Xushui Road Primary School in Qingdao City, Shandong Province recently carried out science education activities, and students learned how to make “paper cup rockets”. Photo by Zhang Ying (People’s Vision)
On May 15, the staff of the Mount Everest Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences explained the functions of scientific instruments to the students of Quanquan Primary School in Tashizong Township, Tingri County, Tibet.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Sun Fei
During his visit to Beijing Yuying School, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that he hopes that the students will establish the ambition of “scientific and technological innovation, and strengthen the country with ourselves” from an early age. They will be brave young scientists now and strive to become great scientists in the future, so as to contribute to the realization of my country’s high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement.
Science education is an important basis for enhancing the country’s scientific and technological competitiveness, cultivating innovative talents, and improving the scientific literacy of the whole people. The quality of science education in primary and secondary schools is crucial to cultivating students’ scientific literacy. How to implement science education in schools? How to make broad extracurricular science education resources? How to provide more high-quality science education for primary and middle school students, and comprehensively improve students’ scientific quality? Schools from all over the world made explorations.
Curriculum is inquiry-focused to stimulate student curiosity
“Wires, batteries, small light bulbs, scissors, red and blue watercolor pens, what do you most want to do when you see these?” Zhao Jiayu, the teacher, prepared a fourth-grade science class at Yongxiu Foreign Language School in Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province. These materials have aroused the interest of the students.
“Everyone, try it yourself first to see if you can light up the light bulb. In addition, no matter whether the light bulb is on or not, you must draw a specific circuit diagram.” As soon as the words fell, the children excitedly tried it.
Why do some bulbs light up and others don’t? Carefully observe each part of the material, what do you find? With the deepening of the questions, students make demonstrations and guesses in practice, and summarize the laws.
It is the first step in science education to develop science courses in accordance with the national curriculum plan, and to continuously optimize teaching plans and learning plans on this basis to stimulate students’ curiosity.
“In addition to regular science courses, the school has also built a maker laboratory, setting up teaching projects such as wheeled robots and drones. After-school services are provided, involving the learning and exploration of comprehensive knowledge such as technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.” The principal of the school, Xiong Junmin, introduced that the students learned through scene-based and experiential projects and gained many creative technological works.
It is a basic principle of science education to appreciate the beauty of science in practice, cultivate the spirit of science in teaching, focus on practice and stimulate interest. At present, schools around the world are constantly innovating methods and methods, taking students as the center, teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, guiding students to consciously acquire scientific knowledge, cultivate scientific spirit, enhance self-confidence and self-reliance, and cultivate family and country feelings.
Nanbin Road Primary School in Hechuan District, Chongqing City built science experiment classrooms, science and technology innovation centers, and science popularization theme exhibition halls, and organized interest groups such as robots, science fiction paintings, 3D printing, and model making, so that students can experience the charm of technology anytime and anywhere; Wu District has opened planting areas, breeding gardens, weather stations and other gardens on campus, and installed Internet of Things devices. Students can observe plant growth, understand animal habits, and observe weather and climate in the process of getting close to nature…
“To improve the scientific literacy of young people, we must provide them with more opportunities to use their hands and brains to carry out scientific innovation activities.” Ni Minjing, curator of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, said that there are still some bottlenecks in the improvement of young people’s scientific literacy, such as physics, chemistry and other scientific courses. Solving problems, ignoring solutions, and extracurricular popular activities lack the cultivation of scientific methods, skills and scientific spirit. Next, we must continue to promote the reform of science education curriculum in primary and secondary schools, highlight comprehensive practicality, strengthen experimental links, and strengthen science teaching that focuses on inquiry.
Strengthen the horizontal connection of disciplines and carry out project-based teaching
Not long ago, Chu Mingtao, a student from Changjun Furong Middle School in Changsha City, Hunan Province, received an award certificate from France—the Silver Medal of the Paris International Exhibition of Inventions. “Using the principle of bionic bird claws and levers, I invented a ‘shoe cover’ that can grasp the cable device, which is convenient for workers to walk on inclined cables and improve work efficiency.” Talking about the award-winning works, Chu Mingtao is very grateful for the guidance The help given by the teacher Chen Shuizhang.
“Can the friction force when grasping the cable be greater? The angle formed by the sole of the foot and the cable is different, can the ‘shoe cover’ change the direction of grasping accordingly?” In order to make the work more perfect, Mr. Chen Shuizhang raised new questions. Following the new idea, Mingtao started to develop “shoe cover version 2.0”. Teacher Chen Shuizhang said that science teachers should have the awareness of synchronous learning with students when guiding students to carry out project research.
