Making all the difference

Several students are excitedly waiting in front of a 3D printer for the fruits of their labor to magically appear.

They're in the makerspace classroom at Baishuichuan Primary School in Tanchang county, Longnan city, Gansu province.

The school has organized student clubs for model aeroplanes and robots, among others, establishing well-equipped classrooms for these extracurricular activities that are designed to inspire innovation.

Starting from September 2017, the Ministry of Education stipulated that all primary schools in China should offer science courses for students from grade one, instead of the previous requirement of grade three.

It means science has become an equally important fundamental course at primary schools, just like Chinese and mathematics.

Although Tanchang county only lifted its people from absolute poverty in November, it has made a huge effort to boost science education among primary school students, with relatively limited resources compared with big cities.