creative cross-domain learning activities for 60 students from Nanchow Junior High School and Jia Dong Junior High School in Pingtung County. Through diverse learning activities, the junior high school students were able to discover and explore their personal strengths and career interests. On July 13th, from 10:00 to 11:30 am, the results of the Schweitzer Service-Learning activities were presented at Jia Dong Junior High School.
Yan-chen Hsu, the general convener of the of Schweitzer Service-Learning team, said, “many challenges come with the preparation of activities, and the designing and implementing of courses. But the creative ideas and warm feedback from students during the activities are the driving force for our efforts. In fact, mutual support and care between teachers and students is also an important aspect of the Schweitzer Service-Learning Camp.” Su, a ninth grade student at Nanchow Junior High, participated in this camp for the third time this year. “This year was very special. We participated in the physical activities, and could actually meet, learn and discuss with the team coaches. Over the three years, the activities have all been different, but they were all very rewarding!” Chiu, a student from Jia Dong Junior High, commented that, “in the course on earthquake-proof architecture, I learned about the principles of building supports and about important beams and columns. Finally, I made a product and completed it. I felt a great sense of accomplishment after that, and I hope I can study related subjects in the future!”
Following the theme of “Life × Nature”, the camp focused on science and technology and daily life. This theme is also part of the new junior high school core curriculum, but there is not enough time for students to explore everything during the semester. The camp was able to take the students deeper with different study groups. For example, the “earthquake-proof architecture” course by the civil engineering group inspired students to design earthquake-proof and disaster-resistant building structures and houses, and conduct real tests. In the home economics group, color science was combined with life aesthetics, and students used their creative talent to complete an acrylic pencil case design by hand. Meanwhile the biology group’s “crude extraction” course, they used the DNA as a starting point to explore the differences between plant and animal cells, whle the food group worked to improve their understanding of meat processing by making homemade meatballs. Other groups looked at aquatic plants, plants on campus, or “the mysteries of moss”. The various activities inspired students to think about the important relationship between nature and human life. As the activities for the two previous years were affected by Covid measures, the courses were conducted online. However, this year, life and education returned to the physical world and NPUST’s Schweitzer Service-Learning activities were able to provide a more diverse set of content to enrich the living and learning experiences of students from rural areas in Pingtung County.
