| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 廣告研究所 === 98 === Over the past decades, a growing number of studies have focused on public scientific literacy and tried to examine it. Public familiarity with basic scientific concepts and principles has been proposed as essential for effective decision-making both in personal daily life and national policy. Quantitative and qualitative studies of the public understanding of science have been conducted in many countries. Those studies have provided valuable insights into to what extent that citizens may have understood important scientific concepts, and furthermore, into the ways in which they seek and use scientific knowledge and how they think about science.
There were only few science literacy related studies conducted in Taiwan. Up till now, no representative and population-based study in Taiwan. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to estimate the level of scientific literacy of college students in Taiwan and to explore the relationships between media use, scientific literacy and the attitude toward science.
This study conducted a national survey among college students in Taiwan. One thousand eight-hundred and thirty-eight students participating in this study from June 1, 2009 to June 22, 2009. As expected, male, public university students, majoring science and technology, with better academic performance, will have higher levels of scientific literacy. Scientific literacy is negative related to the frequency of watching television, whether news or scientific programs, which suggests TV programs in Taiwan do not provide quality science contents to audiences. After controlling for a range of socio-demographic variables, it is found that public or private university, major, and academic performance have significant effects on college students’ scientific literacy. Findings indicated that educational variables affect the level of scientific literacy of Taiwanese undergraduates the most.
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