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In Taiwan, the critical development of inclusive policy is linked to legislation around inclusion and the programs promoted by educational authorities and local governments in the 1990s. Although this previous educational reform ushered in a new era of inclusion, this type of educational campaign triggered various responses among stakeholders. This study aims to understand the experience of the implementation of inclusive programs implemented in four primary schools in Hsinchu City and County in north-west Taiwan, exploring inclusion-oriented school life in these institutes. The investigation of school-based inclusive practices is based on a qualitative approach such as the Flanders Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC) and entails a series of observations of inclusive activities in the four educational institutes under study. The results reveal that the inclusive environment is conducive to verbal interaction among teachers and students. It also indicates that inclusive programs place more weight on factors such as curriculum, teachers' professional development, educational resources and the support system. In conclusion, the authors argue that the inclusive environment creates an educational and social position advantage among all students, both with and without disabilities. This paper offers international readers insights into how inclusive policy in Taiwan has created an ongoing dialogue between stakeholders and led to educational improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic dishonesty has been an important issue. However, only few researches had been done in Asian countries, especially a nationwide study. A sample of 2,068 college students throughout Taiwan was selected and surveyed on four domains of academic dishonesty, including: cheating on test, cheating on assignment, plagiarism, and falsifying documents. The major findings of this study were: (1) the prevalence rate for all types of dishonesty behaviors among college students in Taiwan was 61.72%; (2) the top five most practiced academic dishonesty behaviors in Taiwan are provided paper or assignment for another student, gave prohibited help to others on their assignment, copied others’ assignments, passed answers to other students, and copied from other students; (3) students’ attitudes correlated with behaviors in all four domains of academic dishonesty; (4) females reported less acceptable to and behaved less academic dishonesty behaviors than males; and (5) freshmen had more dishonest practices than other class ranks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English as a medium of instruction and internationalisation projects have drawn increasing attention and participation among international higher education faculty, creating meso-level policies which directly affect the micro-level practices and respective learning experiences for undergraduates in these faculty's classrooms. This research explores undergraduates' perceptions of international faculty-led EMI courses, comparing Taiwan and Thailand and their private and public universities. A total of 436 Taiwanese and 306 Thai undergraduate students provided feedback on their learning experiences regarding classmate, faculty, and student traits. The primary research question provides a comparison between Taiwan and Thailand, and between public and private universities. Private university students in Taiwan and Thailand reported significantly stronger perceptions of peer support, teacher support, teacher approachability, and class participation compared to public university students; perceived learning comprehension was significantly stronger in Taiwanese universities. The discussion highlights key implications for Taiwan and Thailand's meso-level policy of international recruitment which affect the micro-level practices of international faculty and their students' respective learning experiences in the EMI classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious diversity education has become increasingly prominent in the last few years. As the region with the second-highest religious diversity globally, Chinese Taiwan provides its students religious education early on, thus minimising misunderstandings and discrimination on the basis of religion. To diversify teaching methods, educators have adopted interactive technology as one of the primary teaching aids. This study aims to develop and evaluate the impact of an interactive technology, augmented reality (AR) in the provision of religious education. A series of experiments were conducted during the 2020 Taipei Lantern Festival of Religious Education Exhibition to explore whether using the interactive technology system significantly improved learning outcomes in comparison to traditional learning methods. To this end, a total of 50 elementary students across two experimental (n = 24) and control (n = 26) groups were recruited to participate in the study. A mixed-methods approach was used to analyse students' subjective and objective learning outcomes. The results of the study showed that the experimental group performed significantly better in both subjective and objective learning outcomes. The findings obtained from the open-ended questions showed interactive AR technology system use positively affected the learning process. In conclusion, this study proposes that combining religious diversity education with interactive AR technology has the potential to improve students' motivation, engage their interest, improve learning outcomes, and contribute to an increased awareness of religious diversity. It may also be helpful in limiting students' cognitive overload during the learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we aim to provide a glimpse of what is counted as good mathematics instruction from Taiwanese perspectives and of various approaches developed and used for achieving high-quality mathematics instruction. The characteristics of good mathematics instruction from Taiwanese perspectives were first collected and discussed from three types of information sources. Although the number of characteristics of good mathematics instruction may vary from one source to another, they can be generally organized in three phases including lesson design before instruction, classroom instruction during the lesson and activities after lesson. In addition to the general overview of mathematics classroom instruction valued in Taiwan, we also analyzed 92 lessons from six experienced teachers whose instructional practices were generally valued in local schools and counties. We identified and discussed the characteristics of their instructional practices in three themes: features of problems and their uses in classroom instruction, aspects of problem--solution discussion and reporting, and the discussion of solution methods. To identify and promote high-quality mathematics instruction, various approaches have been developed and used in Taiwan including the development and use of new textbooks and teachers' guides, teaching contests, master teacher training program, and teacher professional development programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research is distinctive in that it not only provides an example of one of the few cross-cultural studies in science education, but also it used multiple research methods from different paradigms in exploring classroom learning environments in Taiwan and Australia. This article describes the validation and use of an English and Mandarin version of the What is Happening in this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire in junior high school science classes in Australia and Taiwan. When the WIHIC was administered to 1,081 students in 50 classes in Australia and to 1,879 students in 50 classes in Taiwan, data analysis supported the reliability and factorial validity of the questionnaire, and revealed differences between Taiwanese and Australian classrooms. Although the study commenced from a more positivistic framework, favouring a more objectivist view, as the study progressed, it employed an interpretative framework and drew on elements of constructivist and critical theory paradigms. This article outlines the researchers' use of multiple research methods including classroom observations, in-depth interviews and narratives. The themes which emerged from the data gathered using these methods helped to make sense of classroom environments that were created in each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]