Taiwan Today

Science excites all ages through diverse events and activities.
 

Anyone even slightly inquisitive would be intrigued by Taipower D/S One’s ultra-modern building in New Taipei City’s Banqiao District. As a clue to what goes on inside, D stands for design and S for sustainability‭, ‬for‭ ‬the public-access venue is a concrete sign of Taiwan Power Co.’s (Taipower) commitment to using innovative design to help Taiwan achieve sustainability. At the facility student groups, who form the majority of visitors, learn about the smart grid developed by the state-owned utility and various green energy sources through interactive displays and teaching aids on power generation. There is even a giant robotic arm that gives an exciting and informative virtual reality experience featuring bird’s eye views of wind power turbines standing tall on the country’s western coast. “Taipower’s top priority is to ensure stable power supplies, but providing education about our mission has become a major strand of our outreach work,” said Cheng Wei-kang (鄭維剛), director of the facility. 
 

Taipower D/S One is one of the 20 facilities designated by the government as popular science education bases since 2020, when the Ministry of Education (MOE) started organizing the Taiwan Science Festival (TSF). Like the five MOE-overseen large-scale museums of natural science including National Taiwan Science Education Center (NTSEC) in Taipei City, these facilities from the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) in northern Taiwan to Kenting National Park Headquarters in the south are designed to teach the public about the scientific concepts that underpin their everyday lives.
 

The promotion of popular science is in line with the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization designation of July 2022 to June 2023 as the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development, a concept that hopes to make science more mainstream and advance the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. “Science shouldn’t be an exclusive area of knowledge; it should be part of life for all,” said Lee Yu-Jiuan (李毓娟), director of the MOE’s Department of Lifelong Education. “If we improve the public’s scientific literacy and support acquisition of basic scientific knowledge, people are more likely to tackle challenges and understand the importance of sustainable resources.”
 

Li Wang-long (李旺龍), professor of materials science and engineering at National Cheng Kung University in southern Taiwan’s Tainan City, stresses the need to popularize the topic. “It’s very important to explain science to everybody clearly,” said the academic, who teaches science marketing to equip college students with communication skills specific to the subject. “Only when people fully understand something will they act on it and seek change,” he added.

Performing Science

Over nine days in November, the 2022 TSF hosted diverse activities to communicate the message. At NTSEC’s invitation, EDU Musical Theatre creates a popular musical every year for the event based on true stories from abroad that are little known in Taiwan. Shows over the past three years have portrayed ingenious individuals or groups using mathematics to solve major problems they encountered.
 

National Science and Technology Museum (NSTM) in southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung City is an MOE-overseen facility that also takes part in TSF. The museum furthers popular science education through projects like Meet the Scientists on Sunday Science Lecture organized by Li. The initiative has been running for two decades, each year inviting 16 scientists from various fields to talk about how their specialty closely relates to current events or everyday life. Other activities held by NSTM during the festival  have included a fair where booths set up by Taipower D/S One and similar facilities offered knowledge through interactive experiences. One of the most popular was an escape game in which participants had to solve riddles related to climate change to safely exit. 
 

For Tai Ming-fong (戴明鳳), professor of physics at National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in northern Taiwan’s Hsinchu City and director of its Interdisciplinary Science Education Center (ISEC), giving people hands-on experience is a major way to make science more approachable. “It’s a more interesting and effective method for understanding scientific concepts than simply memorizing theories and formulas,” she said. Founded in 2014, ISEC is responsible for communicating science to the public using teaching materials ranging from educational toys designed by center staff to sophisticated imported models of items like steam engines and coal-fired power plants. Staff travel to school campuses around Taiwan or teach groups of students that visit the university. In 2021 the center organized activities and courses totaling 1,209 hours, or 23 hours a week on average, with the majority of attendees being elementary, middle and high school students.

All Aboard

ISEC is a major stakeholder in the Popular Science Train (PST) project, an annual event organized by the Cabinet-level National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) to inspire young people to explore technology. First held in 2016, the project invites students from various regions to travel certain legs of a train journey around Taiwan, with the NTHU center responsible for organizing the part of the trip covering Taoyuan City, Hsinchu City and County and Miaoli County. Departing from Taipei City on a Monday morning in October this year, the train picked up and dropped off over 10,000 students at railway stations, where they participated in science activities organized by local schools and national-level institutions like NTSEC and TASA.
 

National Hsinchu Industrial High School is one of the educational bodies that set up booths at Hsinchu Railway Station. A recipient of MOE funding to promote education in emerging technologies, the school demonstrated how artificial intelligence (AI)-controlled robots move around to pique students’ curiosity. “This way they gain some basic knowledge about AI and self-driving tech,” said Hsieh Jian-chung (謝建中‬), director of the Hsinchu school’s Practicum Administration Office. “Our job is to spark an initial interest. If students are willing, we invite them to our school so they can explore the topic further,” he added.
 

As PST became an autumn fixture, it also started running on branch railways in more remote areas. The project extended to central Taiwan’s Jiji line in 2020, and last year Hsinchu County’s Neiwan line was included for the first time. “Remote places tend to lack resources, but I’ve seen children perform well in science once they’re given the opportunity,” said Tai. According to the NSTC, over 1,300 students from 70 schools in remote areas took the train last year. Of these, about 500 then made additional trips to education facilities. Scores of students from Baling Elementary School deep in Taoyuan’s mountains, for example, took in NTSEC and two other institutions on trips arranged by Tai. 
 

Local governments are also working to popularize science by staging festivals. One such event is Taipei Science Day organized by Taipei City Government since 2015, which features demonstrations by students from selected primary and secondary schools in the capital to explain natural phenomena like gravity and capillary action. Last year ISEC helped Hsinchu County and Miaoli governments plan their respective events and invited entities keen on spreading enthusiasm for the subject to join. With good timing and prominent venues, both drew crowds: Hsinchu’s event took place alongside a national electronic gaming competition for high school students and Miaoli staged its event at one of the largest shopping complexes in Taiwan. “These science festivals are great platforms for institutions to connect with the public and show what they offer,” Tai said. The event was a first for Miaoli, with 30 institutions and organizations taking part. 
 

To date nearly every city and county around the country has its own science festival, many of them assisted by professionals like Li and Tai. Taiwan’s enthusiasm to engender public scientific literacy is buttressed by facilities like Taipower D/S One, whose staff started visiting schools last year to impact more students by taking their learning activities outside the museum’s walls. “Popular science education is certainly attracting more attention than ever before in Taiwan,” said Tai. “It’s crucial to sharpen Taiwan’s competitive edge and play an active role in the global campaign for a better tomorrow.” 
 

Write to Oscar Chung at mhchung@mofa.gov.tw