Chiayi University Chinese Department Integrates Tribal Wisdom into Classrooms

National Chiayi University's Chinese department is bringing indigenous wisdom into the classroom through an innovative cross-disciplinary curriculum. The "2026 Alishan Tribal Skills Workshop – Hunter. Home: A Tsou Life Story" project, supported by the Ministry of Education, collaborates with Zhonghe Junior High School in Chiayi County.

The initiative aims to translate indigenous living skills into inquiry-based courses that blend humanities, engineering, and natural sciences. Students and faculty from Chiayi University's Chinese department conducted extensive fieldwork in the Tsou tribal areas of Alishan. They observed traditional house construction and leather tanning techniques, learning from tribal elders and cultural practitioners. This gathered data was then transformed into teaching materials and activities.

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Students deepened their understanding of Tsou culture through hands-on operation and practical exploration, allowing local knowledge and modern science to mutually validate and converse with each other.

A team led by Assistant Professor He Ru-yu, the project's principal investigator, and supervised by doctoral student Chen Jia-hui, included students from various departments. They were responsible for designing curriculum, creating teaching aids, planning experiments, and practicing instruction. This comprehensive process showcases a complete learning cycle from fieldwork to curriculum development and teaching practice.

During the workshop, Zhonghe Junior High students actively participated by building models of traditional Tsou houses, gaining an understanding of their architectural structure. They also experienced leather tanning, learning how natural materials are processed. The curriculum incorporated scientific inquiry activities, guiding students to observe, operate, record, and analyze. This process encouraged them to consider the material properties, environmental adaptability, and scientific principles behind traditional crafts, using experiments to validate indigenous knowledge.

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Through curriculum translation, we hope to integrate tribal wisdom into formal education, enabling students to understand the profound content of indigenous cultures during reading, practical application, and inquiry processes, while cultivating respect for diverse cultures and interdisciplinary thinking.

Fang Xin-yu, principal of Zhonghe Junior High, noted that hands-on activities and practical exploration deepened students' understanding of Tsou culture, allowing local knowledge and modern science to validate and converse with each other. Lin Hong-da, head of Chiayi University's Chinese department, expressed hope that by translating tribal wisdom into educational materials, students could grasp the profound meaning of indigenous cultures through reading, practice, and inquiry. He also emphasized fostering respect for diverse cultures and interdisciplinary thinking.

He Ru-yu added that teacher Zhu Jia-xu from Zhonghe Junior High provided direction for the curriculum development. University students first learned from the tribes, then designed educational materials based on local knowledge, which were then brought into junior high instruction. This created a complete educational model encompassing "field investigation, knowledge translation, and curriculum practice." The university plans to continue collaborating with local schools and indigenous communities to promote the translation of local knowledge and establish a new paradigm for cross-disciplinary cooperation in humanities, science, and education.

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University students first went into the tribes for fieldwork learning, designed local knowledge into teaching materials, and brought them into junior high teaching, forming a complete educational model of 'field investigation, knowledge translation, and curriculum practice.'