The Effect of We the People...Project Citizen on the Civic Skills and Dispositions of Taiwanese Senior High School Students

「公民養成方案」影響台灣高中學生公民技能與公民性之實驗研究

本研究旨在評估「公民養成方案」對台灣高中學生公民技能與公民性的影響；探討影響「公民養成方案」實施成效的因素；以及了解教師使用該課程的觀感。為達研究目的，本研究採「不等組實驗組控制組前後測設計」。其中實驗組學生除原有公民科或三民主義科之學習活動外，並輔以一學期（自2001年9月至2002年1月）的「公民養成方案」的教學；控制組學生則維持原有之公民科或三民主義科之教學，以做為對照。本研究之重要發現為（1）參與「公民養成方案」的學生，在公民技能、政治興趣及承擔公民權利與義務等公民性方面，顯著優於未接受「公民養成方案」的控制組學生；（2）教師教學經驗、班級氣氛，學生考取大學的信心，以及收看收聽各種新聞媒體的頻率，與「公民養成方案」的實施成效有顯著正相關；（3）所有參與實驗教學的教師對「公民養成方案」都持積極正向的態度，並表達有意繼續實施該課程。基於上述研究發現，本研究最後提出對公民教育的啟示。

We the People...Project Citizen is a civic education program for secondary school students that promotes informed and responsible participation in local government. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the effects of Project Citizen upon the civic skills and dispositions of Taiwanese senior high school students, to explore factors associated with its effectiveness, and to document teachers' perceptions of Project Citizen. This research employed a non-random, pretest-posttest comparison group, quasi-experimental design. Twelve Taiwanese senior high school teachers each with two classes of students, one experimental and one comparison, participated in this study. During the Fall semester of 2001（September 2001 to January 2002）, the experimental students received instruction in Project Citizen as an adjunct to the traditional instruction of Civics or Three Principles of the People； the comparison students received traditional, discipline-based instruction that focused on the hierarchical model of knowledge acquisition. Hierarchical ANCOVA of the posttest, using pretest as the covariate, indicated that students participating in Project Citizen significantly outperformed students in the comparison group in civic skills, political interest and commitment to rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Factors significantly associated with the effect of Project Citizen on the civic skills and dispositions of Taiwanese high school students included classroom climate and exposure to news of various resources. Qualitative analyses of the teacher interviews revealed that all participating teachers responded positively toward Project Citizen and showed interest in implementing it again in their classes. The results also suggested, however, that time constraints, students' abilities, and the pressure from the Joint College Entrance Examination, among other factors, pose significant challenges to implementing Project Citizen in the Taiwanese context. Valuable suggestions to address these challenges, such as correlating Project Citizen with current curriculum frameworks and simplifying the procedures and materials, were provided by the participating teachers.