Students of a primary school in Yiwu, east China's Zhejiang Province attend a science popularizing class on April 23, 2021. (Xinhua/Hua Hongli)
BEIJING, May 3 (Xinhua) -- For 11-year-old Li Jiaqi, a fourth-grader at the Huangyangmei primary school in the city of Yiwu, it is in a science popularizing class that she knew, for the first time, that fluorescence is a luminescence.
Scientists and volunteers from nearly 10 Shanghai-based research institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) recently brought science classes to two primary schools in Yiwu, east China's Zhejiang Province.
Fang Yuewen, a sixth-grade student at the same primary school, has developed an interest in microbes. "It is amazing to learn more about microbes from the CAS scientists," she said.
In one of the science classes, two volunteers from the Institute Pasteur of Shanghai, under the CAS, introduced the species and reproduction methods of microbes using simple words. They guided the children to observe the microbes under microscopes.
Scientists from other research institutes also brought science classes to the children, covering fiber-optic communication, nuclear power, lasers, thermodynamics, acoustics, and drug development.
Zhu Fangyuan from the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, introduced to the students how the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, a third-generation synchrotron radiation light source, solves problems in life and science.
"The children may have heard about the science device but did not know how it works," Zhu said, hoping to inspire the students' curiosity for science.
"Many children have a dream of becoming scientists when they grow up," said Wang Hong, principal of the Xinsilu primary school that participated in the activity, adding that this kind of activity would help children further explore science.
The purpose is to encourage children's enthusiasm for science in regions with relatively poor science education resources, said Zhang Wenjun with the Shanghai branch of the CAS.
This branch has held more than 20 science popularization activities in eight years in Chinese provinces, involving more than 20,000 students and teachers. ■
