Using circle time and portfolios to enhance students’ learning about caring

This presentation will report some findings of an educational program on caring. The program aims at enhancing the student participants’ understanding of the value of caring, and their awareness of each others’ needs, as well as encouraging them to perform caring actions in their daily life. Existing studies reveal the positive impacts of “circle time” on the students’ personal and social development, and the advantages of using portfolios for continuous learning and assessment. However, the effects of the combined use of “circle time” and portfolios for values learning, and its implications for a values education curriculum, teaching and learning are not fully understood. In this study, two research questions are addressed. First, what have these students learned in this program? Second, to what extent do “circle time” and portfolios help enhance the students’ learning and achieve the project’s aim? Data were collected via the program evaluation questionnaires, student portfolios, and individual interviews. The study found that the students liked using “circle time” and portfolios to learn. They saw themselves as having better learning outcomes in the affective and action domains than in the cognitive domain. They were aware of others’ needs and took the initiative to perform actions centered on caring for others. Copyright © 2019 The Asia-Pacific Network for Moral Education Annual Conference.