News source:free times>

More than 100 fourth-grade students from the Experimental Elementary School affiliated with National Pingtung University spent a year visiting and interviewing people in Pingtung City's central business district. Through photography editing, architectural aesthetics and other explorations, they experienced the spirit of craftsmen and the texture of their hometown, and transformed what they saw and felt into visual poems, rubbings, hand-painted patterns and body performances, which were wonderful and moving.

Pingtung University Elementary School promotes the Ministry of Education's "Cross-disciplinary Aesthetic Education Excellence Pilot Program" benchmark school curriculum. Led by teacher Pan Shanchi, they work with teaching experts from various fields within the school to design a full-year cross-disciplinary learning plan for fourth-grade students. With the theme of "Hundred Craftsmen of Pingtung", the children go deep into the old business district to visit and interview people, recording at least 10 stores such as jewelry stores, photo studios, and engraving shops, discovering the spirit of craftsmen and recording it for more people to know.

The course also covers a variety of topics, including career exploration, gender equality, hometown sustainability, and SEL (social emotional learning) self-awareness, comprehensively inspiring students to re-understand and re-imagine life, land, and themselves.

This month (April), Pingtung University Elementary School presented the results of the "Pingtung Craftsmen: Record. Art. Exhibition", which brought together the essence of teachers and students' cross-domain learning over the past year. In addition to the static work display, the fourth-grade students transformed into Craftsmen Messengers and choreographed a dynamic performance of "Follow the Graphic Poetry to Explore the Old Commercial District", integrating the art of graphic poetry with body movements to lead the audience on a poetic journey of text and body. It turned out that what the students saw in the old commercial district was not decline and sadness, but interesting imagination.

Student Wen Haoming said that he learned from the process that one must work very hard and go through constant failures to achieve results, and he also gained a new understanding of his hometown; student Wu Zhan'en said that he was very moved to be able to show the old shops and architectural features of the business district to people from all counties and cities.

Talking about the photo studios in the old business district, student He Chenyi said that many Pingtung people went to the old shops to take pictures when they were young. This is a place to record everyone’s memories. The bosses are constantly learning new technologies and keeping up with the trends so that the photos will not be outdated. They use their professionalism and enthusiasm to capture memories that everyone will treasure. This kind of craftsmanship is worth learning.

Principal Gao Jianmin said that Pingtung University Affiliated Primary School focuses on diversified learning and local connections to create a learning environment that is tangible and warm. He hopes that through such educational practices, children can see the world with aesthetic eyes, connect with their hometown with creative language, and inject new vitality into local culture.