High-school teachers lack teaching materials on environmental education and climate change issues, Greenpeace Taiwan said on Friday.
Greenpeace Taiwan distributed questionnaires to teachers across the nation for a survey titled “Taiwan Climate Change and Environmental Education.”
Among the 1,035 valid responses, more than 80 percent had a “low degree of satisfaction” with the environmental education teaching materials and textbooks that schools provide, the group said.
Huang Shang-ching (黃尚卿), project manager for environmental education at Greenpeace Taiwan, said that the survey was sent to high-school teachers of social sciences, biology, Earth science, geography and those who teach environmental education of their own initiative.
The rate of climate education in the north of Taiwan is higher than elsewhere, with 72.5 percent of respondents having such course material in Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, and Hsinchu and Miaoli counties, Huang said.
Among respondents with at least 20 years of experience, 76.6 percent had environmental curricula, compared with 57.5 percent among those with fewer than 10 years of experience, the survey showed.
“It is likely that teachers with more working experience have a better handle on the overall curriculum and the content of courses, so they have more time to teach extra lessons and run programs outside the regular curriculum,” Huang said.
“When these teachers are aware of the effects of climate change, they become quite supportive of teaching about it,” he said. “However, we also found that some are resistant to teaching about climate change and cross-disciplinary programs that require cooperation with other teachers.”
Most high-school teachers have concluded that most students lack interest in climate change issues and its immediate effects, the survey showed.
In follow-up interview with respondents, Greenpeace Taiwan said that it found that lack of interest was a result of pressure from families for students to achieve high grades, while other factors included the low cost of electricity, and an impression that climate change has not directly affected people.
Many teachers mentioned that when the weather is hot, the only solution students have is to tweak the air conditioner, Huang said.
“Teachers said that students know about climate change, but their personal lives are not greatly affected by it and they have not considered ways to mitigate it,” he said. “Taiwan has only taken the first steps regarding knowledge about climate change. People are aware of the effects, but understanding has not yet reached a deep and broad level.”
If environmental education does not bring about improved awareness and understanding, then when students finish school and lose contact with teachers, it becomes a fairy story for most, he said.
The low level of satisfaction with climate teaching materials is because the contents are brief and simplistic, while only four hours of teaching are required in a school year under the Environmental Education Act (環境教育法), making the subject a mere formality, Huang said.
Teachers are forced to go online or obtain materials from civil organizations, which further hinders climate change and environmental education, he said.
Greenpeace Taiwan said that it would propose a climate change and environmental education program for high schools to establish a platform for active learning and exchanges of ideas on the issue.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS