“Planning an Environmental Sustainability Roadmap”: The 3rd Taiwan Science Festival Kicks Off
The Ministry of Education (MOE) held a press conference to introduce the Taiwan Science Festival. Minister Pan Wen-chung of the Ministry of Education, Chief Secretary Lin Kuang-hung of the National Science and Technology Council, and the directors of five science museums jointly announced that the 2022 Taiwan Science Festival would be held from November 5th to 13th.
To meet the global goal of “Net Zero Emissions by 2050” and the advocacy of “Building Climate-ready Communities” set by the United Nations in 2022, the theme of this year’s Science Festival is “Planning an Environmental Sustainability Roadmap”. Accordingly, as citizens of the Earth, we carry the responsibilities and obligations of applying scientific principles, taking actions to achieve environmental sustainability, and building a better environment for future generations.
Minister Pan Wen-chung indicated that science is crucial to improving the overall scientific literacy of the Republic of China (R.O.C. Taiwan), and is the key factor for the R.O.C. (Taiwan) to achieve both “Net Zero Transformation by 2050” as well as sustainable development. The purpose of promoting the Taiwan Science Festival is to popularize science and make “Science Learning and Application” a part of people’s daily lives. At the Festival, visitors of all ages and ethnic backgrounds would be able to find and enjoy novel, interesting, and diversified popular science activities, making learning about science easy and fun. Visitors would subsequently pay attention to sustainability-related issues and become citizens of the Earth with sustainability-related awareness.
During the 3rd Taiwan Science Festival which started as scheduled on November 5th, the aforementioned five museums planned their own unique activities to support the theme of “Planning an Environmental Sustainability Roadmap”. For example, the National Museum of Marine Science & Technology opened the “Ecological Kitchen”, using food ingredient selections to familiarize visitors with ecological issues such as coastal pollution and overfishing. The National Taiwan Science Education Center curated a new biodiversity exhibition, entitled “Homing: A Planet of Hope, A Planet for All”, turning the Center into a magical mountain path for visitors to imagine the blueprint of a sustainable home. The National Museum of Natural Science presented “Sustainable Green Footprint”, where interactive and hands-on activities were used to transform sustainability concerns into daily issues that children can understand. The National Science and Technology Museum created the “Map to Environmental Sustainability”, which allowed visitors to understand the practical actions that are being taken to achieve net zero carbon emissions through experiencing large-scale interactive facilities. Finally, the National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium organized the “Discovering Mother Tongues Along the Creeks” activity, presenting the results of their visits in consulting tribal elders and incorporating their knowledge in marine science educational material, enabling everyone to understand the wisdom of traditional fishing and hunting, as well as the languages of the Indigenous peoples.
The 1st and 2nd Taiwan Science Festivals were both very well-received. Accordingly, this year, the MOE once again invited the National Science and Technology Council to cohost the 3rd Taiwan Science Festival, combining its resources with those of the Council. Concurrently, 24 government departments, four private/public colleges and universities, 22 private institutions, and nine sponsoring companies and foundations, including the Ocean Affairs Council, Bureau of Energy of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and National Academy of Marine Research have also promoted science education and sponsored related activities, enriching the scientific literacy of the public. These efforts succeeded in making the content of this year’s science festival even more diverse and exciting.
The nine-day-long 3rd Taiwan Science Festival featured 10 forums and seminars, 20 dramas, 158 science demonstrations, 226 film and exhibition sessions, 31 science competitions, 223 workshops, 102 science fairs, and 150 other activities, totaling roughly to 930 sessions of activities. The goal was to create an atmosphere for the public to “play” with science in R.O.C. (Taiwan), jointly support, promote and redefine the public’s understanding of popular science activities.
For information on the various activities of the 3rd Taiwan Science Festival, please visit the official festival website at https://tsf.moe.edu.tw/ or the Festival Facebook fan page at https://www.facebook.com/taiwansciencefestival/. Please also add the official Line account at https://line.me/ti/p/@taiwanscifest. Everyone was invited to participate in the Festival, experiencing the exciting lure of science, gaining scientific knowledge, and having fun!