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探討通識課程導入探究實作之學習成效：以仿生材料為例
Explore the Learning Outcome of Introducing Inquiry &Practice into General Education Courses - Illustration of the Biomimetic Materials
摘要
本研究旨在探討導入光子晶體探究與實作於通識教育課程，提升大學生學習仿生材料的成效。本單一組別前後測比較研究以便利取樣選取某醫學大學修習通識課程「材料與生活」60名大學生參與研究。學期初所有學生填寫仿生材料認知自評問卷及大專院校就業職能平台（University Career& Competency Assessment Network, UCAN）所發展的問題解決能力量表是為前測；本課程導入探究與實作的教學過程中，由學生實際動手操作並完成實作報告；而在學期結束後學生再次填寫仿生材料的認知自評問卷及UCAN是為後測；此外，研究者以評估表格（Rubrics）評量實作報告的表現等級。本研究發現：自然科程度最佳大學生組在仿生材料認知及問題解決能力後測分數都顯著高於前測分數，自然高分組大學生仿生材料的認知程度不但可理解仿生材料的原理概念，並能應用到其他生活情境，他（她）們在科學過程技能可完成實作成品，討論時能運用科學思維和詮釋並提升學習態度。其中以科學過程技能的進步最為顯著。本研究發現可以做為大學通識教育課程及其他相關研究之參考。
並列摘要
Background. In addition to the development of professional knowledge, it is important to develop the core competencies of college students in Taiwan's higher education. From the perspectives of both academia and the industry, these core competencies consist in the ability to accurately express and solve problems (Wu, 2011). Similarly, Taiwan's higher education system must respond to core literacy cultivationto national education.To echo the specific connotation of core literacy, ＂Inquiry and practice＂ has gained importance in the 12-year national education curriculum syllabus (also known as the 108 syllabus). Inquiry is a type of science education that allows students to engage in activities, as would scientists, to learn about science. The general course ＂Materials and Life＂ is a part of science education that introduces common materials on science and technology. According to the author's teaching practice research program conducted in 2017 (Huang, 2020), for college students in the general education course ＂Materials and Life,＂ the most unfamiliar topic is ＂Biomimetic Materials.＂ Compared with other material topics, ＂Biomimetic Materials＂ is particularly suitable for inquiry teaching. Purpose. This study aims to introduce inquiry and practice into general education courses to enable students to learn about biomimetic materials and to explore their learning outcomes. Accordingly, the following research questions were raised. 1. What are the differences in the learning outcomes of introducing the inquiry and practice of biomimetic materials? 2. What is the learning outcome of introducing inquiry and practice in the psychomotor domain? Theoretical Framework. 1. The connotation of learning outcomes and related research: For general courses, as there are distinct classes and semesters; it is possible to conduct direct learning effect evaluations by class to observe the differences between students before and after class.The observation of learning outcomes can focus on changes in the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective dimensions, as proposed by Bloom (1956).According to Bloom's classification, the learning outcomes related to scientific literacy include scientific cognition, scientific process skills, and scientific attitudes.Generally, learning outcomes in cognitive domains can be assessed using exam or test results; however, those in psychomotor domains are more suitable for using Rubrics to obtain quantitative and qualitative performance results, such as students' performance in scientific process skills. 2. Inquiry and practice connotation and related research: The mental ability demonstrated by scientists in using scientific methods to find answers is the core competency to be cultivated by inquiry and practice, that is, the scientific process skills of integrated scientific thinking, such as making inferences, criticisms, and solving problems.Students can apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired to help solve problems even in their future workplace.The Ministry of Education builds a college employment function platform (University Career & Competency Assessment Network, UCAN) and gathers commissions scholars to develop test items, including eight important core competencies (Yang, 2014).Among them, ＂problem solving＂ is defined as the ability to clarify problems when encountering situations and propose solutions through system information collection and analysis. Therefore, the UCAN test items can be used to evaluate students' problem-solving abilities. 3. The uniqueness of the biomimetic materials course: Biomimicry was first proposed by J. E. Steele in 1958 (Gleich et al., 2010) and is based on nature and biology. The Taiwan Biomimetic Technology Development Association was established in 2014, and an audition of the global biomimetic design competition has been held for six consecutive years. From the initial stage, most Taiwanese college students were unfamiliar with the concept of biomimetic design, and it is now gradually planned by the department as a course theme (Chiang, 2019).The theme of biomimetic materials consists in learning from nature, such as the lotus leaf effect with a super hydrophobic self-cleaning surface (Abdulkadir et al., 2020) and the colorful butterfly effect with nano periodic photonic crystal structures (Didari & Mengüç, 2018).The research and implementation theme used in this study is the preparation of photonic crystal structures of silica nanoparticle stacks by thermal evaporation. For the detailed experimental procedures, please refer to the relevant literature (Huang, 2020). Design/Methods. The participants were 60 college students who had taken the general course ＂Materials and Life＂ at a medical university. Medical university students have a relatively strong background in natural sciences. This study used pre- and post-tests to explore learning effectiveness. A five-point Likert scale was used to conduct cognitive surveys of biomimetic materials before the class, and the UCAN ＂Problem Solving＂ Ability Scale was used to examine the effects on the inquiry and practice in the class. Finally, students operated and completed the product. Students then had to write reports on the biomimetic materials. I also recruited a questionnaire survey after class, and rubrics were used to evaluate the students' reports on their learning outcome performance. Results. According to the students' natural science background, there was no significant difference in the pre-teststatistics by one-way ANOVA (p ＞ .05). Thus, although students may have different backgrounds in natural science knowledge, their levels of understanding of the scientific principles and examples of biomimetic materials before class could be regarded as the same.The average value in the pre-test was 2.65 ± 1.01, which was lower than the middle value of three points. Hence, it can be determined that all students do not understand the content.The average value of the post-test was 4.42 ± 0.66 and biomimetic materials were unfamiliar topics for students before class, but they could acquire new knowledge through teaching activities to clearly understand the topic of biomimetic materials after class. The UCAN problem-solving ability in the pre-test was 3.69 ± 0.55, and it can also be regarded as the same starting point behavior. The average post-test value was 4.39 ± 0.55, and students fully agreed that they could clarify the problems they encountered and propose solutions after class.According to the inquiry report, the learning outcome scores were 3.50 ± 1.18 for scientific cognitions; 4.64 ± 0.93 for scientific process skills; and 3.75 ± 1.21 for scientific attitude. The average score for scientific process skills was the highest, and there was a significant difference in statistics by repeated measured ANOVA (***p ＜ .001). Conclusion. Students with the highest standards of natural science in their college entrance examination made significant improvements in the sections on cognition and problem-solving ability in the UCAN. The results of the inquiry and practice report found that students' cognition can reach an excellent level; they can understand and transform their cognition into applications for the principles and concepts of biomimetic materials. Furthermore, in scientific process skills, they can complete practical products and use scientific thinking to work, discuss, and explain; they also show a positive attitude toward learning science, and their ability to seek the truth is fostered. From the report scoring, scientific process skills significantly differed from scientific cognition and scientific attitude (*** p ＜ .001). This study presents a teaching theory of inquiry and practices in general education courses that is very suitable for students with a higher scientific thinking to participate in learning. This can provide students with more opportunities for multi-thinking. However, this study uses rigorous experimental situation control and an experimental group and a control group to clarify whether the learning outcomes from this course can improve inference reasonability and objectivity.