09:45 〜 10:00
[G04-04] An Exploration of Measures of Citizens’ Ocean Literacy in Taiwan
キーワード：Ocean Literacy, Ocean Conception, Attitudes toward Ocean, Interesting issue of Ocean
One important objective of ocean education is the enhancement of learners’ ocean literacy, including, but not exclusive to ocean conceptual understanding, problem-solving ability, attitude toward ocean, and care about the ocean public issues. Ocean literacy may be a key to (1) link public with the understanding of ocean and ocean’s influence, (2) applying ocean knowledge to solve problems and issues regarding the ocean and its resources, and (3) to inform and taking actions to public issues. However, previous studies have rarely surveyed citizens’ ocean literacy, and to confirm the impact of ocean literacy on citizens’ willingness to take action. This study attempted to fill this gap by conducting such an inquiry.
This study explored public ocean literacy in Taiwan. To measure ocean literacy in terms of ocean concept understanding, attitudes toward the ocean, and interesting in studying ocean issues, Ocean Conception Test (OCT, multiple-choice question), Attitudes toward Ocean Inventory (AOI, 5 point Liker scale), and the Interesting in Studying Ocean Issues Instrument (ISOI) were constructed. Totally 324 subjects participated in this study.
The OCT is a 75questions questionnaire to measure ocean concept understanding. The mean score was 45.02 (SD =11.03). Three major misconceptions were: (1) what is the major mechanism causing sea level rise; (2) what is the major mechanism causing storm surge; (3) The reason why Kuroshio is called ‘black current’. The mean score of AOI is 3.48 (SD =0.52), shows subjects have a positive attitude toward marine science. With respect to ISOI, the analysis revealed that the top 3 most interesting topics of marine issues subjects would like to study were: ‘coral reef ecosystem’, ‘dead zones’, and ‘ocean resource conservation’. Besides, attitudes toward ocean explained significantly more variance in willingness to take ocean action than of ocean concept understanding.
To conclude, this study may be of importance in providing researchers with a better understanding of citizens’ ocean literacy. It is our hoped that this analysis and discussion will encourage the inclusion and replication of the public understanding of ocean.
This study explored public ocean literacy in Taiwan. To measure ocean literacy in terms of ocean concept understanding, attitudes toward the ocean, and interesting in studying ocean issues, Ocean Conception Test (OCT, multiple-choice question), Attitudes toward Ocean Inventory (AOI, 5 point Liker scale), and the Interesting in Studying Ocean Issues Instrument (ISOI) were constructed. Totally 324 subjects participated in this study.
The OCT is a 75questions questionnaire to measure ocean concept understanding. The mean score was 45.02 (SD =11.03). Three major misconceptions were: (1) what is the major mechanism causing sea level rise; (2) what is the major mechanism causing storm surge; (3) The reason why Kuroshio is called ‘black current’. The mean score of AOI is 3.48 (SD =0.52), shows subjects have a positive attitude toward marine science. With respect to ISOI, the analysis revealed that the top 3 most interesting topics of marine issues subjects would like to study were: ‘coral reef ecosystem’, ‘dead zones’, and ‘ocean resource conservation’. Besides, attitudes toward ocean explained significantly more variance in willingness to take ocean action than of ocean concept understanding.
To conclude, this study may be of importance in providing researchers with a better understanding of citizens’ ocean literacy. It is our hoped that this analysis and discussion will encourage the inclusion and replication of the public understanding of ocean.