The newly revised “Science Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education (2022 Edition)” strengthens the requirements of science courses in terms of hands-on practice, experimental exploration, and the cultivation of innovative thinking, and emphasizes project-based teaching, interdisciplinary comprehensive practical ability and other educational concepts. Science teachers put forward higher demands. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Education said that science teachers should not only impart scientific knowledge, but also cultivate students’ way of thinking, be able to flexibly use scientific methods, grasp scientific ideas, spread scientific spirit, have active innovation consciousness and the ability to organize scientific and technological activities .
“The school adopts the method of ‘self-improvement + clever borrowing of external force’ to promote the development of science teachers.” Xia Qin, the principal of Furong Middle School in Changjun, introduced that on the one hand, the school actively encourages teachers to participate in various training and professional learning, and uses science and technology in primary and secondary schools. Create a famous teacher studio as a platform to establish a team of excellent scientific and technological counselors who combine full-time and part-time jobs; Regular guidance and training of staff to teachers.
“Science education and subject teaching are closely related, and it is recommended to conduct science education training for subject teachers.” Song Shaowei, executive director of the Learning Science Laboratory of the Department of Psychology, Tsinghua University, said that it is advisable to strengthen the supply of science teachers from the source and build a strong group of primary school science teachers. Optimize the training program for normal students in science education and other related majors, strengthen the horizontal connection of disciplines, strengthen educational practice, encourage students to minor in other science and engineering majors or core course modules, and focus on improving the practice of project-based teaching and interdisciplinary teaching for normal students ability.
In recent years, the pace of construction of science teachers in my country has been significantly accelerated. According to data released by the Ministry of Education, the total number of full-time science teachers in elementary schools across the country will increase by 35.3% in 2022 compared with 2012, and the number of science teachers in middle and high schools will increase steadily. At the same time, through the implementation of key projects such as the “National Training Program” and “Summer Science Teacher Training Program”, the overall quality of science teachers’ job identity, cutting-edge awareness, and practical ability has been significantly improved.
Integrate resources inside and outside the school and make good use of social classrooms
On the playground of the No. 1 Primary School in Xi’an Aerospace City, Shaanxi Province, a wonderful scientific experiment is being staged. Liquid nitrogen vaporizes quickly when it encounters warm water, and its volume increases rapidly. Only a “bang” is heard, and a “nitrogen cloud” slowly rises. The students off the court opened their eyes wide and were very surprised.
Next, interesting little experiments such as “helium gas voice change” and “palm flame” aroused bursts of applause. The students were very excited and wanted to explore the magic of science.
“In order to cultivate students’ interest in science, to combine learning and thinking, and to entertain and teach, the school actively expands scientific practice activities. On the one hand, ‘please come in’, carry out activities such as the spirit of scientists entering the campus, science and technology festivals, and popular science caravans; on the other hand ‘Going out’, organizing students to go to science education places to carry out scene-based and experiential scientific practice.” Lu Yan, vice president of the school, introduced.
Some time ago, the school organized sixth-grade students to go to the Xi’an Yanliang Young Eagle Flying Wings Aviation Culture Science Popularization Research Base to experience the charm of aviation technology. “Observing different types of aircraft up close, making aircraft models, and various activities have opened our eyes.” Sixth grade student Han Mingxi said, “My favorite is the VR (virtual reality) experience. After wearing glasses , I seem to be a captain, operating complex instrument panels, soaring into the sky.”
It is an indispensable aspect of science education to make good use of social classrooms, mobilize relevant units, and jointly serve scientific practice education. In recent years, my country has continued to strengthen the construction of various high-quality off-campus venues. At the same time, universities, scientific research institutes, enterprises and institutions have also established various science education social practice bases, which greatly enriched off-campus science education resources. Data show that by the end of 2021, 408 physical science and technology museums, 612 sets of mobile science and technology museums, 1,251 science popularization caravans, 1,112 rural middle school science and technology museums and China Digital Science and Technology Museum have been built.
“While off-campus science education resources continue to expand, there are also problems such as scattered distribution of resources, uneven quality, and poor connection between supply and demand.” The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Education said that on the one hand, we must continue to strengthen venues, bases, camps, parks, production lines, etc. The construction and opening of resources provides a material basis for off-campus education; on the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen the connection between supply and demand, so that the participation method will change from “short-term” to “normal”, and realize the “two-way travel” between off-campus science education and schools.
Today, more technological education resources are gathering. Open the national primary and secondary school smart education platform, the popular science education column in the “after-school service” area, students can roam around science and technology museums; the “Academicians and Experts Popular Science Education Open Class” jointly launched by the Ministry of Education and the Chinese Academy of Sciences provides teachers and students with high-quality popular science education resources …Integrate resources inside and outside the school, accurately meet the needs of students, new momentum and new advantages of science education continue to emerge, and the seeds of science are planted in the hearts of more children.
(Jiang Bowen participated in the interview and writing)