The popular science courses developed by scientific research institutions are "circled fans" in primary and secondary schools, but they can only decline in the face of new demands that continue to emerge.
How does a scientist change from a "guest" to a "frequent visitor" when he enters the campus
Our reporter Xu Qimin
This semester, the "Charming Organic Chemistry" series of courses developed by the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, will be "circled fans" in four primary and secondary schools in Xuhui District.
As a result, the school came to the school every three weeks and invited the team to start the class.
In the face of new demands that continue to emerge, the Institute feels helpless: “Scientists enter the campus to squeeze time to engage in'side jobs,' and to expand the scope of services is beyond our ability.”
In fact, this is not the helplessness of a scientific research institution.
On the one hand, although many scientists have the enthusiasm for science popularization, but because of the heavy scientific research tasks, the energy that can be used for science popularization is limited, and because of their unfamiliarity with primary and secondary school knowledge and lack of control over the classroom, they sometimes accidentally talk about it. Too deep, beyond the ability of students to accept.
On the other hand, many schools are worried about "how to find the right scientist to come to school to start classes".
During the interview, the reporter found that in the context of the “double reduction” policy, the demand for popular science courses to enter campuses has surged.
However, whether it is a scientist or a school, it is hoped that there will be a third party in society to provide relevant platforms and services, so that high-quality science resources can be used to the greatest extent, so as to achieve greater social benefits.
Time is limited, and it's all about interest and feelings to devote yourself to "side business"
Compared with writing a popular science article, giving a popular science lecture or accepting a media interview, giving a popular science course to elementary and middle school students requires more time and energy from scientists.
"At present, it mainly depends on the interests and feelings of scientists." Zhao Ying, the person in charge of the "Pudong New Area Future Science Star Cultivation Program" Scientist Entering Campus Project, when docking courses with scientists, the most frequently heard reply was, "I really want to join. It's a pity to be too busy".
Indeed, scientific research is the main business of scientists, and without first-line cutting-edge innovation, the source of high-quality science popularization will be lost.
It is normal for scientists to work more than ten hours a day, and it is indeed very difficult to free up energy from the little spare time to develop popular science courses.
For this reason, the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences came up with a "crowdfunding" method to develop popular science courseware: the research team in the institute claimed the courseware development of a course, and then unified the standardization.
This method of "resolving into parts" and then "collecting them into pieces" is precisely to spread the burden of each research group.
This semester, the "Charming Organic Chemistry" series of courses developed by the institute has been sought after by students from four primary and secondary schools in the district.
However, this recognition from the campus has brought new troubles to the team: according to the weekly teaching frequency, more than 30 graduate students need to be selected during the school year, and the corresponding courseware and experimental materials should be brought to the school on time. .
Yang Huina, director of the Scientific Research Management Department of the Institute of Organic Chemistry, said frankly that it was "quite hard" to undertake this task.
After all, in addition to scientific research tasks, graduate students also have learning tasks, and there is not much time available for science popularization.
Faced with a recent school invitation, she had to decline.
From the front to the classroom, knowledge solidification requires courseware development services
Due to the shortage of teachers for science courses, Wu Xun Middle School in Nanhui was unable to offer special science and technology courses.
After joining the "Future Science Star" project last year, they hope to introduce more series of courses this year.
Ding Linhua, the vice principal of the school, said frankly that the personality charm of scientists is very helpful in cultivating students' independent thinking ability and broadening their horizons. The school is willing to spend more class hours.
However, it is not easy to "solidify" cutting-edge scientific knowledge into courseware.
With the implementation of the "double reduction" policy, in the face of a large number of needs for school after-school services, who develops the curriculum and who will attend the class has become a "sweet trouble" in the minds of scientists.
Lou Weiyi, the vice president of the Second Affiliated Middle School of China Normal University, believes that there are currently many scientist lectures in colleges and universities that enter middle schools, but there are several hurdles to go through to transform the lecture content into a class.
For example, experts and professors must accurately understand students' knowledge reserves and learning abilities, only in this way can they be directed to stimulate interest in learning.
In Yang Huina's view, it is not easy for scientists to transform cutting-edge knowledge into popular science articles or course lectures in an easy-to-understand, vivid and interesting way, and to design supporting simple demonstration experiments.
As for the follow-up promotion and promotion of courses, there is an urgent need for the support of third-party professional service organizations.
Currently, such services are still quite scarce.
Based on the consideration of meeting the needs of the school, the Pudong New Area Science and Technology Association, the Pudong New Area Education Bureau, and the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly launched the "Pudong New Area Future Science Star Training Program". The original intention was to build a science popularization program. The Education Innovation Alliance integrates multiple resources to coordinate and promote the sustainable development of high-quality popular science courses.
"Award not guaranteed", scientific inquiry classes should abandon utilitarianism
With a high degree of professionalism and personality charm, scientists are often placed "high hopes" when entering the classrooms of primary and secondary schools-hoping that they can lead students to "win gold and silver" in well-known science and innovation competitions, or at least enter the award list.
As a domestic first-class expert in the field of solar energy, Liu Zhengxin, a researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Microsystems and Information Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, tried to organize a science squad in a primary school and let them come to their laboratory to do some experiments and observations on renewable energy.
Because the activity was purely for hobbies, it was not possible to add points to the children in the science and technology competition, and the participation of parents was limited, and it ended up in the end.
When the School of Environment of Tongji University and the No. 15 Middle School found Liu Zhengxin, hoping that he would install the same type of solar power generation system at Taishan Station in Antarctica and carry out the transformation of the energy science curriculum, he readily agreed.
"These social practices will have a subtle impact on children and make them actively pursue science, and this is the correct way to open up science and innovation learning." He believes that only by putting aside utilitarianism can we return to the origin of educating people. "Scientists advance Classes should not be aimed at strengthening test-taking competitions, but to open a window for children to understand nature and society."