An international symposium and workshop on promoting early childhood aesthetic education was held April 26-27 in the southern city of Tainan to share experience and boost exchanges between local educators and global counterparts.
Organized by the Ministry of Education, the event featured a master workshop, keynote speeches and a roundtable forum. It was themed around bridging children’s social and emotional learning through rich sensory experiences and is part of the ministry’s Early Childhood Aesthetics Education Cornerstone Project carried out by National University of Tainan.
One of the event’s highlights was a workshop led by Julie Dunn, an adjunct professor from Australia’s Griffith University. She explored the use of role-play in social and emotional learning, presented practical examples and introduced strategies for incorporating playacting into educational activities.
Stephanie Sanders-Smith, an associate professor from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, pointed out during her keynote speech that truly holistic education should integrate the social, emotional and cognitive development of both teachers and students. Tam Po Chi, an assistant professor from the Education University of Hong Kong, joined the roundtable forum as a panelist, utilizing both Eastern and Western perspectives to analyze local cases in Chiayi City and Nantou County and impart a deeper understanding of aesthetic education’s role in supporting children’s social-emotional learning.
In addition, the forum featured a special session by four teachers who participated in the ministry’s overseas training program. They shared how artwork and the Spanish lifestyle enrich children’s aesthetic experiences and used the example of a preschool in Barcelona to explore the role of architectural elements in preschool environments.
The event showcased Taiwan’s fruitful results in aesthetic education, the MOE said, adding that it anticipates that the event will inspire more theoretical insights and practical innovations for all participants. (YCH-E)
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