2001 Volume 24 Issue 1 Pages 61-69
For a general studies course, the core focus of which was "clothing" as presented in elementary school home economics, we developed classes designed to foster the practical ability and desire to look at world clothing, and to stimulate interest in children's clothing. We previously reported on the overall class structure and learning process. In this report, we will present an analysis and evaluation of the course focusing on how the class was received by the children, as determined by questionnaires and descriptions from the children before and after the course. Finding include: 1. 95% of the children reported the class was "fun." 2. In classes that incorporated primary topics, 60% of the children reported that they contributed to a topic. 3. The children participated most enthusiastically in the secondary activity presented in the form, "Let's make clothes from a single piece of cloth" 4. After the course, a higher percentage of children reported interest in foreign countries and the link between clothes and the world. Attitudes toward clothing changed. 5. We discovered that a single topic in general studies can multiply and lead into many related topics. Thus, we obtained results beyond our objectives. From the above, we confirmed that our class materials, class content, and teaching method were positively accepted by the children, and we achieved satisfactory results in terms of the learning objectives.
