Abstract:
This study was designed for research and development (R&D). The main purposes were :
1) to survey basic information and develop a school curriculum on occupations and technology
strand, an additional course on banana leaves; 2) to study the effect of implementing the
curriculum on occupations and technology strand, an additional course on banana leaves, for three
aspects including knowledge and understanding, practice skill, and attitude toward learning.
The population used in this research study was divided into two groups. Group one included 41
persons, stakeholders and students in Grade 6, who participated during the curriculum developing
phase in the first semester of the academic year 2009. Group two included 15 students in Grade 6
who participated during the curriculum implementation process studying occupations and
technology strand, an additional course on banana leaves, in the second semester of the academic
year 2009 at Watnernsung School in Chanthaburi. The research instruments were : 1) a questionnaire
for stakeholders, 2) a questionnaire for students, 3) the constructed curriculum on occupations and
technology strand, an additional course on banana leaves, 4) lesson plans focused on Simpsons
model, 5) knowledge and understanding test, 6) practice skill test, 7) attitude test. Statistical
analysis was employed for percentage, mean, standard deviation, and t-test.
The results were divided into two phases : The first phase was curriculum development.
This was divided into two parts. Part one was the result obtained from the survey concerning
stakeholders basic information. The results showed that the stakeholders recognized the
importance of the school curriculum on occupations and technology strand, an additional course
focused on banana leaves, which the stakeholders involved in education management, and
required various instructional activities. The curriculum contents cover both knowledge and
practice skill. Measurement and evaluation are participated by students, teachers, and local
intellects whose expertise is on banana leaves. The results concerning the students basic
information showed that the students called for curriculum contents on background of banana
leave tasks, material selection and preparation, practice skill for banana leaves through
instructional management-by teachers and local intellects-using demonstration and practice,
provide students with handouts that show contents in brief, pictures, and authentic evaluation.
Part two was the effect of curriculum development and curriculum assessment. It was found that
the developed curriculum on occupations and technology strand, an additional course focused on
banana leaves, was approved and the curriculum covered all elements with the mean score at 4.73
identifying the most appropriate curriculm.
The second phase was the curriculum implementation. It was found that students in
grade 6 who learned this developed curriculum showed knowledge and understanding after the
experiment at 91.33% which was significantly higher than the criterion set by the school at the
0.05 level. The students showed their practice skill at 84.59% which was higher than the criterion
set by the school. They showed their positive attitude toward learning management ( X = 4.34,
S.D. = 0.64)