Empower Rural China Students - 21st Century Skills

EEF is funding Professor Zizhou Wang’s Household Reading Site (HRS) project, which aims to increase reading access and improve literacy among rural children by placing shelves of books in selected rural families and establishing neighborhood reading centers in Chinese villages. The HRS project seeks to tackle an increasingly dire social problem that accompanies China's rapid urbanization – the crisis of “left-behind” children (Rozelle & Hell, 2020). In search of better job opportunities, many rural adults migrate to cities and leave their children behind. There are about 70 million left-behind children in China, and they experience various effects of poverty, including poor quality of education (Tong, Yan, & Kawachi, 2019). Researchers from the Stanford Rural Education Action Program found that almost half of the left-behind children in the poorest central and western parts of China had dropped out of school by Grade 9 (Rozelle & Hell, 2020). They cautioned that the high dropout rates may increase unemployment and widen inequality, which could lead to serious implications nationally and even internationally. One manifestation of disparities in education is rural children’s significant lack of access to suitable and adequate reading materials to develop their reading skills and interests. More than 70% of children in impoverished rural areas had access to only 10 or fewer extracurricular books a year and nearly 20% had none (Zhong, 2018). Recognizing this barrier in reading and literacy development, the HRS project aims to make reading materials easily accessible to rural children by creating neighborhood reading centers in selected households. HRS has identified a total of 15 villages to implement the intervention. At each village, 5 households are selected to receive a bookshelf and age-appropriate reading materials for children in that household and neighboring families. Selected families are trained on how to run the household-based library to offer convenient access to books and foster a culture of reading among neighborhood children.

Professor Lili Luo is currently working with Professor Wang to develop an impact evaluation model for the HRS project. Impact evaluations help strengthen the evidence base for decision-making when developing programs and policies to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives (Gertler et al., 2010). Evidence generated by impact evaluations informs strategic planning, project design, and resource decisions, and contributes to a greater body of knowledge and learning (USAID, 2021).

This summer, EEF collaborated with three high school students – D. Ang, E. Yu, and M. Liu – to bring robotics to Tonghe Primary School, Shacheng No.4 Middle School, and Tongfu South Street No.1 Middle School. Li Geng Sheng Projects purchased nine kits for these schools while the high schoolers created a curriculum for online teaching. The six-week-long workshop introduced students to the Engineering Design Process – a new way of problem-solving where students develop creative solutions based on the failures of past iterations. After several guided exercises in building a basic robot and programming with a sensor input, they were tasked with completing some missions on their own.

The students exhibited high levels of engagement and demonstrated creativity and perseverance in their work. Teacher Liu reflected on the class: “At the beginning, the kids had no idea what robotics was, and now they can write code to control the robot to accomplish a designated task. They have made tremendous strides, which would not have been possible without the very patient explanation and guidance from the teachers. We will definitely continue with the program to help more kids learn about robotics and cultivate their interest in programming.”

Special thanks to D. Ang (11th grader at Phillips Exeter Academy and founder of Robotica Institute, an outreach organization that focuses on spreading robotics to K-12 students with limited access to STEM), E. Yu (10th grader at College Preparatory School), M. Liu (9th grader at Head-Royce School), for providing the curriculum and executing the lessons. Instructor Dai, For sourcing and arranging for the purchase and delivery of the kits. Head Instructor J. Shang, Instructor Liu, Instructor Yang, and Instructor Wu, for facilitating the lessons.

Photo Credits: Courtesy of LGS Foundation