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The complete curriculum schedule of the School of Dentistry, National Taiwan University (NTU) appeared in 1960. This study aimed to understand the development of dental education in Taiwan by comparing the past and current dental school curricula of NTU.This study collected the 1960, 1990 and 2020 dental school curriculum schedules for dental students of NTU from the related websites and used the documentary and secondary data analyses to further compare the obtained data.The number of credits for all the curricula offered by NTU to undergraduate dental students decreased from 264 in 1960 to 243 in 1990 and further to 242 in 2020 with a total decrease of 22 credits by 8.3%. The number (proportion) of credits of medicine courses decreased from 102 (38.6%) in 1960 to 52 (21.4%) in 1990, and then increased to 60 (24.8%) in 2020, with a total decrease of 42 credits by 41.2%, while those of dentistry courses increased from 70 (26.5%) in 1960 to 122 (50.2%) in 1990 and further to 132 (54.5%) in 2020, with a total increase of 62 credits by 88.6%. Among them, clinical practice of dentistry had the greatest growth with a total increase of 42 credits by 233.3%.The increase of dentistry courses and the decrease of medicine courses are the general trends for modern dental education. The dental school of NTU has the ability to provide more refined dentistry courses to catch the world trend of dental education.

In traditional Taiwan's society, attending medical school or dental school is usually the greatest aspiration of our students. This study tried to explore the evolution of the tuition and fees for medical education and dental education in Taiwan from 1993 to 2021.This study used the secondary data analysis to survey the changes in the actual amount of the tuition and fees from 1993 to 2021, and the association of tuition and fees with economic indicators.The one-year tuition and fees for medical education increased from 39,020 to 95,200 NT dollars in 1993 to 78,327 and 135,829 NT dollars in 2021 for public and private medical schools, respectively. On the other hand, the one-year tuition and fees for dental education increased from 35,700 to 87,100 NT dollars in 1993 to 71,607 and 130,682 NT dollars in 2021 for public and private dental schools, respectively. Because different increase rates between public and private schools, the gap between tuition and fees per gross domestic product per capita (capita GDP) and those per basic annual salary of labor for public and private schools was shortened year by year.In addition to allowing reasonable increases of tuition and fees, the government should also consider to let the disadvantaged students pay less tuition and fees, assist disadvantaged students through school loans, school grants or scholarships, and improve the opportunities for disadvantaged students to enroll in medical and dental schools through the admission system.

There is no specific admission system for dentistry in Taiwan. The aims of this study were to describe and analyze the current admission processes for entry into dental schools through the university admission system and to compare the geographical distribution of dental school enrollees.All seven dental schools of general universities in Taiwan were included to analyze the admission protocols in 2019 and 2020. All data of dental enrollment quotas and dental school enrollees presented in this study were collected from information available to the public on the related websites.The total dental enrollment quotas via the university admission system were 381 in 2019 and 397 in 2020. Those admitted via the special program for indigenous peoples and offshore island peoples were both 27 in 2019 and 2020, respectively. The main dental school admission way was individual application, and the main providers of dental enrollment quotas were northern dental schools and private dental schools. In addition, dental school enrollees were concentrated in the northern region, municipalities, and cities in Taiwan.Further advancement is needed to expand participation and broaden the sociodemographic profile of dental school applicants. The dental schools would benefit from a long-term prospective study about the correlation of admission methods with students' performance in dental schools. The special program is impacting the equality of admission opportunities. It is necessary to track the practice dynamics of these dental school graduates who were enrolled via the special program as a basis for policy adjustment.

This research uses board games as teaching material to develop students’ decision-making ability and basic scientific literacy and to foster students’ value for nature and social caring by working with socioscientific issues. The board game structure contains four perspective systems: ecological, economic, cultural, and political. In the game processing, students must handle, consider, and understand the different role players’ positions and face different missions that involve socioeconomic and environmental conflicts. When making any decisions, students affect the follow-up game behaviors and develop tendencies. The board game instruction was field-tested with 38 high-school students from two different high schools. Students played the board game for a total of 200 minutes. Students’ scientific conceptions concerning biodiversity (closed-ended) and perspectives on socioscientific issues (open-ended) were assessed before and after the board game lesson. The results showed that students in both high schools significantly increased their understanding of biodiversity concepts, with a high level of effect size (Cohen's d equal to 1.40 and 1.06, respectively, for the two schools). In the semistructured interviews, the interviewed students were able to reflect on the value of animals and provide various opinions about animal conservation and economic development. Keywords: board game, decision making, descriptive research, game base learning, socioscientific issue.

