How will the senior high school students spend this summer vacation? Will they stick to the rooms with air conditioners and do almost nothing or join the masters in the labs of universities and pursue their scientific dreams?
On the afternoon of April 10, the 5thYangpu District Senior High School Students “Double Entry” Exploration Program, jointly organized by Shanghai Academician Hall and Shanghai Youth Center of Science & Technology Education Hudong Branch was officially kicked off. Participating experts made their appearances in Shanghai Academician Hall. The “Double Entry” program is about senior high school students in Yanpu entering the team of academicians and entering universities to carry out exploration activities. About 80 students from eight senior high schools in Yanpu had heated discussions and interactions with four teams led by academicians including Zhuang Songlin, Wang Pinxian, Chu Qunhao and Tao Ruibao, and 12 laboratories in Fudan University, Tongji, University of Shanghai for Science & Technology and the Second Military Medical University.
As one of the important activities for Yangpu to cultivate the pilot zone for innovation in fundamental education, the “Double Entry” exploration program creates the possibility for senior high school students to materialize their scientific dreams. As the program is a two-way selection, the interactions between students and the experts turned into a recruitment process. Each student could select three experts’ teams for face-to-face interviews based on their own interests and project topics while the expert could select two to four students for further tutorship afterwards.
The tutors usually select the students based on two requirements: a promising project topic that can be further cultivated and incubated; or a potential student that can be assigned with an appropriate research topic by the expert’s team or take part in the project team of the expert for some innovation work. However, as observed from the interactions on site, the tutors paid more attention to the interest and attitude of the students. Many students said that they came to the event because their teachers recommended them to come and have a try. After communication with the experts, they got new understanding of their own projects and and new inspirations, which was a very precious experience to them.
About 40 students will be selected by the program which will be started in May. Final candidates will join the academicians’ teams and the tutors’ teams in the universities to carry out scientific researches with the masters.