Media use, scientific literacy and attitude toward science among college students in Taiwan

在過去幾十年間，科學素養備受國內外學者重視，提升國民的科學素養程度不但被多國政府納入國家重點施政方針，相關調查與具體的教育措施亦成為研究者的關注焦點。大眾媒體向來是一般閱聽眾接觸科學資訊最常見的管道，因此如何讓科學知識能普及於一般民眾，甚至讓非專業人士也能對科學有正面評價並支持科學發展，便成為科學工作者傳遞科學資訊的挑戰。針對民眾科學知識與科學素養的相關研究，近十多年來在國外幾乎不曾間斷。然若回顧台灣本地文獻，大規模的科學素養或科學態度調查則較少出現。為彌補此一研究缺漏，本文擬以全台灣地區的大學在學生為調查對象，透過科學問卷設計，進行全國大學生科學素養與科學態度調查，同時將媒介使用與人口變項納入分析之中，以期了解彼此間的相互關係。 本研究透過隨機抽樣，抽出十一所分別位於台灣北、中、南、東的大專院校，於民國九十八年六月間進行問卷調查與回收，最後共取得1838份有效問卷，以統計軟體SPSS中的t檢定與階層迴歸分析後，研究發現如下：一、在新聞媒介使用上，大學生接觸網路頻率最高，電視次之，報紙與雜誌殿後；二、在科學素養方面，男性、就讀理工組相關科系、念公立大學、在班上成績較佳的學生，有較好的科學素養程度；科學態度與科學素養則無顯著相關；三、除了電視新聞與電視科學內容接觸外，其他種類的媒介使用對科學素養並無顯著影響；四、本研究發現，收看電視的頻率越高，科學素養越低落，且無論新聞或科學節目皆然；五、在控制住所有可能的影響因素後，影響科學素養最有力的變項分別為「公私立大學」、「就讀科系」與「班上成績」，顯示學校教育與過去學習背景是影響台灣地區大學生科學素養程度的最主要因素。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