海洋教育是融入基本教育課程的重大議題之一，屬於跨領域的題材，教師必須有相當程度的專業能力方能勝任。從文獻回顧得知教師實施海洋教育遇到的困難，因此本研究引用「關注本位採用模式」（Concerns-Based Adoption Model, CBAM）的架構，並依照個別教師的需求提供客製化的海洋主題教學諮詢。研究者透過舉辦研習以及網路等方式，公開招募志願參與的教師組成社群並接受諮詢介入。研究者藉由CBAM 的三項研究工具，以個案分析的方式，詮釋教師在介入後實施海洋教育的方式：「關注階層」（Stages of Concern, SoC）用以評估教師實施海洋教育過程中情意層面的變化；「使用階層」（Levels of Use, LoU）分析教學行動的改變；「創新配置」（Innovation Configurations,IC），則呈現課程實施的方式與內容。研究者亦收集現場課室觀察與訪談、網路聊天室等質性資料，交叉檢核前述工具分析的結果。共計17 名教師參與本研究，任教階段從幼教到高中職皆有，資歷和專業需求各有不同。本研究的結論為：教師接受介入後，可以解決部分實施海洋教育的困難；關注階層不一定全面提升，但是呈現多元樣貌。使用階層則普遍提升，其中六位教師甚至達到最高等級；創新配置的分析則顯現海洋教育的方式與內容豐富多樣。本研究也發現：教師教學的改變是「需要溝通協調的歷程」，必須考慮個別教師的需求而提供合適的專業成長方案。 Marine education has been a crucial agenda addressed in both elementary and secondary school curricula. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of marine education, most teachers lack related subject matter knowledge and are unfamiliar with the pedagogies. Various literature reviews have revealed obstacles hindering teachers from carrying out marine education, and therefore a professional development program was designed in this study to meet teachers’ demands. The program was based on the framework of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM), which not only can be used to probe educational innovations, but also provides customized consultation in response to individual requirement. Three tools were used to interpret the effects of intervention: Stages of Concern (SoC) questionnaire reveals the affective changes; Levels of Use (LoU) interviews record the behavioral changes; and Innovation Configurations Map (IC Map) demonstrates the content of teaching. Professional development workshops and on-line platforms were held to recruit long-term participants from different levels of schools who cooperated with the research team. Presentations to participants’ classrooms were carried out, and hands-on activities as well as equipment were designed or provided according to individual requirements. Thus, customized needs were satisfied through lengthy discussions between participants. Apart from the data, classroom observations, interviews, and on-line discussions were collected to ensure the validity of the study. For the behavioral aspects, the results show that all participants’ LoU advanced to higher levels; their LoU reached IVA and above, and six of them even hit the highest level, indicating all of them can carry out marine education routinely. For the perceptions about marine education, however, not all participants’ SoC manage to enter into higher stages. Moreover, IC indicates the diversified modes of marine education observed from individual teachers. Based on these findings, the researchers argue that change of teaching is “a process resulting from communication and coordination,” indicating that stakeholders must seriously take individuals’ needs into account and provide customized professional development projects for teachers.

This study aimed to investigate the commonality and differences among AI research and development (R&D) guidelines across nations. Content analysis was conducted on AI R&D guidelines issued by more economically developed countries because they may guide the trend of AI-based applications in education. Specifically, this study consisted of three phases: 1) information retrieval, (2) key term extraction, and (3) data visualization. First, Fisher’s exact test was employed to ensure that different AI R&D guidelines (e.g., the latest ones in the US, EU, Japan, Mainland, and Taiwan) were comparable. Second, the Key Word Extraction System was developed to retrieve essential information in the guidelines. Third, data visualization techniques were performed on key terms across multiple guidelines. A word cloud revealed the similarity among guidelines (e.g., key terms that these guidelines share in common) while a color-coding scheme showed the differences (e.g., occurrence of a key term across guidelines and its frequency within a guideline). Importantly, three key terms, namely, AI, human, and development, are identified as essential commonality across guidelines. As for key terms that only extracted from particular guidelines, interestingly, results with the color-coding scheme suggested that these key terms were weighted differently depends on the developmental emphasis of a nation. Collectively, we discussed how these findings concerning ethics guidelines may shed light on AI research and development to educational technology.

