New, exciting courses for a new semester

Schools in Jiading District have set up new courses for the new semester.

At Loutang School, first graders have a new place to spend their spare time — a landscape classroom. The school has joined AEssense Grows to plant vegetables through the latest technology.

Teachers and students control growth conditions such as light, humidity and temperature by clicking on pads with software developed by the company.

The plants, miniature landscapes, small lizards and tree frogs attract the children’s interest. The school is also teaching students the skills of making miniature landscapes.

At Xuhang Primary School, a scientific zone has been set up, including a greenhouse, a weather station, a planting area, an animal area, a planting room with constant temperature and a life sciences innovation laboratory.

At Zijing Primary School, a base of the Aero Sports Federation of China opened on October 10 with model aircraft enthusiasts putting on a demonstration.

Some students had the chance of sitting in a C919 flight simulator with instructors from the federation to “fly” China’s first domestically developed narrow-body passenger plane.

Model aircraft enthusiast Zhang Hongxiao shared his story with the students. In 2019 he took part in an international airspace model championship and was placed in the top 100. He then enrolled in the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the US.

“From the design of a drawing to the production and debugging, they have the chance to gain the knowledge of structural mechanics, strength, fluid mechanics and much more,” said Gu Chen, deputy director of the Shanghai Aviation Vehicle Model Association.