National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST) has once again achieved excellence in innovation and education! The ” Three Islands for Sprouting Voices ” team, composed of students Hsin-Ai Chung, Hui-Ling Chiang, and Wen-Ching Tsai from the Department of Child Care, won first prize at the 2025 NOWnews Citizen Proposal Competition. Their prize winning project, themed “Five-Senses Food and Farming Exploration Box,” features an innovative teaching tool that integrates eating, playing, and learning. By combining a picture book, an app, and sensory activities, the team developed a food and farming education program that makes use of local foods and local characteristics to provide students with an early childhood sensory experience.
Standing out among dozens of youth teams, the group from NPUST received their award from Taiwan Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim. The achievement highlights NPUST’s profound expertise in early childhood education and social care, as well as its innovative energy when it comes to advancing University Social Responsibility (USR).
The “Three Islands for Sprouting Voices” team was inspired by their internship experiences. The members observed that young children possess a high degree of curiosity regarding the natural environment and the origins of their food. This led them to explore how a systematic, life-oriented food and farming teaching technique could be used to help children reconnect with the land, their families, and their cultural heritage. The team name, “Three Islands for Sprouting Voices”, symbolizes the three members as islands nurturing children’s learning—much like young sprouts—with the goal of “listening to the voice of the child” and accompanying them as they grow in nature.
The team’s advisors, Assistant Professor Sheng-Fong Chen (Department of Recreational Sport and Health Promotion) and Assistant Professor Li-Chun Chen (Department of Child Care) remarked that the students’ ability to transform practical observations from their teaching internships into a concrete, socially impactful citizen proposal fully demonstrates the university’s long-standing philosophy of “learning by doing.” This success also aligns with University Social Responsibility (USR) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are promoted at NPUST. The award not only recognizes the students’ professional dedication and academic achievements but also underscores NPUST’s effectiveness in cultivating talent with public participation skills and educational professionalism. National Pingtung University of Science and Technology will continue to encourage students to focus on social issues, go deeper with their professional practices, and foster a sense of responsibility in their cross-disciplinary learning activities.
The team emphasized that food and farming education is more than just planting or cooking; its core value lies in teaching children to cherish food and understand where it comes from, while also promoting intergenerational exchange and cultural heritage through family and community involvement. The team also proposed flexible solutions for urban kindergartens with limited space, such as container gardening and partnerships with local farms, ensuring that food and farming education can be implemented in diverse environments.
