Scientific and technological revolutions are the fundamental driving force behind the development of human civilization, and each of them has dramatically changed the destiny of mankind and reshaped the world’s political and economic landscape. At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution is accelerating, and the strategic value of science and technology education is becoming increasingly prominent. Young people are the future of the nation and the reserve force of the national modernization construction. Strengthening young people’s interest in science and hands-on training is of great significance to the realization of the goal of the “Two Centenary Goals” and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and has attracted great attention from the Party and the government. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized in the third collective study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee that “we should do a good job of adding science education to the ‘double reduction’ in education, to stimulate young people’s curiosity, imagination, and desire to explore, and to cultivate groups of young people with the potential of scientists who are willing to dedicate themselves to the cause of scientific research”. “Basic education should not only strengthen students’ knowledge foundation, but also stimulate their interest in science and exploring the unknown, and cultivate their exploratory and innovative thinking qualities”. This is an important instruction made by the General Secretary from the overall situation of the Party and the country, focusing on accelerating the construction of a country strong in education and realizing a high level of scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement.

Cultivation of scientific interest and hands-on experience in adolescence play a prominent role in the formation of a person’s practical and realistic style of doing things and the development of innovative habits of thinking. This is why General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that “the guidance and cultivation of scientific interest should start from childhood”. Experimental teaching is an important way for students to acquire knowledge and improve their scientific literacy, an important part of subject teaching, and the basis for constructing the theoretical system of each subject. In order to implement the Ministry of Education’s “Action Plan for Deepening the Basic Education Curriculum and Teaching Reform”, implement the requirements of “Opinions on Strengthening and Improving Experimental Teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools”, cultivate innovative talents with innovative consciousness, practical ability, hands-on ability and complex problem solving ability, and improve the quality of science education in primary and secondary schools, the Center for Educational Technology and Resource Development of the Ministry of Education (National Center for Educational Technology) has organized a team of experts to develop and publish the Basic Catalog for Experimental Teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools (hereinafter referred to as the Basic Catalog).

The compilation of the Basic Catalog is a key move in the implementation of the spirit of curriculum reform in the new era, and an important initiative to promote reform and innovation in experimental teaching in primary and secondary schools. The compilation of the Basic Catalogue is based on the theme of the curriculum standard, the content of the curriculum standard, threaded with the big concepts which are refined layer by layer and aligned with practical teaching, which helps primary and secondary schools to formulate specific practical teaching plans, standardize the implementation of practical teaching and improve the quality of the teaching of science and technology courses; it helps teachers and students to carry out teaching activities based on big concepts and big units, and puts the students in real situations, which provides important practical approaches for students to acquire scientific knowledge, understand the nature of science, and know the objective world. This effort will undoubtedly help reflect the educational value of the subject in a more comprehensive way, and promote the implementation of the new curriculum standards and concepts more vigorously.

The compilation of the Basic Catalogue is based on the national curriculum standards, on the actual practice of teaching and learning in China’s basic education, drawing reference to the standards of teaching equipment and teaching materials of various disciplines, drawing on the advanced experience at home and abroad, adhering to the principles of literacy-based and ability-oriented, respecting the law of cognitive development of the students, and at the same time, taking into full consideration of the  actual situation of regional differences, the connection of the school phases, the class arrangement, etc., which makes the final version of the Basic Catalogue distinctively educational, strongly scientific, practical and feasible. The Basic Catalog covers more than 900 practical activities that should be carried out in each subject in elementary school, junior high schools and senior high schools, which further clarifies the content of practical teaching under the concept of the new curriculum and the new education reform, and provides an important basis for the supervision of experimental teaching, the configuration of experimental teaching equipment, the investment of funds for experimental teaching and the guarantee of experimental venues.

The introduction of the Basic Catalogue fully reflects the shift from knowledge-oriented science education to the cultivation of students’ creative talents and innovative literacy. The preparation of the Basic Catalogue takes into full consideration of the characteristics of the discipline, pays attention to different forms of experiments, experimental contents and experimental techniques, and advocates that students deepen their understanding of knowledge through independent design, practical operation, group cooperation, experimental investigation and problem solving in practice, enhance their initiative and participation in learning, cultivate their teamwork and communication skills, and improve their sense of innovation and creativity. Through rich and diverse practical activities, students can fully experience the beauty of science and stimulate their creative potential. Through experiencing researching scientific problems like scientists and solving engineering practice problems like engineers, students can learn the general methods and paradigms of scientific research and effectively enhance their scientific literacy.

The implementation of the Basic Catalog is an effective measure to strengthen practical teaching, which will effectively guide the improvement of teaching and learning methods and further reduce the excessive study burden caused by rote training. The Basic Catalog is based on the big concepts which have been refined layer by layer, and the diversified and progressive experimental content covers skill experiments, inquiry experiments and application experiments, etc. It builds up a flesh-and-blood, rich and full experimental teaching framework, which can effectively help students enhance their understanding of the necessary knowledge and the development of the key abilities of the discipline. Primary and secondary schools should take this as an opportunity to rationally plan the time before, during and after school, make full use of school laboratories, maker spaces and off-campus science and technology centers, juvenile palaces, planetariums, museums, practice bases and other activity venues, and effectively dock with scientific research institutes, colleges and universities, hi-tech enterprises and other social institutions, and guide students to carry out practical science learning activities and interdisciplinary project-based learning based on real situations, such as observations, experiences, measurements, explorations, expeditions, investigations, programming, planting, breeding and other science practical learning activities, so that science and technology education can return to its practical attributes and make the high-quality development of science education in the new era more accurate and efficient.

The Basic Catalogue is basic, universal and forward-looking, and is a powerful measure for accelerating the modernization of education and solidly promoting science education in primary and secondary schools in the new era. In order to better play its role in guiding teaching, local schools should actively and selectively expand the experimental contents to make them more in line with local educational characteristics. For example, coastal cities can add more experimental contents on marine resources, and rural areas can increase the experimental contents related to modern agriculture. In actual application, teachers should choose the real problem scenarios based on the psychological characteristics of students, to trigger students’ curiosity and desire to explore, so that the experiment really becomes a problem-solving tool and a carrier of learning knowledge, guiding students to effectively carry out independent learning and creative learning. Teachers are encouraged to arrange activities according to the actual teaching, increase interdisciplinary practical activities that are closely connected with life, society and science and technology, and minimize contents of repetitive learning and repetitive training. Laboratory teaching administrative departments should increase their research efforts on laboratory teaching, issue guidelines for laboratory teaching, develop fine examples of laboratory teaching, promote the high-quality development of laboratory teaching, comprehensively improve the quality of science education in primary and secondary schools, and contribute to the construction of an innovative country.

I believe that the development and release of the Basic Catalog will greatly promote the construction of the important second learning ecology of “Inquiry through experience and learning by doing”, which is still very weak at present.

(This is a recommendation written for the Ministry of Education’s Basic Catalog for Experimental Teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools)