Review and Experience Sharing on Environmental Education for Pollution Prevention and Control in Taiwan

Environmental education, implemented through educational methods, is considered a crucial strategy for influencing environmental behavior and promoting environmental conservation.Taiwan stands out as one of the few countries that have legislated in favor of environmental education.In 2010, Taiwan passed the Environmental Education Act, which officially came into effect in 2011.According to the Article 3 of the Regulation of Environmental Education Personnel Certification and Management of the Act, environmental education is delineated into eight major professional fields: school and social environmental education, climate change, disaster preparedness and response, nature conservation, pollution prevention and control, environmental and resource management, cultural preservation, and community participation (Ministry of Environment 2023).The context of 'environmental education for pollution prevention and control' includes preventing human activities from causing damage to the living environment or harming public health, covering four dimensions: scientific facts, pollution control, pollution prevention, and policy regulations (Ministry of Environment 2024).Due to Taiwan's rapid economic development, several significant environmental pollution incidents have occurred, such as the Green Oyster Event in the Erren River, the pollution incident at the Taiwan Alkali Anshun Plant, and the RCA Incident in Taoyuan.Additionally, due to the geographical and climatic factors, concerns about poor environmental quality are largely concerned by the publics.These make the 'pollution prevention and control' an essential field in the environmental education.According to the 'National Curriculum Guidelines of 12-year Basic Education, environmental education aims to achieve five main objectives: environmental awareness, environmental knowledge, value attitudes, action skills, and environmental action (Ministry of Education 2019).Therefore, when designing educational materials and methods for pollution prevention in environmental education, it is essential to address all five educational goals simultaneously to effect behavioral change related to the environment.The article first reviewed and analyzed the teaching materials for 'Pollution Prevention and Control' on the website of the Environmental Education Discovery Center, a virtual worldwide web platform to promote environmental education by the Ministry of Environment.The teaching