Page 97 - Hualien Sustainable Living Bilingual Magazine

The Hualien Smart Education Center has the most comprehensive digital education resources in Taiwan. In recent years, it has held many exciting and diversified programming language competitions to foster children’s logical thinking and teamwork skills. Participants are required to complete problem solving and programming tasks within two hours to solve specific issues. Director Xu said, “After each group is assigned a problem, they have to work together to solve it. They have to fully understand the logic of the problem, and then think of a feasible solution.”Teamwork, logical thinking, and communication skills are evident in the competition. As Director Xu said“, For example, if you get an environmental issue, the first step is to use animation to explain the situation of the environmental issue and to present the observed problem.” The animation could include character design, story context, and a narrative timeline. They must then summarize and analyze the problem and propose a solution. The competition also included programming games that allow participants to practice and gain long-term knowledge while having fun. On the second day of the competition, the participants would explain to the judges in person the reasons for their design and the special technologies applied in the programming games. The competition is recorded and also streamed live. This annual competition trains children’s awareness of problems and allows them to express their vision of a smart city, so that they can gradually realize that the whole world is an interconnected network now and in the future. Moving on to a different topic, Director Xu mentioned the“Scripture Reading Campaign” in particular. He said,“The Hualien County Government has been promoting the scripture reading campaign for more than 10 years, the goal is enhance the character of students by reading aloud and reciting passages from ancient scriptures. In recent years it has been supplemented by the Scripture Study and Reading Learning Platform to make reading old classics more interesting and fun.”In line with the 2019 syllabus that emphasized independent learning, the scripture reading platform records children’s learning hours and rankings. It also uses gamified elements such as quizzes, fighting monsters, virtual egg hatching, and even virtual learning companions to accompany them on their quests and interactions, so the children can gain a sense of accomplishment in learning by accumulating points, thereby motivating them for further learning. 92 Hualien Issue