Game-based learning has been shown to motivate and engage students in the domain of learning, knowledge and thinking skills, such as problem-solving and decision-making. This article reports the design and use of an educational board game for learning chemistry that attempts to improve students’ scientific concepts as well as creative problem solving (CPS) skills. The investigation of a board game as a teaching material was conducted in a field test with 48 high school students. After experiencing gameplay, most students’ CPS skills increased, especially in the construct of solution-finding. Their scientific concepts of chemical techniques and products also improved significantly according to the comparisons of pre- and post-test results, indicating that the game context can help students develop a holistic view of the function of chemistry knowledge. Student interviews revealed the nuances of the improvements in the conceptual dimensions as well as the interactivity to construct creative ideas from different points of view. The recommendation to integrate science-related social issues into the game mechanism to enable students to explicitly experience all stages of the CPS process in each game round is the main outcome of this research.

海洋與環境教育已列為中、小學課程重大議題之一，以融入既有學科領域課程的方式進行教學，教師必須有能力選取適當素材、運用有效的教學法並選擇適當的時機在課室中實施，因此凸顯教師專業發展的需求。本研究規劃一個以建立海洋環境教育實務社群為目標的專業成長方案，分成招募期、媒合期和協作期等三階段。本研究報導此專業成長方案在招募階段對29位參與者所做的問卷調查結果，據以推估其持續參與專業成長方案和實施教學的意願。報名前施以問卷結果顯示，多數教師參與本研習課程的期望是充實海洋與環境議題的內容知識和蒐集可用的教學資源。運用關注階層問卷診斷教師對議題融入教學的關注類型，結果顯示僅七位參與者屬於有經驗的使用者，能關注此類教學對學生產生的影響和尋求合作管道，其中六位能積極投入專業成長方案；多數參與者仍屬於非使用者，處於覺察和資訊的關注階層，較低比例願意加入實務社群。本研究結果驗證理論模式，當參與者對革新課程的關注階層愈高，則持續參與專業發展的意願也愈高。建立實務社群作為專業成長方案的目標，可因應高關注階層的參與者對於尋找合作機會和提升學生學習成效的需求。 Marine environmental education is a crucial topic that should be addressed by elementary and secondary school curricula. Teachers are expected to be capable of implementing marine education by adopting appropriate materials and effective teaching strategies. Consequently, there is an increasing need for teachers’ professional development to consider this educational field. A community of practice (CoP) professional development program was designed in this study to meet this need. The program has three phases: recruitment, stimulation, and collaboration. This article mainly reports the survey results of 29 participants collected during the teacher recruitment phase. In the recruitment survey, the majority of participants expressed motivation to increase their knowledge regarding marine environmental issues as well as to gather teaching resources. Data collected from the Stages of Concern (SoC) questionnaire revealed that only seven participants considered themselves experienced at teaching marine environmental science. These participants were either concerned about the effect on students of teaching in this field or interested in working with others. Six out of these seven participants continued to be active in the CoP program. Unfortunately, the majority of participants presented nonuser traits, had the highest concerns regarding stage 0 (awareness) or stage 1 (informational), and were less willing to remain in the program. This study endorses the theoretical model of the SoC, finding that the higher level of concern a participant has, the more likely he/she will be to continue to engage in professional development. The results also suggest that CoP as the goal of a professional program may fulfill the demands of experienced users regarding collaboration and improving learning outcomes.

