Development of Local Curriculum on Sea Salt Farming in Ban Laem District of Watjuntrawart (Sukprasarnrat) School in Phetchaburi by Participatory Action Research

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to: 1) study the local knowledge about the sea salt farming in Ban Laem district, 2) develop the local curriculum on the sea salt farming in Ban Laem district of Watjuntrawat (Sukprasarnrat)school in Phetchaburi Province by using participatory action research. The target group was 118 participants, consisting of 1 school administrator, 72 teachers, 1 person from the Office of the Basic Education Commission, 8 local knowledgeable people, 1 student’s parent, and 35 students from Mathayom 5. The research instruments were an interview, questionnaires, and an achievement test. The statistics used for data analysis were percentage, means, standard deviation. The qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis.  The results of this study showed that: 1. Knowledge about sea salt farming in Ban Laem district, Phetchaburi Province includes: 1) the context of the Ban Laem district was a wide area on the coast. The area was mainly clay that could absorb water well, 2) sea salt farming had a history and a process of farming by using Thai wisdom, 3) characteristics and products from sea salt farming were table salt and flower of salt, 4) products from sea salt of Ban Laem district were salt flower spa, herbal scrub salt, salt flower soap, and 5) guidelines for preserving local knowledge in the sea salt farming in Ban Laem district were creating knowledge to the community and promoting tourism that reflects the lifestyle of the salt farming.  2.Development of local curriculum on sea salt farming in Ban Laem district of Watjuntrawat (Sukprasarnrat) School, Phetchaburi Province consisted of the curriculum structure, local knowledge, learning unit, and learning management plans. The result from using the curriculum indicated that students had higher learning achievement than before learning with approximately 29.89 percent. For the curriculum evaluation, it was found that the local curriculum was effective in accordance with the defined principles and objectives.