日本人為原住民帶來全新的教育方式，但這種帶有植入「國民意識」的同化教育，對於原住民而言，是未曾經歷過的經驗。而在「國民意識」植入的同時，原住民從學校教育經驗中，隱隱滋長「族群意識」。也就是擁有學校教育經驗的原住民，學習到「民族」組成的基本要素，同時間也為「族群意識」找到定義。因此，本研究將探討日治時期殖民者如何透過學校教育形塑「國民意識」，原住民「族群意識」的發軔，和「國民意識」與「族群意識」間並存與對峙的關係。

Japanese gave indigenous people new educational institutions and activities, also imposed Japanese national consciousness into indigenous people's minds by the assimilative education. To accept Japanese education for indigenous people was a new experience. When indigenous people were implanted national consciousness by the Japanese education, in the same time, they also were evoked ethnic consciousness. That is to say that when indigenous people with Japanese educational experience learned national constitutes, and they also learned to define ethnicity. The research will be trying to inquire how Japanese colonists to form national consciousness by colonial education, the origin of ethnicity of Taiwan indigenous people in Japanese colonial period, and the relation of coexist and confrontation between national consciousness and ethnic consciousness.