On his first day in office, cognitive scientist-turned Minister of Education Ovid Tzeng (
Tzeng, who was president of National Yang Ming University before his new appointment, said he will launch programs intended to train "seed teachers" in efficient teaching methods, applying his field of expertise.
"Since I've spent a lot of years doing research on cognitive science, there are some theories I wish to promote in terms of the teaching process," Tzeng said. "I hope to set up models that will eventually spread to become universal." Tzeng said he has been collecting the successful experiences of local teachers and is trying to integrate these experiences for all teachers to share.
In particular, Tzeng said, teachers should be trained to guide school children to do reading that is helpful to the development of their thinking ability.
"Reading doesn't mean making children bury their heads in books," he said. "It means applying what we learn from books to our abilities to function in the real world."
Addressing the issue of problem teenagers by promoting family education is another area of focus.
"It has been discovered that the collapse of social values is reflected in some problem teenagers," Tzeng said.
Tzeng pointed out that research has shown that there are two crucial periods in a person's life concerning his or her cognition: one is the first three years of his or her life, and the other is adolescence.
"Education should start as early as possible in the family when the children are very small," Tzeng said.
Tzeng said he is strongly against using corporal punishments on children, because the punishments will only "suppress," rather than "extinguish," a negative behavior.
"Furthermore, corporal punishments will cause a hidden fear in the minds of children," Tzeng said. To promote this idea, Tzeng said he will tour schools to give speeches on the negative impact of corporal punishments.
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