Do you rely on intuition or on data when making decisions? Do know that the pH scale can be negative as it is well-known that solutions with a pH less than 7 are acidic? Do you know that pencil scratches can even be used as wires to light up LED lights?

On the morning of April 16, 2021, Ms. Liu Qin, Dr. Jiang Hao, and Mr. Zhang Dongsheng from SHSID presented three wonderful demo lessons to the whole country on the SHS “Double New” teaching platform. The lessons were thought-provoking, and the students gained real and practical knowledge from the diverse learning experiences said teachers provided, which improved students’ academic literacy.

Math

Information literacy is a necessary ability in this AI era. The math demo lesson "Hypergeometric Distribution", presented by Ms. Liu Qin, included not only the probability calculation, which is the focus in traditional teaching, but also combined multiple methods ranging from physical, calculator, and big-data simulations performed by R software to strict mathematical proofs. By using actual scenarios and problems, this lesson integrated statistics and probability, and by using modern technology, this lesson integrated core literacy into subject teaching.

Chemistry

Combining theory with practice is a higher level of learning. Dr. Jiang Hao offered a chemistry demo lesson entitled “Measurement of pH”. Dr. Jiang first conducted a classroom experiment by letting the students feel and discuss the characteristics and limitations of traditional pH test papers and digital pH meters. Based on the students' experimental design with regard to the part where pH is used, Dr. Jiang led students to think about the feasibility of the experimental design, trying to find various tricky "traps" that seem to be reasonable but defective in practice. For example, students planned to use pH changes to monitor the reaction speed, but ignored that the concentration of the acid solution used exceeded the pH range and could not be accurately measured. Through thinking about these "traps", discussing the optimized experimental design, and discussing the pros and cons of each proposal, students fully perceived the gap and connection between theoretical knowledge and practical situations.

Physics

Deep project-based learning is a new way to cultivate core literacy. Mr. Zhang Dongsheng uploaded the physics demo lesson entitled “The Resistance of Pencil Scratches and the Influencing Factors”. When facing various pencil scratches with different lengths, widths, and/or thicknesses, always remember that controlling the variables is the first step in all scientific experiments. Under Mr. Zhang’s heuristic questions, each group of students selected one type of independent variable, and through group discussion, controlling other variables, cooperative learning, experiment conduction, data recording, and data processing, students precisely analyzed the errors between the experimental data and the theoretical formula. The students' proficient and standardized data processing and analysis left a deep impression on the audience of teachers.

The improvement of core literacy is the focus of the application of the new curriculum and new textbooks ("Double New") for general high schools. After class, experts from various disciplines highly appreciated the teaching concept and teaching methods of SHSID, and they all believed that, under this educational concept, SHSID can cultivate "people who do scientific research". The three lessons exhibited by SHSID teachers were selected from IB, AP, and school courses, respectively. All the lessons are student-centered and full of conflicts, discussions, and discrimination. Students complete the thinking training processes of experience, analysis, reflection, and summary in classroom practice so as to build and improve their comprehensive literacy ability. Integrating excellent Chinese and foreign educational concepts, trying a variety of teaching methods, and exploring and contributing to the comprehensive reform of the country's basic education system was the original intention and mission of SHSID. This "Double New" concept exhibition activity fully demonstrated that the teaching practice of SHSID has successfully explained its original intention and mission. We hope that more SHSID teachers have the opportunity to participate in various lesson exhibitions inside and outside the school in the future so as to radiate the SHSID educational concept to local education administrators, and contribute to the scientific developments of "Talent View" and "Education View".

This teaching-exhibition activity was the first time for SHSID to step onto the stage of local curriculum teaching since its establishment, and is of great significance. Thanks to all the teachers in the three subject groups of mathematics, physics, and chemistry. The three demo lessons shining on the "Double New" platform are not only the display of the personal teaching skills of the three teachers, but also the display of the strength of academics on education of the subject group, as these three lessons condensed the collective strength and wisdom of the whole group. Besides, these three lessons also showed SHSID spirit of unity and friendship and the excellent working state of "being able to fight and win".

Congratulations to all the SHSID teachers for successfully completing the task of this exhibition, and we hope that everyone will not forget their original intentions and continue to forge ahead on the road of cultivating people!

(Written by Teaching Affairs Center of High School Pictures by SHS Media Center)