China's Ministry of Education issued guidance on Monday, calling on local governments to open more science courses at middle schools and incorporate experimental operations into high school entrance examinations. Schools, with the aim of promoting students' comprehensive and personalized development and healthy growth, should implement national curriculums of high quality, build a curriculum education system that reflects each school's characteristics, and has a focus on continuous optimization. The guidance also requires local areas to offer science courses and supplement science teachers through various means, including reinforcing interdisciplinary comprehensive teaching, and selecting and promoting a number of excellent cases of interdisciplinary and practical teaching. More importantly, schools are guided to strengthen experimental teaching, emphasize hands-on student experimentation, include the implementation of school laboratory courses in teaching guidance and daily supervision, and incorporate experimental operations into middle school exams. The ministry also detailed that local governments should select a number of science and technology museums, research bases, high-tech enterprises, etc., as primary and secondary school science education practice bases.

Source: The Standard June 05, 2023 18:56 UTC