News--Welcome to National Chiayi University

　　A number of up to 78 college student research projects of National Chiayi University obtained subsidies from Ministry of Science and Technology in 2016, ranking top four among the public universities of Taiwan, behind only National Taiwan University, National Cheng Kung University, and National Tsing Hua University. The students research projects of NCYU had attained the College Student Research Award from the Ministry of Science and Technology for two successive years from 2014 to 2015, bearing witness to the effectiveness of the university in facilitating “problem-based learning” (PBL) strategies.

　　NCYU indicated that they have been encouraging students to submit research questions based on related courses in conjunction with PBL measures throughout the years. The PBL methods allow the students to develop proposals into research projects under the supervision of teachers with background pertinent to the research themes, who are invited by each respective department. By cultivating students’ abilities in carrying out research projects and completing research reports, they hope to enable the students to learn from the experience, and help enhance their experimental and practical ability, analysis, criticism and integration ability, and problem-solving skills, thus boosting the learning effectiveness of theory courses.

　　NCYU President Chiou Yi-Yuan indicated that all the teachers are more than willing to navigate the students through the fun and secrets of doing research in their spare time. It is also a way to enrich their learning experiences. Also noteworthy is the fact that several of NCYU student research projects have won recognition by winning the College Student Research Award for college student research projects from the Ministry of Science and Technology. Award winners included Li Zhen-Zhen’s “A Study on the Cognitive Development of Children Between 5 and 6 Years Old in Addition/Subtraction Reversibility Principle from the Viewpoint of Micro-Development Theory” (2015), advised by Lai Meng-Lung, a teacher from the Department of Early Childhood Education; Yang Mei-Juan’s “Visual Image Presentation and Aesthetic Preferences of Children’s Ebooks” (2014), supervised by Wang Xiu-Feng, a teacher from the Department of E-learning Design and Management; and Chen Si-Yin’s “A Study on the Effects of Intervening with Interpersonal Skills of Students with Emotional Dyslexia with Facial Emotion Recognition Training” (2014), under supervision of Chen Cheng-Chien, a teacher of the Department of Special Education.

　　NCYU stressed that PBL is one of the strategies to subvert the traditional didactic teaching methods. Under the guidance of the Ministry of Science and Technology in terms of the college student research project program, they hope to help establish high-level mental abilities in the students, and solidify their professional academic competence research project through the research projects.