Visit to a Shanghai High School

This morning we woke early to head to the Xiang Ming High School in Shanghai. The school is more than 100 years old, and has a focus on creative arts and sciences. Our visit to the school began with a tour of the grounds and an introduction from school principal, Mr. Rui Renjie. The teachers and principals in our group were eager to ask questions in order to further understand schools in China.

Next, our group split up to observe classes of various subjects: Chinese, history, and chemistry. In the Chinese class, we noticed that the teacher was very friendly and enjoyed interacting with her students. The students were studying poetry and the class included lecture, small group discussion, and all-class recitation - not that different from a high school class in the United States!

Our visit continued with a tour of the Exploration Center of Science and Arts - an area of the school dedicated to inventions, science, graphic arts, and robots. One teacher explained student inventions that have won prizes in competitions, and another teacher showed us the digital graphics computer and student-created robots. This robot played the drums in a four-piece band [click on the photo to see a larger version]: and this one painted a picture:
Our visit to the Xiang Ming High School was eye-opening. We concluded our visit with lunch in the company of several teachers from the school. We all enjoyed the opportunity to exchange our knowledge of teaching and schools with our counterparts in China and we certainly learned a great deal.

Special Report:
One of our participants was asked a few questions in the comments section - here is her response!

"Hi Grade 3 Ms. Davison and Mrs. Churchill,

Some similarities between Arlington and Shanghai are that there are many bicycle riders on the streets and lots of traffic at rush hour! There are also many restaurants in both cities - the 'Peking Ravioli' taste much the same but they call them 'dumplings.'

Shanghai is different also - there are many modern high rise buildings - also the food has a very different flavor, not as strong as Chinese food is in the U.S. Food is less expensive, too. My dinner tonight only cost $5.00, including my drink! In the old city areas, people hand their wash out to dry outside their windows. There are 17 million people living in Shanghai. How many people live in Boston?

I am doing 'fine' eating with chopsticks, even eating rice and noodles!"
- Dr. Raemer