Hangzhou Greentown Yuhua QinQin School was founded in 2005. Over the past 18 years, it has been deeply rooted in Chinese culture, dedicated to cultivate the essence of Chinese schools within a global context. Upholding the motto of “Benevolence and Truth Seeking,” the school aims to nurture individuals with rational thinking, sound character, profound cultural literacy, and a strong sense of responsibility, who possess both a Chinese ethos and a global perspective, thus becoming lifelong learners.

The school covers an area of 32,000 square meters, with 36 classes and 127 full-time teachers, including 48 recognized as excellent teachers at district level or above. Since being evaluated by the education administrative department 11 years ago, the school has consistently achieved the highest evaluation rating for 10 years. It has also won the highest honor of the Greentown Education Group, the “Greentown Holdings Advanced Collective,” for five consecutive years and has been recognized as an outstanding private school with exceptional teaching quality by the district education authorities for four consecutive years. The school has made remarkable achievements in educational reform, holistic education, and engineering and technology education. In the past two years alone, it has won five international honors, seven national honors, 15 provincial honors, and 11 municipal honors, including being designated as a National Innovation Education Experimental Base, China’s Asian Games Football Dream School, an Outstanding Private School in Zhejiang Province, an Advanced Research Unit in Zhejiang Province, a Green School in Zhejiang Province, a Gold Prize School for Health Promotion in Zhejiang Province, and a School with Special Features in Sports, Arts, and Science and Technology in Hangzhou, as well as a Special Brand Project for International Understanding Education in Hangzhou. The school’s influence in STEAM education is particularly prominent, having been awarded honors such as the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA) STEM Excellence School, China’s STEM Leading School, China’s Best STEM Education Promotion Case Award School, Zhejiang Province STEM Seed School, Zhejiang Province Project-Based Learning Base School, and Zhejiang Province STEAM Education School Practice Demonstration School. The school has also conducted more than twenty sessions of experience sharing in the education industry at the national, provincial, municipal, and district levels.

Introduction to Hangzhou Greentown Yuhua Qinqin School’s Engineering Education Practice

Hangzhou Greentown Yuhua Qinqin School is a nine-year comprehensive primary and middle school located in Yuhang District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China.

The school advocates the concept of “knowledge through practice,” and practical innovation is one of the five core competencies for Qinqin students. It is believed that only through practice can creativity be nurtured.

For over a decade, the school has been committed to implementing STEM education through practical approaches. With a comprehensive plan, steady progress, and continuous innovation, the school has been able to iterate and improve its practices.

The school places great importance on engineering education.

1. The school’s curriculum system, which focuses on enhancing students’ creativity, is built around technology and engineering education. It mainly includes science and technology courses, PBL-STEAM, STEAM resource stations, and social practice activities.
2. The school actively participates in various international conferences for learning and exchange. In 2015 and 2017, the school organized two “International Symposium on Creativity Development for Primary and Secondary School Students,” which attracted principals and experts from over a dozen countries for discussions. Additionally, for four consecutive years, the school has attended the annual conference of the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA), where it has been awarded the Excellence Project Award and recognized as one of the top ten excellent schools.

图1 学校工程教育相关历程与界内肯定

In the 2021 China STEM Conference Challenge, the children successfully designed a solution for the transportation and storage of resources on Mars, showcasing their excellent engineering skills. They achieved an outstanding result of third place nationally and first place in the high school category. The experts’ comments were highly affirmative, praising the scientific and creative nature of the engineering design, as well as the children’s confident, clear, and logical expression of their thoughts. It can be described as an exemplary demonstration, akin to that of a textbook. Such achievements and affirmations will undoubtedly inspire the children to further advance in their future learning and exploration.

Support and security system

1. School culture

Creating a school culture that supports engineering education requires a guiding educational philosophy and a conducive environment for deep practical implementation. Practical innovation is one of the core competencies of the “Five Affections” in engineering education. A school culture that emphasizes “experiencing firsthand and gaining true knowledge through practice” lays a solid humanistic foundation for the development of engineering education.

2. Guarantee of teaching hours

To ensure the authentic implementation of engineering education, the school provides an adequate guarantee of teaching hours. Each class is allocated 2 class hours per week for PBL-STEAM courses. In addition to that, a portion of the enrichment curriculum is dedicated to engineering education courses, offering more opportunities for students who have talent and interest in this field to engage in hands-on learning experiences.

3. Cross-disciplinary teacher team building, collaborative teaching

The school has set up a dedicated cross-disciplinary teacher team, consisting of key teachers from various subjects such as science, information technology, mathematics, and art, with a team size of around 18 members. The guidance of experts is an effective guarantee for curriculum development.

4. Space construction, technological empowerment

To ensure the smooth implementation of engineering education projects, the school provides strong support in terms of learning spaces and technology. It has invested manpower, financial resources, and materials to construct dedicated classrooms with different functions, such as the Future Classroom for facilitating group collaboration and discussions, the Woodworking Classroom for hands-on operations, the Automotive Model Making Studio for electric machinery usage, and the PBL Dream Workshop, among others. Additionally, the school has been actively promoting the integration of mobile devices into classrooms since 2016, continuously enhancing its smart campus infrastructure.