Peking University, Sept. 29, 2010: As the PKU Student's Annual Conference on Science 2010 concluded, the enthusiasm towards science and scientific studies on campus never ends. But in what way do PKU's 34 000 students, especially the half with backgrounds of arts and social sciences, study science? PKU Youth has catched a glimpse of the present "Mr. Science" - one of the core values of the university initially introduced during China's New Culture Movement (1915-1920s), along with "Mr. Democracy."

In Classroom - from "indoctrination" to "interaction"

A new course named "What is science", which is led by Prof. Rao Yi, Dean of School of Life Sciences, has been offered to all students this year. Due to its attractive list of visiting scholars (such as Prof. C. N. Yang and Prof. Yao Qizhi), the course has attracted the attention of many students. Its teaching assistant Shao Lijing disclosed: "The opening of this course is the first attempt of curriculum reform in Peking University (PKU), initiated by President Zhou Qifeng himself.”

As the course progresses, Shao has noticed gratifying changes among students: the atmosphere in class is getting better, under which students start brainstorming to find problems and then solve them, and actively using their own different backgrounds and expertise to reflect on the issues discussed in class.

However successful the course has been proved to be, to universally implement this form of conducting a class throughout PKU, namely combining lecturing and discussions together, is not an easy task. According to Shao, major difficulties might be: to invite renowned professors for lectures is not always easy; and PKU simply does not have enough resources (e.g. classrooms, teaching assistants, etc.) to hold lots of this kind of discussion courses as well.

Extra-curricular activities - Bind by mutual interests

Outside classrooms, numerous extra-curricular activities open another window for PKU students to get intimate with science. Astronomical Society for instance, one of PKU’s top associations, has embraced many amateur astronomers. Former vice president Liu Boyang told us: "It is worth mentioning that we organized PKU students to participate in the ‘New Vision 400' opening ceremony in Great Hall, which had invited Nobel Prize laureates to give a lecture."

Although the success of youth Astronomical Society can be regarded as a sign of the prosperity of science organizations on campus, many of the science clubs are facing “sustainability” problems and some of them still belong to “disadvantaged” category. While it is true that some associations do have operational problems, the reason for this predicament might be that science “geeks” are still the minority on campus.

BBS - "Deserted" Forum

Weiming BBS, as the major communication channel in PKU, contains a rich network of resources in various academic fields. However, according to interviews on some forums (e.g. Astronomy, Courses, etc), the network platform does not seem to achieve the desired objectives. "Forums are actually pretty deserted, with few people actively participating in academic discussions." "'Studying for GPA' is still very common," said the manager of the Astronomy Board frustratingly.

Therefore, it is worth looking deeper into the current circumstances and current status of science study in PKU. How to encourage students to more spontaneously participate in creative and initiative learning is a question that demands further consideration. Shao optimistically told our correspondence: “It is never difficult to encourage PKU students to get involved in class discussions. Since the curriculum reform has already showed positive response in inspiring creativity and divergent thinking, the problem here is finding a way to fully achieve the objective of it.”

Translated by: LI Xiaomeng

Edited by: Su Juan

Source: PKU Youth