The 8th training session of the CWDF-SAMSUNG STEM GIRLS project opened in Beijing on June 29. Du Rui, Former Member of the Secretariat of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) and President of the China Women's Development Foundation (CWDF), and experts in the fields of science, technology and education attended the inaugural ceremony.
The CWDF-SAMSUNG STEM GIRL training session has been held for seven times. It is mainly designed to stimulate and foster the curiosity and enthusiasm for science among schooling girls aged between 12 and 16. The organizers provide learning and practical activities relating to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in response to social demands, and they guide girls to explore and tackle actual problems through innovative technologies, bring them involved in plan design and implementation, bolster their innovative capabilities and scientific literacy, and help them unleash personal potentials, laying a foundation for the devotion to scientific research.
The 8th training session focuses on intelligent agriculture and circular economy and rolls out three innovative topics: "AI-assisted Agricultural Experts' Exploration," "New Packaging: Green Packaging's Cognition and Design," and "From Waste to 3D: Technology-driven Renewable Plans for Household Materials."
The training session invites experts from Tsinghua University, the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and the CAS Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics to provide schooling girls with guidance in their exploration and learning, and transfer frontier laboratory resources into platforms for students' practices.
In addition, several women technological workers will relate their sci-tech research endeavors to inspire schooling girls' passion for science and illuminate their dream.
The core philosophy of the CWDF-SAMSUNG STEM GIRLS is to guide schooling girls to transform their innovative ideas into pragmatic solutions for actual problems.
Liu Yanlin is a tomato farmer from Fengning County, in north China's Hebei Province, and a participant of the seventh training session of the project. She has installed intelligent sensors to monitor and transmit the growth data of vegetables in the greenhouse. The smart system developed by her research team has been in smooth operation. Under the guidance of agricultural experts, they have adopted sealing technology to tackle high humidity in the greenhouse, addressed electricity shortage in the farmland with solar power, and achieved precise traceability of soil moisture via intelligent sensors. They have gained a sense of accomplishment when they successfully collected the first set of vegetable growth data and monitor tomato growth via internet-connected sensors.
Right now, the self-developed smart system has not only increased agricultural output and the income of farmers but also enhanced food safety with transparent information. The research experience has improved their scientific thinking and bolstered problem-solving capabilities. Liu said during an interview that they have acquired scientific problem-solving mindset and realized the importance of carrying out scientific research in alignment with agricultural production.
During the past seven years, the CWDF-SAMSUNG STEM GIRLS project has borne fruitful results and positively transformed the life of women beneficiaries.
Wang Wanlin, an attendee of the first training session, shared her growth stories with participants of the eighth training session. She was a middle school student when she took part in a technology-driven poverty alleviation activity of the project in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. She realized the closer connection between textbook knowledge and social demands in her first contact with the science and technology.
The special experience ignited her passion for scientific research and helped her gain a deep understanding of the importance of knowledge to social development. The study tour in Cambridge University left a deep impression on her, expanded her horizon and gave her more inspirations as well as reflection.
Wang is now a third-year undergraduate student majoring in physics at Tsinghua University and has forged ahead on the journey of scientific research. There are numerous schooling girls like her who have got knowledge from the project, entered the world of scientific research, and injected sci-tech strength into their youthful dream.
So far, the CWDF-SAMSUNG STEM GIRLS has drawn the participation of over 80,000 students from 24 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities since its establishment in 2018. Statistics show that about 8,000 participating girls have engaged in learning and practice activities and worked out 26 sci-tech innovation solutions.
Photos from CWDF
(Source: CWDF/Women of China)
Editor: Lei Yang
