Instruction, discussions and culinary ventures – Impressions of the Research trip to Taiwan

On Wednesday and Thursday morning we had the chance to visit one lesson each in two different elementary schools and to talk to Taiwanese teachers.

My impressions of the lessons were quite positive. The structured way of working of the students was particularly remarkable. This became particularly clear in the example of two tasks (1) for laying out figures with a link tape (Wednesday morning) and (2) for measuring the classroom (on Thursday morning). In the second task, 4-5 learners each measured the width, length, or height of the room using two one-meter inch sticks. This task took about 3 minutes. Afterwards, the learners immediately sat quietly in their seats again.

Another difference from the lessons I was familiar with was the instruction of the student-centered tasks. From my own teaching experiences and observations in Germany, I am used to a phase in which a task is communicated very openly and learners are given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the subject of the task or materials in their own way. This sometimes leads to results that are not directly in line with the teacher's learning objective.

In both lessons in Taiwan, this was implemented differently. The teacher established clear do's and don't's. She demonstrated these with exemplary pictures based on her prepared presentation. My impression was that this made the work phase very coordinated and the results closer to the learning goal. These impressions also coincide with basic orientation and concepts of mathematics didactics in Taiwan, such as guiding (a clear instruction of the learners) and also with other described cultural peculiarities of teaching in East Asian countries. Especially the classroom visits allowed interesting insights and made cultural differences between German and Taiwanese teaching tangible for me on a small scale.