1、 1 com Gaokao to Knowhow CHINAS rise from impoverishednation to economic power-house over the last 3o years hasstunned the world. Equally stun-ning has been the rapid growth of scien-tific research in the worlds most populouscountry. Climate change, energy deficit, anincreasing population and food s
2、hortagesare problems facing China as well as therest of the world. The countrys scientificexpertise will make it an important worldplayer in solving these problems. But there is another problem. To equiptodays students with the skills they needto become the inventors, conservationistsand researchers
3、 of tomorrow. It is vitalthat they receive a new type of scienceeducation. Shanghai Students Top Scorers Chinese students are well known fortheir dedication to study, a quality re-fleeted in recent international test results.Shanghai students blitzed the field in themost recent OECD Programme for In
4、ter-national Student Assessment, topping allthree categories of reading, mathematicsand science. 2 As a comparison, American studentsranked 98th for mathematics, 23rd for sci-ence, and 15th for reading. The UK didntfare much better, coming in at 22nd formathematics, 16th for science and 25th inreadi
5、ng. After the release of the OECDs find-ings, Stuart Kerachsky, head of the U.S.National Center for Education Statistics,told Science magazines “Insiders“ sectionthat Shanghai is an “educational Mecca.“ Some U.S. politicians and educatorswere so concerned about the results fromthis test that they li
6、kened them to a “Sput-nik moment,“ referring to Russias launchof the worlds first space satellite in 1957.That event ratted the U.S. and spurredan increase in spending on science andmathematics education in an effort to winthe space race. Are Test Results All-important? At least part of the reason f
7、or Shang-hai students high scores is the Chineseeducation systems focus on the gaokao,the annual national examination taken bystudents in their final year of senior highsehool. The test determines whether theywill be accepted into university. Schoolsstart testing students at a young age toprepare 3
8、them for this hurdle. Importanceis placed on rote learning, where studentslearn answers through repetition, ratherthan learning the skills needed to workout the answer. This system is not without its critics.Among them is Ou Jiancheng, directorof the Exhibition Education Center at theChina Science a
9、nd Technology Museum,who says Chinese students are often moreadvanced in math and science than theircounterparts abroad, but “when it comesto creativity and imagination, Chinesestudents are usually at the bottom, eventhough they often get high grades on sci-ence tests.“ “The Chinese science educatio
10、n systemover-emphasizes theory and textbookknowledge to the neglect of a fundamen-tal understanding of subjects. To makematters worse, most teachers rely solely on test scores to gauge their students un-derstanding,“ he continued. Creativity and Science Students who can retain scientificfacts have a
11、 much greater chance of be-ing accepted into the most prestigiousuniversities. Problems come after theirgraduation, with many commentators be-moaning the lack of innovation and prob-lem-solving skills that 4 Chinese graduatesexhibit in practical settings. Xu Jilin, a professor of history at EastChin
12、a Normal University, complains,“This rigid examination system has cre-ated an exam-oriented education fromkindergarten on up-a destruction oftalent and waste of youth.“ He refers tothe all-consuming focus on academicsuccess that, when coupled with a lack ofextracurricular activities, leaves students
13、without real-world experience and cre-ative problem-solving skills they can uselater in life. Role of Science Centers A number of national initiatives arenow seeking to improve the problem-solving skills of Chinese students. The“Bridging Science and Technology Muse-urns with Campuses“ program was jo
14、intlydeveloped by the Ministry of Educationand China Association for Science andTechnology, and introduces educatorsto informal education theories not usedin the classroom. The program involvesstudents visiting science museums andinteracting with science and technologythrough exhibitions and hands-o
15、n experi-ments facilitated by trained science com-municators-a big change from home-work and exams. Since its inception in 2007, 48 sciencemuseums across 23 5 provinces have par-tieipated in the program. These museumshave been tasked with building scienceeducation capacity in some of Chinaspoorest r
16、ural regions. This is an ambi-tious goal across such a large and diversecountry, and the program will eventuallypool, coordinate and tap resources fromall of Chinas 280 science and technologymuseums. The concept of using informal educa-tion methods to inspire interest in sciencehas been in place in
17、Australia for over25 years. Brenton Honeyman, managerof Science Communication & StrategicPartnerships at Questacon, Australias Na-tional Science&Technology Centre, says,“Science learning and a nations scientificliteracy does depend on schools, but notexclusively. It is increasingly important torecog
18、nize and accept science centers andmuseums-and other informal sciencelearning initiatives-as valuable parts of anations science education infrastructure.“ Educational Synergy One unorthodox form of science ednea-tion now in place in China links studentswith professional researchers in univer-sities.
19、 A recent success story that madeheadlines involved an 11-year-old Beijingboy partnering with an agricultural scien-tist to test his 6 favorite food for toxins. Grade six student Zhang Hao designedhis experiment under the guidance of Dr.Gao Ruifang, a researcher from China Ag- ricultural University.
20、 Zhang found that 93percent of the mushrooms bought fromlocal market tested positive for a toxicchemieal commonly used to whiten fabricand paper products. News of Zhangs research quicklyspread through Chinese social networksand microblogs, with netizens criticiz-ing government agencies responsible f
21、ortesting food safety. Netizens reaction tothis research resulted in the Beijing Mu-nicipal Bureau of Commerce and Industrycompleting a special inspection of 132mushroom samples, in which they foundthat only three samples had been treatedby the whitening substance, accordingto China Daily. Most Inte
22、rnet postersprofessed to believe Zhangs results overthose of the bureau. While foreign media focused on thefood quality control issues of this story,the innovation shown by Zhang is anequally interesting tale. Zhang is 11 yearsold and had a question about a food helikes, and so designed and ran his
23、ownstudy to answer the question:“Are mush-rooms safe for me to eat?“ Thats the kindof passion educators should be working toarouse in schools throughout China. 7 Science Superpower Zhangs research is just one exampleof the huge number of studies carriedout each year in China. In 2008 Chinaproduced o
24、ver 280,000 research papers,which is 11 percent of all papers publishedthat year, and 6o times more papers thanpublished 12 years ago. China trails onlythe United States in the number of paperspublished annually. China is also a world leader when itcomes to training scientists and.engi-neers, with t
25、wo million a year emergingfrom Chinas tertiary education system.Thats five times the number in the U.S.,according to Research-Works, an invest-ment company that works in Asia. Large numbers of scientists also leaveChina to study and work overseas, butthis is not necessarily a bad thing. Manyof these
26、 researchers are coming back toChina, armed with newly developed skillsfrom their work in American and Euro-pean labs. Chinese research groups regu-larly offer attractive financial packagesto bring back haigui, or “sea turtles,“ asreturning Chinese professionals are collo-quially known. These haigui
27、 have the bestof both worlds:they are bilingual, haveboth Western and Chinese experience,and an education in two cultures. Nowthese returnee 8 scientists need to share theinnovative methods they learned overseaswith todays students. Future Research Needs China, and indeed the rest of the world,needs
28、 intelligent, inspired and creativepeople focusing on some of the biggest is-sues facing humanity. Current estimatesput the worlds population at nine billionby 2o5o. Developments in agriculture andmanufacturing will be crucial to meetingthe demand for more food and materials. Many of the countries w
29、ith the greatestpopulation increases are vulnerable to di-sasters related to climate change, includ-ing floods, droughts, and rising sea levels. Students like 11-year-old Zhang Haowho have taken part in informal scienceeducation programs will play an impor-rant role in combating these issues. Theirscientific knowledge and problem-solvingskills will serve them well. It is vital thatscience education continues to evolve inChina to ensure that the best and bright-est students can be hart of the solution.
