The Ministry of Education (MOE), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and the Chinese Association of Science and Technology (CAST) jointly held a ceremony at MOE on July 20 to unveil a new section ——“Summer Teacher Training” — on the Smart Education China web portal and launch the “Summer School for Science Education,” a training program for primary and secondary school teachers. Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng, together with CAS President Li Xiaohong, CAE Vice President Zhang Yuzhuo, and CAST Vice President Gao Hongjun, attended the event and gave speeches. Representatives from provincial education departments and universities participated virtually.
Huai said that given unprecedented changes in international relations, the urgency of building an independent talent pipeline and achieving technological self-reliance cannot be overstated. The addition of the Summer Teacher Training section to Smart Education China and the launch of the Summer School for Science Education is an important step in creating stronger synergies between science and education by bringing together high-quality resources from both fields.
The minister urged education departments at the provincial and local levels to make full use of the resources published in the “Summer Teacher Training” section to build teacher capacity, including in the areas of work ethics, subject knowledge, and teaching philosophy and methods. Noting that the new initiative aims to promote a balanced distribution of quality resources and reduce the educational gap between urban and rural areas and among individual schools, he encouraged local education departments and schools to share resources and digital dividends on the platform.
Gao pointed out that science and education are interconnected and interdependent, and lauded scientists and educators for supporting China’s rapid rise. As China’s top authority in the natural sciences and a leader in implementing national science and technology strategies and initiatives, CAS has been working to improve science knowledge among teachers.
According to Li, given the global trend of orienting education towards producing more scientists, engineers, and technologists, it is imperative that China improves teachers' scientific literacy and subject knowledge in technology and engineering in order to expand the number of future scientists capable of meeting various challenges. As she noted, the summer school will help instill a love of STEM in young learners.
According to Zhang, the “Summer Teacher Training” section and the Summer School are effective ways to promote science education. The CAST director promised to guide scientists and other science professionals in supporting teacher training and the integration of scientific resources into science classrooms.
The Summer Teacher Training section of the Smart Education China portal will offer teachers a variety of learning resources from July 20 to August 31. Staff members and science workers from CAS will offer classes at the Summer School, which is designed to improve elementary and secondary school teachers’ scientific literacy.
