A new chapter in Taiwan's animal protection education: National defense education curriculum uses AI robot dogs to interpret animal rights

The World Dog Alliance and the Life Conservation Association jointly promote the inclusion of animal protection education in textbooks by soliciting teaching plans from teachers and visiting and recommending suitable teaching plans to textbook publishers. It is not surprising that teachers of Chinese, English, nature, history and other courses can write teaching plans, but it is rare that high school instructors can also integrate national defense and animal protection education to compile teaching plans that can inspire students' critical thinking.

Mao Jiahe, an instructor at Taipei Shilin High School of Commerce, published a teaching theme in the national defense education course, "Looking at AI from War - Let AI Robot Dogs Protect Them", guiding students to explore the multiple aspects of national defense technology development and animal rights. Finally, students were asked to answer two questions:

(1) Is it feasible to use AI robot dogs to replace real working dogs (such as search and rescue dogs, detection dogs) or even replace pet dogs (companion dogs) in real society? Please explain your reasons.

(2) In contrast to Germany's animal protection education (concepts) and regulations, do you think Taiwan needs to improve? Please explain your reasons.

Instructor Mao, who attaches great importance to animal protection, took great pains to perfectly combine national defense education and animal protection education. He chose to approach the application scope of "mechanical dogs" in future battlefields from the perspective of national defense technology, and then compared them with real working dogs such as minesweepers, search and rescue dogs, police dogs, coast guard dogs, guide dogs, etc. This not only explained the functions and hard work of various working dogs, but also successfully aroused students' motivation to learn animal protection education.

The 50 min long course is divided into three stages:

1. Development and application of "Robot Dog": Through the video, the development status of AI robot dogs in the United States and China is introduced, including the image of Chinese military robot dogs that can fire live ammunition, which successfully aroused students' attention to the international situation and AI robot dogs. Then, warm and cute images of working dogs are used to explain their work content and characteristics one by one.

2. Animal rights and animal protection law: Using the search and rescue dogs that students are familiar with, the working situation and retirement care issues of working dogs are derived. At this time, the video shows the hardships and risks of injury when search and rescue dogs perform their tasks, and then explores the care issues of working dogs after retirement. It is natural to introduce the "Duty Dog Care Management Rules" that regulate their working hours and working conditions, and then bring out the parent law of this management rule-the "Animal Protection Law" and its legislative spirit, so as to establish a preliminary concept of animal rights for students.

3. Thinking and discussion: This is the core part of the course, and the purpose is to cultivate students' thinking and expression skills. Instructor Mao used the article "Learning from Germany-a country without stray dogs" to let students compare the differences between Taiwan and Germany in animal protection concepts, regulations, civic awareness and social responsibility. Finally, using the "Mentimeter" online voting program, students' answers to questions were collected through a text cloud. The results showed that half agreed and half opposed whether robot dogs could replace working dogs. The reason for agreement was that robot dogs were more responsive and not afraid of getting hurt, while the reason for opposition was that they lacked emotional connection with humans. As for the comparison between Taiwan and Germany, everyone had the same position and believed that Taiwan should strengthen animal protection education and severely punish animal abusers.

Instructor Mao did a good job in his conclusion. He said that it is not difficult to create a truly animal-friendly environment, but it requires everyone to develop a correct concept of animal protection, that is, to put aside the "human"-centered stereotype and truly think about "animals" as the main body to create a symbiotic and friendly environment. In addition to conveying the correct concept of animal protection, Instructor Mao also demonstrated how to win the attention of "mobile phone users" and how to make high school students who don't like to talk in class willing to express their opinions through their mobile phones. He also demonstrated the potential of animal protection education to be combined with any course!