2026.0827
NTNU Researchers Describe New Species of Skink in Honor of Two Pioneers of Salamander Research
With funding from the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, a research team from the Amphibian and Reptile Laboratory at National Taiwan Normal University has conducted taxonomic research on small lizards. The team has identified a new species endemic to Taiwan’s mid-elevation cloud forests. It is also one of the smallest lizards known from Taiwan. The new skink was recently described in an international journal and named “Lue & Lai’s Ground Skink,” in honour of Professor Kuang-Yang Lue (呂光洋) and Dr Jun-Shiang Lai (賴俊祥) for their contributions to the study of Taiwan’s high-elevation salamanders.
2026.0728
Siblings or Peers? Researchers Uncover the Key Drivers of Early Childhood Social Development
Many children today grow up as only children, and even within extended families, cousins are not always part of the picture—so it is often not until children enter school that they have their first real encounters with peers their own age. To understand how peers shape the social development of children who do and do not have siblings, a research team led by Associate Professor Li-Tuan Chou and Assistant Professor Shu-Man Huang of the Department of Child and Family Science at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) drew on longitudinal data from the Kids in Taiwan (KIT) database. The team found that both siblings and peers help children develop independence, assertiveness, and sociability—and that for only children without siblings, peer relationships play an especially important role.
2026.0703
NTNU AI Education Research Expertise Supports Taipei City’s AI Education Policy White Paper
As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly enters educational settings, Distinguished Professor Ting-Chia Hsu of the Department of Technology Application and Human Resource Development at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), who also serves as Director of the Division of Logic and Programming Education in NTNU’s Office of Academic Affairs, delivered introductory remarks at the launch event for the Taipei City AI Education Policy White Paper on July 3, 2026, in her capacity as editor-in-chief of the White Paper. Professor Hsu highlighted an important policy shift: AI education is moving from tool adoption to systemic governance, and from isolated applications to city-level educational infrastructure. She noted that AI is no longer merely a new classroom tool; it is reshaping how teachers prepare lessons, design materials, provide assessment feedback, and how students ask questions, explore knowledge, and create. The core purpose of AI in education, she emphasized, is not to pursue technological novelty, but to deepen learning outcomes across subject areas and interdisciplinary learning contexts.
2026.0626
How AI Is Transforming Vocabulary Learning in Taiwan
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated into everyday life, educators are exploring whether it can also serve as a powerful tool for language learning. Professor Ting-Chia Hsu, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Technology Application and Human Resource Development at National Taiwan Normal University, led a research team investigating how AI-based image recognition technology can be applied to English vocabulary acquisition. The findings indicate that combining AI with self-directed learning strategies not only improves elementary school students’ vocabulary learning outcomes, but also strengthens their learning behaviors and motivation.
2026.0616