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an online contextualized test for assessing students’ understanding of epistemic knowledge of science. In addition, how students’ understanding of epistemic knowledge of science interacts with learner factors, including time spent on science learning, interest, self-efficacy, and gender, was also explored. The participants were 489 senior high school students (244 males and 245 females) from eight different schools in Taiwan. Based on the result of an extensive literature review, we first identified six factors of epistemic knowledge of science, such as status of scientific knowledge, the nature of scientific enterprise, measurement in science, and so on. An online test was then created for assessing students’ understanding of the epistemic knowledge of science. Also, a learner-factor survey was developed by adopting previous PISA survey items to measure the abovementioned learner factors. The results of this study show that; (1) by factor analysis, the six factors of epistemic knowledge of science could be grouped into two dimensions which reflect the nature of scientific knowledge and knowing in science, respectively; (2) there was a gender difference in the participants’ understanding of the epistemic knowledge of science; and (3) students’ interest in science learning and the time spent on science learning were positively correlated to their understanding of the epistemic knowledge of science.

Although understandings of scientific inquiry (as opposed to conducting inquiry) are included in science education reform documents around the world, little is known about what students have learned about inquiry during their elementary school years. This is partially due to the lack of any assessment instrument to measure understandings about scientific inquiry. However, a valid and reliable assessment has recently been developed and published, Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI; Lederman et al. [2014], Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 51, 65–83). The purpose of this large-scale international project was to collect the first baseline data on what beginning middle school students have learned about scientific inquiry during their elementary school years. Eighteen countries/regions spanning six continents including 2,634 students participated in the study. The participating countries/regions were: Australia, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, England, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Mainland China, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United States. In many countries, science is not formally taught until middle school, which is the rationale for choosing seventh grade students for this investigation. This baseline data will simultaneously provide information on what, if anything, students learn about inquiry in elementary school, as well as their beginning knowledge as they enter secondary school. It is important to note that collecting data from all of the approximately 200 countries globally was not humanly possible, and it was also not possible to collect data from every region of each country. The results overwhelmingly show that students around the world at the beginning of grade seven have very little understandings about scientific inquiry. Some countries do show reasonable understandings in certain aspects but the overall picture of understandings of scientific inquiry is not what is hoped for after completing 6 years of elementary education in any country.

Examining and developing courses of education for sustainable development (ESD) is the goal of this study. Building on the theory of game-based learning, this study develops teaching strategies that employ board games for ESD. The design context of the board game, entitled “Be Blessed Taiwan”, is situated in the dilemma between biological conservation and economic development. It incorporates four core systemic concepts: the economy, policies, society, and ecology. Students from two high schools played the game for 200 min and 400 min, respectively (100 min per week). The study collected complete pre-game and post-game data from 34 high school students, including the test of scientific concepts, interviews, and gameplay results. The research results indicate that students’ test scores significantly increased after the gameplay with a medium effect size, specifically, a large effect on the dimension of biodiversity concepts and a medium effect on the dimension of biological conservation concepts. The analysis of students’ gameplay results shows the difficulty for high-school students to achieve all four ESD goals.

The use of augmented reality (AR) in education is an emerging trend aimed at improving students' learning outcomes and affective factors. This study further investigated the effects of AR learning activities combined with different approaches, including teacher-centered demonstration and student-centered hands-on, on the conceptual understanding of chemistry and interest in science. Participants of this study included 104 ninth graders from four classes at a junior high school, who were taught by the same chemistry teacher. A quasi-experimental research design was conducted to compare students' pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest scores. Statistical findings were further supplemented by student interviews toward the activities. Results showed that the hands-on learning group performed significantly better on the chemical reactions concept test and interest questionnaire of the immediate posttest than the demonstration learning group. Retention effects also revealed that the students’ conceptual understanding of chemical elements remained effective four months after completion of the learning activities. No significant decline of situational interest and a slightly upward trend of individual interest were found in both groups. According to the interview responses, students were satisfied with the hands-on activities and appreciated the opportunity to be active learners. From this study, hands-on AR could serve as a promising strategy to motivate students in learning chemistry not only for immediate effectiveness but longstanding influence.

