Running head: Folklore-based Learning Folklore-based Learning on the Web---Pedagogy, Case Study and Evaluation

1 1 Abstract Folklore-based learning is a kind of situated learning paradigm in which students learn by solving problems embedded in a near-real situation. The proposed learning approach employs further interesting story plots from folklores as the background situation to motivate students to participate in learning activities. It is believed that such a paradigm has, on one hand, the advantages of helping students to learn in an authentic situation and, on the other, the provision of interesting story episodes as a stimulating agent for less initiated students. This paper reports a folklore-based learning system based on the well-known Chinese folklore called " Tong Pak Fu and Chou Heung, " and its effects on learning the subject of probability by a group of 454 Hong Kong secondary school students when compared with 3 teacher-guided methods. Results show that although no significant differences can be found among the different methods initially, when students with high pre-test scores were excluded, the folklore-based learning group outperformed the other groups. Also, from student perception of the system, it was found that the students prefer using this system to learn. Consider that no guidance on the subject matters was given to the students learning through this system, while students using the other methods were guided by experienced teachers, the results are very encouraging so that improvement and future developments to cover more topics are warranted. Evaluation The Web brings great impact to the modern society. With its large repertoire of information, and anytime and anywhere availability, the Web is believed to be a useful tool in enhancing teaching and learning. Some educators (for example, Parker, 1997) argue that Web-based learning will eventually lead to a paradigm shift of learning style, from teacher-centered to student-centered. The traditional role of teachers as knowledge providers will be changed to that of learning facilitators, since students can learn from the wide repertoire of information enabled by the Internet. Researchers and policy makers (see, for example, Hong Kong Education and Manpower Bureau, 1998) suggest that teachers should play the role of helping students develop high-order abilities such as problem-solving and creativity rather than just delivering factual knowledge like what it used to be. Students are expected to learn through communicating, either in a real environment requiring personal contact or on the Web, and then construct and reorganize their own knowledge. As suggested by Parker (1999), " The result of interactive learning …