Page 8 - 親親康橋 no203

8 親親康橋 青山校區‧June 2026/203 期

Self-Directed Learning at Kang Chiao at Kang Chiao
Self-Directed Learning at Kang Chiao at Kang Chiao
Self-Directed Learning
Self-Directed Learning

Preschool Brian Shawger Academic Coordinator
One of the things that makes the Kang Chiao Preschool program so
successful is that it often provokes self-directed learning. But before we
get to that part, the first step is for us to know our students well. We try to
choose topics for study that our students encounter in their normal day to
day lives but perhaps haven’t spent much time thinking about. Topics that
meet these criteria are powerful tools for learning because the children
will have repeated exposure to them. They will be naturally interested in
learning more about the topic. Importantly, it will also be easy for parents
to participate in the learning process with relevant at home activities or
explorations. Past successful topics have included food, nature, and art.
Once we’ve chosen the topic, show and tell is a powerful tool to get
started, but it’s not the only way. Stories, art projects, science experiments,
games, and more are all options. Everyone has their own background
so sometimes students come up with very interesting or creative ideas
based on things they’ve seen before, but we find that it’s good to start with
some kind of shared experience together as a class which everyone can
refer back to. Because we’ve done it together, we’ve also had a chance to
understand it together. Next, we collaborate with the students and guide
them to find out as much as they can about the topic through hands-on activities, play, and experimentation.
They are invited to share their own project ideas (“What do you want to make?”), or to iterate on existing projects
to make them better (“How can we make the game more fun”?) in one way or another. We encourage them to
talk about and reflect on their experiences at every step. These experiences provide numerous opportunities for
meaningful English language practice. Students might go outside to paint with water, and then observe that their
water paintings disappear under the hot sun.
Where did the water go? Rather than just telling students the answers, we guide students to ask their own
questions, investigate with their own senses, reflect on their experiences, and develop an understanding of the
world around them all while learning new vocabulary and becoming more confident communicators. This process
of asking questions and attempting to find out the answers will often lead directly to further experimentation
and new class activities. To continue from the example of water painting, maybe we could try water painting
on different types of surfaces to see what happens. Then we might notice that water is absorbed differently by
different surfaces and that would launch a whole new line of inquiry. What surfaces absorb water? What does
water stay on top of? Let’s find out by pouring water on top! Or maybe we might try mixing: What can we mix
with water? What doesn’t mix with water? Or maybe we could even try to ‘catch’ the water and prevent it from
escaping! But how would we do that?
It’s always exciting when students start to make connections all on their own. Look! These two foods have some
of the same ingredients. That’s interesting… I wonder what other foods have those ingredients too? Oh, let’s try to
grow this seed that we found and see what kind of plant it becomes! Or let’s try mixing colors together to match a
particularly beautiful color that we all like.
As the theme starts to wind down, eventually our students have the opportunity to be ‘little teachers’ as they
share their discoveries or creations with other students, teachers, or even parents. They work towards a designated
time for a “theme activity” and they collaborate to create posters and give presentations. After making toys from
paper, students might teach visitors how to make the toy, help them as necessary, and then show them how to use
the toy to play a game. Or after playing games with lines, they might explain the rules of a game to visiting students
and teach them how to play their “line game”. Of course, we’re all familiar with the phrase that teaching is learning,
and it’s certainly true that having the opportunity to teach really helps the students consolidate their knowledge.
But it does more than that. It also contributes to their sense of ownership of the project and develops their self-
confidence. It’s fun!

創 辦 人：李萬吉 編 輯：呂建儒、江宣僾、陳美齡、莊雅婷、歐文絹、賴怡君、
發 行 人：張仁傑 林東岳、王嵩皓、吳浩銘、Brian Shawger
發 行 者：康橋國際學校 美 編：王欣卉
編輯委員：陳宥璇、宋承浩、賴國宜、徐雅婷 校 址：231064 新北市新店區頂城五街80號
陳孟菁、蔡文峰、傅後銘、黃欽炎 網 址：www.kcis.ntpc.edu.tw
總 編 輯：陳怡璇 電 話：(02)8211-2000