Technology Education in Taiwan.

Technology education focusing on technological literacy is provided to Taiwanese students in grades 1-11, primarily through the secondary school subject Living Technology (LT). Taiwan's newly promulgated national curriculum for grades 1-9 has integrated LT with natural science for the key learning area (KLA) Natural Science and Living Technology. Taiwan's national curriculum for grades 10-12 is also currently under revision. The hope is that technology will become an independent KLA. The following are among current efforts to promote technology education in Taiwan: (1) cross-country studies of teaching strategies, learning assessment, and methods of identifying and assessing technological literacy; (2) development of numerous technology unit plans; (3) publication of the practitioner journal "Living Technology Monthly"; (4) implementation of technology teacher professional development workshops; and (5) numerous activities sponsored by the Industrial Technology Education Association, Taiwan, R.O.C. The following issues facing technology education in Taiwan have been identified: (1) technology is not well understood; (2) technology education at the elementary school level is still not universal; (3) further study examinations caused a lack of teaching vitality at the secondary level; (4) differences exist between the curriculum standard and the actual learning environment; and (5) technology teacher education programs are diluting their professional roles. (MN)