Clean Air Challenge

Vignettes Of China!

by CAC teachers Susan Smith, Lee Boyes & Jane Huvane

Teacher Susan Smith

This summer I had the awesome opportunity to journey to China to help present the Clear Air Challenge curriculum to students and faculty in Beijing. We were generously hosted by Agilent Technologies, and part of our presentations occurred in the National Military Museum, where they had a large booth at the National Youth Science Exposition. The exposition was large, noisy and exuberant. Competing for attention in our immediate area were two TV stations, a radio station, and a newspaper, among others.

So there I was in China, in a museum, in a rowdy exhibition, teaching 40 small children (2nd-6th grade) about concentration. We’d talked about dilute and concentrated, and about how air pollution can hurt you even though you can’t see it. I broke out the food coloring and eyedroppers and we started the serial dilutions that are the focus of the lab. It was delightful to watch these students carefully and accurately counting their nine drops. Many would start over because their drops weren’t all perfectly equal. Then they would run to me to show me their answers to the math problems. Even though we had no language in common, they could show me their numbers and accept a hearty nod with delight. We had just finished the lab and I was about to connect their newly learned concentration concept with ozone levels when disaster struck!

Over at the radio station booth, there was sudden flurry of activity, followed by the appearance of FIVE beautiful supermodels. Almost every boy in my “class” leaped from his chair as if stung and headed out. Within seconds, my attentive class of 40 turned into a confused class of 20. As I was trying to recover my composure, my liaison dryly remarked “Well, I think we’re done here!” That’s when the real miracle happened. Kids who had been watching from the sidelines clambered under the ropes, took up the lab equipment, and did the lab on their own! Kids and volunteers helped, and everyone had a great time. I think I felt more successful than if I had continued with the original group of kids!

Teacher Lee Boyes

I had the wonderful experience of traveling to Beijing to interact with 80 teachers and 40 of their students in the form of sharing our CAC curriculum. I was teaching in School Number 15 which is a science magnet school of which Beijing is very proud. The facilities were very nice except for the lack of air conditioning that caused all of us to sweat profusely. However, that is OK in Beijing because there is little choice!

The teachers and students were so eager to learn but the language was quite a challenge. Susan and I had listened to some language tapes before we went so that we could say hello and good bye and "I do not understand what you are saying!" Most of the teachers did NOT speak English although they seemed to be able to read our powerpoint slides! The good news is that formulas for heat calculations have the same letters everywhere and the symbols for the periodic chart were also the same. So OZONE was still O3.

We had a teacher who volunteered to translate. Her name was Angela Yu. She had done a lot of homework translating the data log for herself so that she could translate for the teachers. By the second day, she could do the training with only a little direction from me!! It was fun to find that some words did not translate well (such as algae!) but overall we made ourselves understood. The students were more willing to try out their English skills with us and it was fun to see how well they did.

Teacher Jane Huvane

Beijing teachers are young, bright and highly-educated. Chinese teachers are aware of the need to do something about the overpowering air pollution in their cities. They found the CAC curriculum to be timely and important. Over and over teachers commented to me about having the opportunity to meet teachers from the America. They thoroughly enjoyed seeing us being open and smiling. From the little I saw of other classes being taught at the time we were there, the standard method seems to be lecture. There is little discussion and few "hands-on" opportunities for the students. When we worked with a group of 14 and 15 year-old students, they were excited and enthusiastic about the experiments. It is obvious that the CAC curriculum will be an outstanding addition to Chinese schools.

The People - The Chinese people are polite, gentle and easy to please. They work long hours at salaries that would make us cringe. Teachers earn about 2000 yuan a month ($250). Children are treasured by their families. The one child to a family policy is still in effect, but not as strictly enforced as in past years. All the hopes and dreams for the future are invested in the children. Beijing is growing rapidly. Cranes are towering overhead as new luxury buildings go up. During the last 10 years, 1 million cars were added to the city streets. Who knows what will happen to congestion and pollution as more and more cars are added?

Getting Around Beijing - Any form of locomotion is frightening. The autos drive as fast as they can and are not afraid to make five or six lanes out of a three lane road. Cars come within inches of each other, yet, surprisingly, there are few accidents. Drivers have nerves of steel. Bicycles weave in and out without the protection of an auto frame around them. It takes enormous skill and daring to bike in the midst of all the cars. Lance Armstrong would find biking equal to the challenge of the Tour de France. Even walking is hazardous. Pedestrians do not have the right-of-way. In fact, there seems to be little way at all of crossing a street. Fortunately, there are over-bridges, but not enough of them.

Agilent Technologies - Agilent Technologies hosted the CAC teachers. Lao WU, Kelly and Jessica represented Agilent during our stay. They did everything possible to see that we were well-fed and happy. We went to restaurants that represented differing styles of Chinese cuisine. Some of us were more brave than others when faced with delicacies foreign to our western taste buds.