The goal of education for sustainable development is to develop future citizens who can make informed decision and take responsible action to solve the problem. The concept of action competence proposed by Jensen and Schnack in 1997, which emerges as a critical thought from traditional environmental education, gradually attracts the attention with the maturing on the idea of sustainability. This research aims to systematically analyse the peer-reviewed studies published between 1997 and 2017 that embraced the concept of action competence as the instructional approach. After coding 170 articles from two quality databases, some patterns emerge from the year of publication in the resulting 34 empirical studies. Findings on the research design, pathway of intervention, instructional setting, and learning outcome increase our understanding of action competence applied in the authentic context. There is a sharp increase on the inter-disciplinary topic of sustainable development. It reflects the influence of the intergovernmental agreement and the resilience of action competence from environmental education to education for sustainable development. Reviewed studies indicate that action-oriented and transformative pedagogy cultivate students to be active participants, empower their capability of deliberating the causes and effects, and construct their visions for finding strategies toward the problems.

This study designed a teaching unit in a chemistry course to engage students in discussing the complex issue of renewable energy development. In the 11-week learning activities, 66 ninth-grade students experienced individual exploration, group collaborative learning, and the operation of a web-based instant response system. Their learning outcomes were measured by the scientific conceptual test and the scientific literacy questionnaire, while their decision-making and argumentation processes were recorded using the instant response system. Results indicated statistically significant gains on the scientific concepts regarding solar cell and energy sources, as well as on the scores of scientific literacy. Likewise, students performed a substantial increase in argumentation skills, especially for those related to evidence-based arguments. Different science achievers showed a mixed pattern in proposing evidence to support their arguments. Using web technology in teaching argumentation on environmental issues is promised to raise students’ interest in acquiring scientific knowledge to deal with relevant issues.

The goals of this study are to determine the Turkish preservice science teachers’ views about scientific inquiry. In this research, simple descriptive survey is conducted for the purpose of describing pre-service science teachers’ views about scientific inquiry. For this purpose, “Views about Scientific Inquiry (VASI) Questionnaire” was utilized to collect data. Seventy two senior preservice teachers in a Science Teacher Education Program at a large university participated in this study. Data were collected using qualitative research methods of individual open-ended instrument, and semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed that the majority of the preservice teachers’ responses of the scientific inquiry aspects are naive. On the other hand, for only three aspects of SI, the pre-service science teachers have informed views. These aspects are inquiry procedures are guided by the question asked and all scientists performing the same procedures may not get the same results. In this research “All scientists performing the same procedures may not get the same results” was the best understood aspect of inquiry and “Scientific investigations all begin with a question” was the least understood aspect of inquiry. This lack of aspect means that senior PST were not well aware that investigations are based on questions. Also, data analysis indicated that preservice science teachers have difficulties with defining the experiment, observation, data, evidence, and different scientific methods.

This case study of marine education, or ocean literacy education, took place in a remote and mountainous elementary school in Taiwan, in which students were well-acquainted with terrestrial reptiles and insects but knew little about the ocean. The authors were motivated to understand how students’ knowledge of the marine environment could improve in a school with deficient resources, and whether curricula that would motivate students to learn on their own could be designed. Due to the compulsory mode of marine education in Taiwan, cooperation among formal and informal stakeholders is difficult but essential for successful teaching. This chapter reports the results of a marine education curriculum design and implementation study. The chapter begins with an introduction of the history of marine education in Taiwan and then proceeds with the combination of resources and professional staff needed to design curricula. Two specific curricula were designed and tested: one about sharks and the other about molluscs. Both these curricula included hands-on activities, integrated resources and were based on educational theories. After teaching on the basis of these curricula, descriptive statistical analysis and student interviews were made to assess the learning outcomes. The results show that the students improved their knowledge of the ocean and at the same time indicated that they were motivated to explore marine issues independently, at least for one curriculum design. These findings point to the learning opportunities that close cooperation between stakeholders for curriculum design open up for, especially for remote, small schools like the one examined in this case study.

This study was designed to exemplify how hands-on based teaching strategies enhanced students’ knowledge and positive attitudes towards sharks. Hands-on activities for sharks’ biological and morphological features were carried out. Eleven elementary school students from a remote area in Taiwan were recruited and assigned to the hands-on condition. They were encouraged to draw pictures of sharks before and after the instruction as the main data for pre- and post-test comparison. Two years later, the retention test and attitude inventory towards sharks were implemented. The results revealed that large effect size emerged for both the post-test and retention test. In regards to attitude inventory, students involved in hands-on activities also significantly outperformed the baseline group. Many of them have taken notice of television programs and books about sharks or marine ecology since the hands-on activities, indicating the instruction had a beneficial impact on their extracurricular lives. Empirical find...

