Development of learning process in primary school students based on research method : Food Consumption and Dental Caries.

Abstract

The action research aimed to build scientific thinking skill of primary school teachers and students. The simply survey of food consumption and dental caries of the children were assigned to be an induced research question for the selected core groups. 210 schools from 14 provinces all over the country were purposively selected. 10 students from grade 5 or 6 and 5 teachers from each school was selected as a school researchers. The project set up a workshop for all teams in order to empower the teamwork of the school-teams both in the basic knowledge of survey method and the concept of cariology. The dental personnel were assigned to be a foster team for the school. Their roles were to monitor and supervise the school teams, allocate resources according to the plan of the project and also periodically held team meeting to share their experiences. There were 2100 trained teachers and students involved in the process. All of the schools performed food consumption and dental caries surveys among school children. The survey data were used as an evidence for the school-teams to developed alternatives to solved their problems. There were plenty of innovations and learning technologies from the creativity of the students, such as; a mathematic project of grade 6 students namely “When snack disappear from school”, a scientific project “Effect of milk and carbonated drink on teeth” etc. The main results of the research revealed the objected evidences of oral integrated in health promoting school via school public health policies, physical and social environment of the schools, participation of the parents and community and school curricula both in the “8 key learning areas” and project based learning. The learning model of this research provided the potential of expansion for improved learning capacity of primary school students in scientific thinking.