[[alternative]]An Action Research on A Junior High School's Social Studies Teaching Team

[[abstract]]This research focused on a junior high school's social studies teaching team. It delved into how social studies teachers share teach in responsibilities in Ahn-Ahn Junior High School . The data was collected by observations, interviews, reflection journals and document analyses from August 2002 to January 2003. The thesis examined how members of this teaching team cooperate with one another in teaching social study and looked into the difficulties encountered during the implementation along with corresponding strategies and solutions, underlying factors and the changes and growth these teachers experienced after the implementation. Based on the research findings, the researcher reached the following conclusions: (1) The persistence and professional capacity of the program director is instrumental in the development of the team's teaching collaboration. (2) Both “systematic studies” and “open-house” are necessary for the development of the team's teaching collaboration. (3) In the process members of the team share teaching responsibilities, the team must be given the authority to make adjustments independently and team members must work together as partners of equal standing in order to form a genuine culture of cooperation. (4) The teaching collaboration of the team is an action and research process that involves incessant adjustments. Requirements for a successful teaching cooperation include “the willingness to change”, “support”, “two-way communication” and “positive feedback”. (5) In the process members of the team share teaching responsibilities, the team's “teaching concept”, “personal characteristics”, “cooperation harmony”, “time invested” and “integrated course content” play significant roles as key inherent factors. (6) In order for it to help the team transform new teaching knowledge into teaching actions, “teaching collaboration” must take into account teachers’ teaching attitude, as well as the re-conceptualized meaning of the program and teaching, until these teachers internalize, freely present and flexibly utilize their teaching knowledge. (7) As far as research on actions of teaching collaboration is concerned, the teaching collaboration of the team can help team members experience changes in their view of “teaching collaboration”, “action research” and “practical theory”. (8) As far as teaching knowledge/ capacity is concerned, the teaching collaboration of the team can help team members grow in “knowledge of the content of the area of studies” “knowledge of teaching pertinent to the area of studies”, “knowledge of the program pertinent to the area of studies”, “the ability to design program and select/organize teaching materials” and “the ability to evaluate one's teaching”. (9) In the process members of the team share teaching responsibilities, uneven power distribution and excessive overtime/overwork must be avoided, otherwise it is impossible to encourage each other to evaluate oneself and growth through critical conversation and collaboration. (10) Major external factors affecting the teaching collaboration of the team include “organizational culture”, “research resources”, “large-scale class facility”, “other teachers”(those who are not part of the teacher team) and enthusiastic parents. Keywords: Team Teaching, Action Research, Effective Teaching