Science study trips and experiment kits gain popularity in China

Children learn to repair fossils at a lab in the Paleozoological Museum of China, in Beijing, October 2014. [Photo by Li Zhiming/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

As middle-class parents strive to foster their children's curiosity and scientific inquiry, businesses providing science experiments and demonstrations are burgeoning in China.

Five-to-eight year-olds carefully repair fossils using tiny tweezers under microscopes, observe and sleep around gigantic dinosaur skeletons, before getting up in the morning to make sandwiches that imitate earth's geological layers.

The one-night, hands-on science experiment, run weekly at the Paleozoological Museum of China, is one of the projects a Beijing educational company is offering little budding scientists.

Activities take place outdoors too. An ongoing botany study is leading children all the way to the rain forest in China's southwestern-most province Yunnan, with top Chinese scientists teaching basic skills of scientific measurement and inquiry.

Eyeing a rising number of middle-class parents who dislike exam-oriented education and instead value "learning by doing" and early science investigation, Beijing Micreate Education & Technology Co. Ltd was established in 2012 to tap into youth science education, a barely developed market in China at the time.

Around the same time, science education businesses targeting youngsters were taking off across richer parts of China, namely the eastern and central areas. That market is particularly growing in provincial capitals but also smaller cities.

"Science was deemed an unimportant course in Chinese schools, not as significant as Chinese, math, or English. But luckily, parents are rethinking science and technology education to meet the demands of future generations," said Wang Huwen, founder of Micreate.

Children learn to repair fossils at a lab in the Paleozoological Museum of China, in Beijing, October, 2014. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Sensing the market

Beijing middle school students observe the black-headed gull, during a trip to Yunnan, photo taken in 2013. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Wang is among the pioneers in China's youth science education market.

In 2009, under the guidance of the Beijing Association for Science and Technology, he took around 30 Beijing middle school students to Yunnan for his first scientific winter camp.

Anticipating a large market, he founded Micreate in 2012. It provides a wide range of services, but large scale scientific camps continue to be its primary offering.

"In the our last nine-day winter camp in Yunnan, which ended on Jan 31, we invited Yang Ming, one of China's top bird experts, to teach children to observe the black-headed gull. We visited Lufeng Dinosaur Valley, a site of numerous Jurassic dinosaur discoveries to collect fossils and took children to a 40-meter radio telescope that served China's first lunar probe 'Chang'E-1'." Wu Di, an employee at Micreate said.

In the past seven years, Wang has organized more than 50 camps taking Beijing youngsters to other provinces and countries, involving around 20,000 participants aged between 10 and 15. The trips have been to Changbaishan Mountain, Yunnan, Inner Mongolia, Qingdao, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United States and Britain.

"According to participants' feedback, our projects, which survey plants and animals and involve astronomy, helped teenagers discover their real interest and decide their majors in college," said Ji Hui, a teacher who helps run experiments outside Beijing.

A teacher from Micreate helps a child observe fossilized wood, at Huiyu, a suburban village about 30 km from downtown Beijing that is rich in plant and mammal fossils, in November 2014. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The company has also endeavored to attract much younger children. Its 20 employees, all multi-taskers working as class designers, teachers and in product sales, have come up with diversified projects to attract as many parents as possible in the capital with 21.51 million residents.

Every Sunday, they take 20 to 40 children to Huiyu, a suburban village about 30 km from downtown Beijing that is rich in plant and mammal fossils. Beijing fossil collector, Yang Haibo, has taken part several times to instruct participants.

Each Saturday morning, a lecture introduces a small class of 7-to-12-year-olds to science experiments. Existing courses include observing the metamorphosis of butterflies and beetles and ants' social behavior. Specimens are prepared, with safe, readily available materials provided. The team is working to create new courses, including some about physics.

The team has introduced professors from the Chinese Academy of Science to some of Beijing's top middle schools, with advanced experiments designed and material provided by the company. Schools that cooperated with Micreate include the No 35 Middle School, No 101 Middle School and Niulanshan Middle School.

With an eye on the national market, the original experiment kit has already hit online stores. The package includes four chrysalises, together with tools to prepare specimens, discover flower colors butterflies prefer and change the temperature of each chrysalis to determine how it affects the time taken for metamorphosis to occur.

"Developmentally, children are naturally equipped to learn through observation and investigation. I'm happy to see that the hands-on, curiosity-driven activities are helping my children think and focus," a parent surnamed Liu said after a butterfly experimental class.

Next: Burgeoning but uneven market