能源素養為知識、態度與行為組成的多面向架構，為瞭解學生能源素養的表現情形，本研究以先前發展的能源素養架構為基礎，對應各指標內涵設計六個情境式題組作為評量工具，以全國國、高中學生為施測對象，共取得2,066份有效樣本。結果顯示，學生的能源素養尚需加強，尤其是評估與判斷國際能源議題的素養指標能力，另從評量試題的文字作答分析發現，學生對溫室效應成因和生質能源等議題持有迷思概念。相關分析呈現知識與行為面向的關聯性較態度與行為的關聯性高。對節能減碳的看法和參加研習次數與素養表現有正相關；年級愈高的學生在素養的整體表現上愈好。本研究建議發展有效的能源課程及教學方式，作為能源教育推動策略之參考。 Energy literacy is multidimensional, comprising broad content knowledge as well as affect and behavior. In this study, an assessment was designed using six contextualized test units to examine student energy literacy. A total of 2,066 secondary students participated in the survey. The results indicated that student energy literacy is low, particularly with respect to the dimension of “reasoning on energy controversies”. Qualitative analyses of student written responses to various question items revealed that students have misconceptions of biomass energy and misconstrue the sources of greenhouse gas. Inter-correlation among the dimensions of energy literacy indicated that energy knowledge and behavior are more closely correlated with each other than are affect and behavior. The students in southern Taiwan scored higher on energy literacy assessments than did the students in northern, central, as well as eastern Taiwan. These findings are a reference for developing energy-related curricula and educational materials to improve student energy literacy.

Taiwan's government enacted the Environmental Education Act in June 2011. In the beginning of the implementation of the Act, a national assessment of schoolteachers’ environmental literacy was performed in order to establish the baseline for evaluating the effectiveness of environmental education policy. This large-scale assessment involved a large sample size of in-service teachers across schools at all levels and regions in Taiwan using the stratified random sampling method. Data showed that the teachers have satisfactory levels of environmental knowledge and attitudes, but presented low degrees of environmental action. Differing from previous research results, elementary teachers performed better than high school teachers on this assessment, which may be attributed to their teacher training experiences. Results from this study may provide implications for teacher professional development programs and school environmental education policy.

Research has indicated that incorporating carbon reduction in the curriculum could improve awareness about energy conservation and related practices. Much research has been conducted on curriculum design and evaluation methods for energy education. However, a comprehensive view of the educational objectives for improving energy literacy is still lacking in these efforts. In this study, we propose a framework for energy education that clearly captures the concept of energy saving and carbon reduction by reviewing related literature and consulting an ad hoc panel of experts on energy and education. We then apply the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to determine the indicators of the framework and their priority or weights. The results show that the dimensions of “civic responsibility for a sustainable society” and “low-carbon lifestyle” are considered most important as an energy educational goal. Among the indicators, “awareness and self-efficacy” and “identifying carbon-less technology and action plans” are ranked first and second. Application of this framework in K-12 curriculum and relevant educational issues are recommended.

To cope with the crisis of frequent occurrences of extreme weather, various sectors are striving to find a way to ease climate change. A common consensus indicates that to reverse this crisis, we s...

This study aims to test the nature of the assumption that there are relationships between scientific epistemological views (SEVs) and reasoning processes in socioscientific decision making. A mixed methodology that combines both qualitative and quantitative approaches of data collection and analysis was adopted not only to verify the assumption but also to explore the patterns of interaction between the two constructs. A total of 177 college students (60% science and 40% non-science majors) completed a SEVs survey and a decision-making instrument. The decision-making instrument contains expository text introducing the environmental management issue of an invasive species, and a series of open-ended questions to elicit participants' reasons and judgments on the issue. Analyses revealed that tentativeness and creativity of SEVs are the significant components directly manifested in the socioscientific decision-making process. Students who held changing and tentative beliefs about scientific knowledge were more likely to recognize the complexity, take multiple perspectives, and question omniscient authority in the decision-making process. It was also found that over one-half of the college students, especially those who were science majors, make decisions based on a single disciplinary perspective. The findings suggest that educational programs should encourage students to actively participate in issue investigation and decision making by utilizing multiple reasoning modes and interdisciplinary thinking. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed95: 497–517, 2011

