Cultivating positive values and attitudes in students has become a key focus in education in recent years. Schools are enhancing life education to guide students in exploring the value and meaning of life, learning how to respect and cherish life, and extending this to caring for others, nature, and the world. Ultimately, this helps students improve their resilience and cope with various challenges and difficulties during their growth stages. The promotion of life education is quite diverse, with many schools integrating it into their curricula across different subjects. Notably, the recipient of the third Innovative Teacher Award cleverly uses living organisms like animals and plants as teaching entry points, collaborating across STEAM disciplines to create new possibilities for life education.
Establishing the Amazon Biological Classroom: Building a School-Based STEAM Science Curriculum
To promote innovative teaching models and reform curriculum structures in schools, forward-thinking and comprehensive planning are essential. The award-winning team from Mu Kuang English School has been actively developing STEAM education within the school. In 2020, they began preparing to establish the "Amazon Biological Classroom," planning a distinctive school-based curriculum centered around natural ecology. They adopted over 240 small animals and utilized feeding, observation, and interaction to learn from these animals, integrating subject knowledge with life education, allowing students to learn through experience.
Mr. Cheung Wing-fung, the school's vice principal, noted that the idea for the project originated from a chameleon. Mr Au Tat Kong, a science teacher who loves small animals, brought a chameleon back to school, leading to a delightful discovery of students' happy and active sides, which inspired the school to explore an ecology-based curriculum. Vice Principal Cheung expressed, "Empathy and curiosity towards animals easily spark students' interest in science; it's most touching to see students' initiative and confidence in learning greatly increase."
The "Amazon Biological Classroom" project also expanded during the school closure due to the pandemic. Mr. Au mentioned that the school team seized the "crisis" to create "opportunities," preparing well during the closure and collaborating across subject groups to conceptualize the entire curriculum framework, merging natural ecological elements into the existing curriculum.
（The "Amazon Biological Classroom" provides an immersive teaching environment, integrating diverse living organisms into the curriculum to enhance the enjoyment of learning.）
Experiential Learning: Understanding the Essence of Life
The "Amazon Biological Classroom" provides an experiential learning environment where students can actively participate. Initially, the curriculum focused on science, explaining relevant topics and knowledge from an ecological perspective, such as observing living organisms and animal reproduction and genetics, while conducting various learning activities centered around animals to apply classroom knowledge concretely.
At the same time, the school aims to promote education that influences students' lives through animal life. Therefore, all the animals in the "Amazon Biological Classroom" are adopted rather than purchased, with some being physically challenged or endangered species. The involvement of small animals in classroom learning sparks motivation and interest. Vice Principal Cheung mentioned that during their interactions, students developed deep connections with the animals, willingly returning to school during breaks or holidays to care for them. Through biological conservation and ecological engagement, students developed positive thinking and learned to care for and respect life.
(After class, students are very enthusiastic about caring for the animals' daily needs, with over 70 students voluntarily signing up to join the caretakers' team.)
The natural cycle of life, including aging and death, also affects the classroom animals. The school ensures proper care for sick animals, arranging veterinary visits or surgeries, teaching students how to treat animals kindly. Mr. Au stated, "Facing the end of an animal's life can be distressing, so we hold memorial services to help students reflect on the meaning of life and death."
（Students offered paper cranes and heartfelt cards to send their final blessings to Lora, the South American giant lizard, who passed away due to illness.)
Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Promoting Comprehensive Learning
The teaching team also values interdisciplinary knowledge learning. Although the project primarily focuses on science, it incorporates computer and STEM curriculum collaboration to develop cross-disciplinary school-based materials. Through diverse teaching methods, students can practice skills common across various teaching domains. In addition to the animals in the biological classroom, Ms. Chan Mei-yuen, a biology teacher, mentioned that the school also participates in projects like soybean planting and coral cultivation, believing that "some students need alternative learning activities to stimulate motivation and interest, thereby facilitating active learning through hands-on skills training," addressing learning differences to support students needing various learning methods.
Ms. Wong Kwan-yi, a computer science teacher, shared that the curriculum aligns with the junior high "Smart Home" theme, where students apply their programming knowledge and created devices in the "Amazon Biological Classroom." "Through situational learning, students become more engaged and can connect knowledge across subjects, enhancing learning continuity. For example, students regularly maintain devices and even collect data for analysis to provide suitable growth environments for the animals," Ms. Wong added.
The school is also keen to share the outcomes of the "Amazon Biological Classroom" with other primary and secondary schools and organizations. Mr. Au mentioned that the process encourages students to take the lead in sharing, which helps cultivate their speaking abilities and skills while boosting their confidence in interpersonal communication. Regarding the project's development, in addition to creating snake skin specimens for sale, which incorporates elements of economics, Vice Principal Cheung mentioned that in the long run, they plan to involve Chinese language and visual arts subjects for interdisciplinary academic collaboration, connecting students with local children and elderly in the nearby community through the small animals to give back to society.
(The award-winning team from Mu Kuang English School for the "Innovative Teacher Award 2022," from left to right: Vice Principal Mr. Cheung Wing-fung; Teacher
Mr Au Tat Kong; Ms. Chan Mei-yuen; Ms. Wong Kwan-yi.)
Another recipient of the third "Innovative Teacher Award," Ms Chan Yuk Sai, the curriculum coordinator at Fung Kai Innovative School, promotes school-based "Life Education X STEAM" curriculum development from a different perspective, using plants as the entry point. Ms. Chan designed an interdisciplinary project titled " Viewing Tree Cotton, Understanding Life," centered around the cotton tree near the campus. The curriculum framework is based on "knowledge, feelings, intentions, and actions," allowing students to experience learning, such as collecting cotton and leaves in the school ecological garden, observing cotton tree leaves, tasting flower tea, making leaf vein bookmarks, and writing calligraphy with cotton fluff dipped in ink. This enhances students' ability to apply knowledge and instills positive values, nurturing a love for nature and life.
For more innovative teaching methods and updates on the "Innovative Teacher Award," stay tuned to learn about the valuable practical experiences shared by the "Innovative Teacher Award 2022" winners.