When the passion for science is ignited, the curiosity about science will continue to grow, and the seed of knowledge in the hearts of young people can take root and sprout.
According to a survey conducted by the Social Survey Center of China Youth Daily, 98.3% of the interviewed teenagers will pay attention to the aerospace industry, 47.2% of the interviewed teenagers said that they want to be astronauts when they grow up, and 56.8% of the interviewed teenagers want to devote themselves to the aerospace industry.
At the present stage, there are still problems such as weak science and education resources and lack of teachers in the central and western regions of the mainland and in rural areas, so how can we give full play to the important supporting role of science and technology education in the process of implementing the rural revitalization strategy, and how can we use more abundant science and education resources to support the "scientific dreams" of rural children?
"Mobile Science Class" is a popular science activity jointly initiated by the China Science and Technology Museum, the Publicity and Education Center of the Ministry of Education and Douyin, mainly for schools with scarce popular science resources. Since its launch in February this year, the event has been implemented in Guangxi and Henan provinces, with more than 10 schools participating, which is well received by young people.
"By analyzing the data of short videos on Douyin, we found that more and more teenagers and teachers are posting scientific experiment content on Douyin, among which water rockets are the favorite science experiments of teenagers. Teachers and students in the city and the countryside are connected through these videos. Chen Shulin, the relevant person in charge of Douyin, shared the original intention of launching the "mobile science class", saying that in 2023, the number of Douyin knowledge experts will exceed 500,000, of which more than 9 percent of the provincial science and technology museums will be settled, and more than 400 university professors and 45 academicians will share professional content on the platform. Based on these backgrounds, Douyin, China Science and Technology Museum, and the education department have joined hands to combine resources such as scientists, science popularizers, and "cloud courseware" with the "science caravan" of the modern science and technology museum system, so that "mobile science classes" can come to rural youth.
On April 17th, the "mobile science class" Gansu station was launched in Jiuquan, which is known as the "cradle of China's aerospace", and from the 17th to the 24th, a number of popular science caravans from Jiuquan, Linxia and other places of the science and technology association departments walked with experts and experts, and walked into the rural classroom with dozens of popular science exhibits. @朱一明, @太空熊猫君, @科学火箭叔等抖音青少年科普达人, as well as Professor Xiao Sa of Lanzhou University, a member of the Chinese Antarctic scientific expedition, also followed the science caravan to bring a wonderful scientific feast to thousands of primary and secondary school students in Jiuquan and Linxia.
"My love for aerospace technology has gone beyond my interest, it has become a part of my study and life, inspiring me to keep moving forward and exploring. In the future, I dream of becoming an aerospace engineer or a scientist, participating in deeper space exploration, contributing to the promotion of human cognition of the universe, and making my own contribution to the country's cognition of the universe. This is the aerospace dream of Hu Qingyuan, a fifth-grade student at Jiuquan No. 7 Middle School, and the "mobile science class" has made her more determined to her dream.
The relevant person in charge of the Jiuquan Municipal Government said that the "Mobile Science Class" activity has built a rare platform for young people in Jiuquan City to participate in science popularization, learn science and technology, and experience science, and has very important practical significance and extensive publicity and leading role in guiding young people to establish scientific ideas, master scientific methods, and enhance their innovative spirit and practical ability.
Online and offline, two lines in parallel. After years of practice and exploration, the Douyin platform has accumulated a large number of high-quality content that has been recognized by authority. According to the "2023 Douyin Science Experiment Data Report", as of November 2023, there are 4.73 million videos related to scientific experiments on Douyin, with a total of 49.2 billion views and 870 million likes. The cumulative length of these videos is more than 16.29 million minutes, which is equivalent to 362,000 lessons. It is understood that Douyin has uploaded the authoritative popular science content of the station to the national mobile popular science facility service platform, which is open to rural schools.
Only by breaking the dormant and scattered status quo of science and education resources and stringing together the "pearls" can we enable rural young people to enjoy more long-term science and technology education services. The "mobile science class" is to strengthen the support and voluntary service for grassroots youth science and technology education in the underdeveloped areas of central and western China by actively organizing and guiding social forces, so as to achieve the healthy and sustainable development of the science and technology education ecosystem for rural youth.
Text丨Rushing News reporter Cai Duan
Picture丨Rushing News reporter Pei Qiang Cai Duan