# Great example of science inquiry learning from Chinese village school


[![](http://reganmian.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/P5190057.jpg "Picture from my visit to Guan'ai a few years ago (same area as the school in the movie below, but not the same school)")Rural
China Education Foundation](http://www.ruralchina.org) is an NGO set up
by overseas Chinese who want to strengthen rural education in China.
They train local teachers, develop materials, provide some funding, and
also invite volunteers from China and abroad for shorter stays. I had
the chance to visit two of their schools a few years ago, and wrote [a
short
report](http://eprints.rclis.org/bitstream/10760/11695/1/Report_RCEF_libraries_2008.pdf)
on their school library projects. My wife also volunteered with them
some years ago, and made [a short
movie](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV93Hx-CLlU) about their summer
volunteer project.

This past year, my wife has been spending a lot of time in the area near
Guan'ai (one of the two schools mentioned in my report) doing her own
independent projects. Sun Huimiao, the old headmaster at Guan'ai, is now
working in a school at a nearby town, and she has brought all of the
creativity, imagination and passion which she displayed at Guan'ai.

My wife worked with RCEF to document one of the projects Sun carried out
with the primary school students. It's a real inquiry projects,
initiated by students' authentic curiosity, and pursued through
discussion, watching videos, looking up online, creating posters,
writing, and presenting. An incredibly refreshing sight after all the
rows of Chinese students repeating as a choir
([example](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BwIP89aMjA&feature=related),
although this classroom is much nicer than the ones in rural China, the
repetition out load is very much the same).

What is even more interesting about teacher Sun's case is that she is
not a classroom teacher. Many of the students in the school stay in the
dormitory (their parents might be from villages around, or they might
have migrated to the big cities to look for work), and Sun works as a
dormitory coordinator. Thus, this entire project was not in the context
of a classroom, and was done entirely voluntarily by the students (of
course, this also means teacher Sun was not constrained by any
curriculum standards).

Have a look at the great video below, of how Sun turns the students
fascination with snails into a great inquiry project. ([Slightly longer
version](http://www.youtube.com/user/RuralChina?blend=1&ob=0#p/u/0/xE0RGw_pNbQ) with
more teacher reflection).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjeZ6DMtlkk&feature=youtu.be

Hope to see more of this kind of innovative teaching in Chinese rural
schools (and indeed, I know RCEF are documenting other practices,
including a wonderful reading circle that a teacher organizes with her
students each week).

Stian

PS: When looking for an example of students repeating out loud, I came
across this [BBC documentary
series](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHXBgc7JRZg) on Chinese schools
which looks well made and worth a look.

PPS: The picture above is from my visit to Guan'ai a few years back, and
not from the school depicted in the movie.