Mon, Jul 22, 2024 page3

• Ministry to expand its high-school chip curriculum

  THE PROGRAM: Courses are open for students from art or science streams and aims to teach the science, industrial ecosystems and international geopolitics of semiconductors

  • By Rachel Lin and Esme Yeh / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  The Ministry of Education is to expand the pilot program of semiconductor education to cover 35 senior-high schools.

  The ministry has extended semiconductor education to senior-high schools and vocational schools, and worked with 11 schools in the pilot program for the 2023-2024 academic year, sources said yesterday.

  The program is to be expanded for the 2024-2025 academic year, which starts next month, and has received applications from about 100 senior-high schools, they said, adding that 35 would be selected.

  

  Semiconductor chips on a printed circuit board are pictured on Feb. 17 last year.

  Photo: Reuters

  Nominated teachers and curricular content are being reviewed by the ministry, the sources said.

  High-school students from art and science streams could register for the semiconductor courses, with more than 1,000 students having done a course a year from now, they added.

  The semiconductor curriculum for senior-high school students was developed in the 2022-2023 academic year, in line with the government’s policy to cultivate talent for the semiconductor industry, the ministry’s Education Administration official Huang Ching-yi (黃?儀) said.

  The curriculum includes “the scientific knowledge of electricity,” “the principle of semiconductors,” “the manufacturing process of semiconductors,” “semiconductor applications in life,” “circuit designs” and “the social aspect” at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels, along with practical classes, Huang said.

  Selected schools may arrange one or two-credit courses for each academic year or provide micro-lectures under the “flexible learning” scheme based on teachers’ expertise, curricular features and students’ needs, she said.

  Industrial and academic resources could also be introduced to the high schools, such as collaborations with college laboratories and lectures by industry professionals or college professors to boost the students’ practical and problem-solving skills, Huang said.

  The semiconductor curriculum, including course-introduction videos and teaching materials for practical classes, would be discussed and designed by high-school teachers, National Taiwan Normal University Affiliated Senior High-School teacher Hung Yi-wen (洪逸文) said, adding that the principles and applications of semiconductors would be covered in the curriculum framework.

  Taiwan’s next generation must build the semiconductor competency, not just to catch up with the information age, but to also develop an understanding of the scientific principles, industrial ecosystems and international geopolitics related to semiconductors, Hung said.

  Students of the art stream are also encouraged to take semiconductor courses in high schools to learn about the semiconductor industry from the global trade and international relations perspectives, he said, adding that such courses would be jointly taught by teachers from scientific and social fields.

  The Taipei Municipal Nangang High School was the first to implement the ministry’s semiconductor curriculum and was selected by 28 freshman-year students, school physics teacher Cheng Hsiang-ti (鄭翔帝) said.

  The biggest challenge is to succinctly explain the complicated principles of semiconductors to high-school students, while also using practical classes to spark their learning interest and equip them with applicable skills, he said.
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