The aim of this nationwide survey was to assess undergraduate students’ environmental literacy level in Taiwan. A total of 29,498 valid responses were received from a number of selected colleges and universities in Taiwan, using stratified random sampling method. A total of 70 items were used to assess the environmental literacy and the results revealed that undergraduate students had a relatively low level of environmental knowledge and behavior, while a moderate level of environmental attitudes was attained. The findings also indicated no significant correlations between knowledge and attitudes or between knowledge and behavior. However, a higher level of environmental knowledge correlated significantly with a higher degree of pro-environmental behavior, and a higher level of environmental knowledge correlated with stronger attitudes. The results also suggested that females outperformed the males in all categories. Results from this study could contribute towards further relevant policy discussion and decision-making, curriculum design and development to the improvement of environmental education in the higher education sector.

This study explores the relationship, if any, between an individual’s culturally based worldviews and conceptions of nature of science. In addition, the implications of this relationship (or lack of relationship) for science teaching and learning are discussed. Participants were 54 Taiwanese prospective science teachers. Their conceptions of nature of science and their worldviews specific to humans’ relationship with the natural world were assessed using two open‐ended questionnaires in conjunction with follow‐up interviews. Their understandings of nature of science were classified into informed and naive categories based upon contemporary views of these constructs and those stressed in international reform documents. An anthropocentric–naturecentric continuum emerged and is used to explain the participants’ views about humans’ relationship with Nature. Participants who recognized the limitations of scientific knowledge, and accept the idea that science involves subjective and cultural components, were mo...

This chapter highlights the importance of using environmental issues as a resource and a context for science education. A review of literature regarding socio-scientific issuesand science–technology–society–environment (STSE) education demonstrates a rationale for involving environmental issues in science education. It has been suggested that such instruction will effectively improve student decision-making and problem-solving abilities as well as civic participation. I intend to express the status of science and environmental education in Taiwan, and tensions between these two disciplines, by analyzing relevant studies in this regard. Strength and obstacles of incorporating environmental issues into science curricula are discussed. In the final part of this chapter, I present my recent research on teaching approaches that aim to engage students in learning environmental issues. Further studies on teachers’ perspectives on environmental issues and their practical considerations in teaching such topics are recommended.

The purpose of this study was to describe the development and validation of an instrument to identify various dimensions of scientific epistemological views (SEVs) held by high school students. The instrument included five SEV dimensions (subscales): the role of social negotiation on science, the invented and creative reality of science, the theory‐laden exploration of science, the cultural impacts on science, and the changing features of science. Six hundred and thirteen high school students in Taiwan responded to the instrument. Data analysis indicated that the instrument developed in this study had satisfactory validity and reliability measures. Correlation analysis and in‐depth interviews supported the legitimacy of using multiple dimensions in representing student SEVs. Significant differences were found between male and female students, and between students’ and their teachers’ responses on some SEV dimensions. Suggestions were made about the use of the instrument to examine complicated interplays b...

This study examined the conceptions of nature of science (NOS) possessed by a group of gifted seventh-grade students from Taiwan. The students were engaged in a 1-week science camp with emphasis on scientific inquiry and NOS. A Chinese version of a NOS questionnaire was developed, specifically addressing the context of Chinese culture, to assess students' views on the development of scientific knowledge. Pretest results indicated that the majority of participants had a basic understanding of the tentative, subjective, empirical, and socially and culturally embedded aspects of NOS. Some conflicting views and misconceptions held by the participants are discussed. There were no significant changes in students' views of NOS after instruction, possibly due to time limitations and a ceiling effect. The relationship between students' cultural values and development of NOS conceptions and the impact of NOS knowledge on students' science learning are worth further investigation.