Erica Yu-Ting Huang

In Taiwan, test-driven pedagogy is overwhelmingly prevalent. A long-held belief in the supreme value of academic achievement is overshadowing the abilities to think, judge, feel, and imagine in our learning process. These competencies, vital to our growth as a society, are absent from our grading systems, with no intersection between academic education and social development in our primary schools.

BRIDGE supports teachers seeking to foster these competencies in their pupils and helps strengthen relationships between parents, schools and students. Three solutions were contextual as a result of the research; an adaptable guidance module to steer integration of teaching content with social conscience; a balanced interaction of pupil's performance with parents to ensure key considerations are bridged; and an online platform for creating transformational change in the teacher communities exchanging practical lesson plans and professional knowledge.

With BRIDGE, teachers have the freedom to combine their own teaching content with expert guidance modules and engaging social issues. Students grow in social conscience as they grow in skills such as depicting, observing, comparing, empathizing, evaluating, and acting.

BRIDGE enables teachers to effectively share their pupils’ additional achievements with parents and in doing so help parents to understand the importance of education that goes beyond grades.

BRIDGE bridges the gap between urban and rural areas by serving as an online platform for the exchange of teachers’ lesson plans and professional knowledge.

BRIDGE intervenes in the predicament of education in Taiwan by creating opportunities for understanding and cooperation. Together, we are confident that we can raise a generation of socially-minded citizens with the skills to bring real change.