Native Materials. Local Knowledge Vision Development

Famous for red-crowned crane, Zhalong natural reserve is also called Jiangnan of north China. Zhalong Lake with its beautiful sightseeing is surrounded by villages with a long history. Several ethnic groups have also written down their stories on this old black land. The cohesion and collision of different ethnic groups, together with human beings'love and utilize of the nature finally form the wetland culture featured by red-crowned crane culture and Manchu culture. "A Place Where Cranes Take Off" is the local teaching material developed by teachers in Zhalong center school, Qiqihaer city, which has an initiative effect to environmental education, inheritance and development of ethnic minority culture.In this dissertation, I attempt to apply the concept "local knowledge" from a respected anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1926—2006) to examine the local teaching materials through context analysis of "static reading book", description and explanation of "dynamic classroom teaching", combined with evaluation of multiple groups including educational administration officials, teachers, students and parents, this dissertation summarizes this material's impacts on the local teachers and students, discusses how to integrate local knowledge and the mainstream culture in school education better in the context of the current national unity and globalization, and provides suggestions on the curriculum reform and local teaching materials development for schools in rural wetland areas.The dissertation consists seven parts as the following:PartⅠis the Introduction, which briefly discusses the causes and purposes of choosing this topic, the basic contents, the research methodologies, the theoretical models, and literature reviews of local knowledge, local materials development in china, and the studies of Chinese rural school education.PartⅡprovides a brief introduction of the field spot. The features and development of Zhalong center school are elaborated.PartⅢdeals with the development and implementation of the curriculum, "A Place Where Cranes Take Off". The background, development process and revision of this material as well as the key teachers training are introduced.PartⅣfocuses on the context analysis of the curriculum. From the perspective of "static reading book", I point out that this material inherit "local knowledge". Through deconstruction of the framework of the material, analysis of the content choosing, arrangement, three-dimensional composition and form design, five features are concluded.PartⅤis about the implementation of this material in class. From the perspective of "dynamic classroom teaching", I concludes that the purpose of this material is make the students realize that they are the children of wetland。The objectives and significance of the material development are showed through the description of the teaching objectives, teaching methods and activities.Part VI discusses the utilization of local knowledge in schooling and proposed the basic concepts and value orientation for wetland rural school teaching materials development.Part VII sums up the significance of local teaching material in the modern society and educational reform, followed by some suggestions.