OnMay 20thin the afternoon, the Middle SchoolheldtheCreative Program Expoin the school gymnasium.Thethemewas“Inciting Creativity;Inspiring Young Minds,”incorporatingabout 30 boothscoveringthe fields of science, engineering, art,and social studies,respectively. The booths alldemonstrated the achievements ofmiddleschool innovation program in the past year. Compared with previous years, the exhibits of this year’s expoweremore diverse.Therewereevenmore interactive experiences for students.This yeartwo experts in science researchcame to our school in person togive students inspiring science lectures.

Exciting Opening Ceremony and Award Ceremony

Mr. Ben Seevers presided over the opening ceremony of the carnival. He began by explaining that the Creative Program Expo was started in 2014 based on the philosophy of STEAM education, an education which includes science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics. The purpose of this program is to equip students with the tools and abilities to conquer challenges in the real world. During the opening ceremony, Professor Junying Yuan, Director of Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Member of the National Academy of Sciences (US), Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, gave an enthralling speech to the students. Using her study and research experience as an example, Ms. Yuan encouraged young people to actively participate in scientific and technological innovation. All students were inspired by the academician’s passion for science and the assiduous spirit of scientific research.

In 2020, the students at our school made outstanding achievements in scientific and technological innovation. During the award ceremony, Mr. Liu, the SHSID middle and primary school principal, Mr. Shen, the director of Grades 6-8, Ms. Yan, the grade-eight supervisor, and Ms. Yao, the middle and primary school creative program director, presented awards to the winners. Among these students, Yuzhe of class 7 (1) won the first prize of the 36th Shanghai Youth Science and Technology Innovation Competition, and Yuxuan of class 8 (12) won the gold medal of the advanced group of 2020 iCode International Youth Programming competition. Finally, under the announcement of principal Liu, the Creative Program Expo officially opened.

Wonderful Expo Site

Nearly 30 innovation courses on display include creative art, K’Nex machine building, Arduino robot, LEGO robot, Chinese and English creative writing, etc. The students took part in many interesting activities in front of these booths. Some students experienced the fun of building and understand the design principle of robot. Some students explored bacterial coating via electroscopes on the sample. At the booth for creative film and television design, students examined how panoramic photos and videos are taken. There was also a UAV display area in the center of the venue to allow students to experience racing flight. There are also large-scale battle robot competition which attracted lots of paticipation from the students.

In addition to the exhibition of each innovation course, the creative expo also invited scientific research institutions such as CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and extra-school educational institutions to set up the exhibition booths. These professional research and education teams showed students the magic and mystery of science and technology with rich knowledge and fascinating experiments. Before these booths, students observed the shape of silkworms at different growth stages, observe wheat under a microscope, understand aerospace equipment and knowledge, and put forward various scientific problems to professional researchers during the interaction.

Enlightening Expert Lectures

The Expo further invited two renowned experts to give students two riveting lectures. The seventh-grade students had the honor to listen to the lecture of Dr. Jeremy Murray, a research fellow at the Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, on “Biological Nitrogen Fixation in Plants, an Ancient Partnership.” The eighth-grade students were honored to participate in Academician Yuan Junying’s lecture on the mechanism of cell death. The two experts described the profound scientific knowledge in an easy-to-understand way so that students could feel the magic of plant science and cell science. During the lecture, students learned interesting facts about plants and cells and were filled with the infectious enthusiasm of the two experts for science and research.

“Inciting Creativity; Inspiring Young Minds.” Let students feel the convenience and miracle brought by science and technology through their personal participation and experience, and let students realize the infinite possibility of their creativity. This creative program expo not only showed students and their parents the school’s innovation program and scientific achievements, but also broadened the students’ horizons and further stimulated their interest in scientific research and scientific-technological exploration. Everyone is looking forward to the next creative program expo.

(Written by Gu Yuting Pictures by Xu Jing Edited by Huang Shiyuan, Mikah Jimenez)