World Expo Museum (WEM) reaches out a thousand miles to teach the "First Childhood Lesson " World Expo Museum -"WE Kids"

　　WEM is a museum that focuses on World Expos.

　　It has a highly recognized "WE Kids" education program that provides a full range of cultural experiences, courses, practices, entertainment and other projects for kids, sharing knowledge of World Expos, inspiring kids' curiosity and opening the door to wisdom for them.

　　WEM has been trying to give its public education function more care for the people, especially kids. Since early this year, WEM has cooperated with the charity organization Childhood Lesson to provide more and better learning opportunities for kids in remote mountain areas.

　　The inclusion of charity elements make public education as well as technology heart-warming and eye-opening.

　　The charity organization is called Beijing Childhood Lesson Development AidCenter" in full name. Its aim is to change the current imbalance of education in China with new technologies, introducing STEAM courses to elementary schools in underdeveloped areas. It is mainly concerned with basic education in rural areas by building an online classroom for elementary schools in underdeveloped areas.

　　STEAMis a dual-teacher model offering courses on fine arts, music, science, Chinese studies and psychology. It aims to help primary schools shape a good teaching environment and promote the development of rural education, providing high-quality classroom experience for poorly equipped rural elementary schools through fun courses on English, music, art, finance, network literacy, psychology and reading. Kids will learn skills to adapt to the future world through all-round healthy development.

　　Now, kids from more than 75 rural primary schools in 16 provinces are waiting for us.

　　Working together to create public welfare

　　WEM and Childhood Lesson use ICT means, including big data and webcast, to share their own resources, convey the spirit of World Expos, create public welfare and promote the development of rural education in China. Everything is provided, and no fee is charged on schools or students. In the first place, both partners are committed to improving the education environment and offering students free learning opportunities; also, they want to help kids in the rural areas in remote mountainous areas with their resources. Although both partners usually target different people and serve in different ways, they work together in the cause of public welfare and play their cooperative and mutually enhancing roles. WEM is the first museum to cooperate with Childhood Lesson to offer a free course. WEM also invites other institutions in the cultural industry to participate in the "First Lesson for Children" project to boost the coordinated development of education in the East and West of China and bring more unforgettable and profound learning experiences to more kids in the mountains.

　　▲Mayao teaching point in Dashi Town, Gangu County, Gansu Province

　　One session a week, lasting for one academic year

　　Mayao teaching point in Dashi Town, Gangu County, Gansu Province has an area of 3,556 square meters and a building floor space of 720 square meters. There are 5 classes, 32 students and 3 teachers. WEM is more than 1,800 kilometers away, but it will offer online lectures to Mayao Primary School in Gansu as part of its "Expo Lecture Hall" series. One class will be offered a week and it will last for one academic year. In order to ensure the good effect of the 2018 fall semester, a test session was given in the afternoon on June 21. The test session is 40 minutes long and the participants are low and middle grade students (third and fourth grades). Unlike the regular classroom setting, there are two teachers in the class, one is teaching; the other is a facilitator. In the test class, the teacher only plays an auxiliary role in the "Expo Lecture Hall"; the teacher who really teaches is one from WEM called Xiaomei. Such a "dual-teacher" arrangement cannot only ensure interactions between teachers and students, but also ensure the accuracy of what is taught in the class. After receiving the feedback from the teachers, the school and the students, both parties will revise the course accordingly. The students will be provided with the most complete, interesting and appropriate classroom experiencethe next semester.

　　Using new technologies to help kids see the world

　　Given the current advances of “Internet of Everything”, kids in rural areas can also understand the history and development of world Expos, as well as see the collections of WEM and the stories behind it through live webcast and online interactions. Childhood Lesson's use of new technologies and its design of online courses enable students in remote mountainous areas to see the world with their own eyes through the distance education project. For kids born in the city, it is commonplace to access the Internet, watch movies and play games on their mobile phones or tablets. But for kids in rural areas, it is still a big problem to use computers to check information, let alone seeing a beautiful picture, vivid animation and live video broadcast on the big screen. Since these kids rarely have access to the outside world, web technology can bring them closer to the outside world and stimulate their curiosity and eagerness to explore.

　　Teaching a vivid, interesting history lesson

　　Many adults will find it boring to visit a museum. For kids, it is even more difficult for them to appreciate the exhibits in the museumquietly which are strange to them. It is also difficult to listen patiently to the guides! It is believed that Expo Lecture Hall is the best initiative to motivate kids to know about the history of World Expos. For today's test class, Xiaomei carefully prepared a colorful courseware full of illustrations and photos for the kids. With the animation effect, the Crystal Palace, which was burned in 1936, is exactly true to life, a real building in front of the students.

　　In addition to the illustrated courseware, Xiaomei also prepared the props and invited cartoon characters to explain the reasons, processes and principles of one of the most representative buildings in the history of World Expos. The students learned a fun and informative history lesson. Xiaomei connected the ancient buildings with the modern homes from time to time to deepen the students' understanding of ancient and modern buildings. It also encouraged the kids to turn on their brains. She went from hands to the steam engine and explained how steam train was invented and evolved; from shallow to deep, her explanation ensured that every child could understand the history of World Expos.

　　Live broadcast was used to connect WEM with the village, so that the teachers and students could communicate "face to face" over a long distance. Throughdistance learning,Childhood Lesson has made it possible for students in remote areas to learn about WEM and understand the history of World Expos. With the humorous and knowledgeable teacher, it is possible to get more experience than visiting the museum in person.

　　Interactive session and prize winners

　　Xiaomei asked the kids to look at the pictures on the screen, then draw the appearance of the Crystal Palace on the paper, and also invited the kids to paint their favorite foods, small animals and the like as decorations in the Crystal Palace. When the kids were drawing pictures, Xiaomei introduced the Crystal Palace to deepen the their understanding of the Crystal Palace and the history of World Expos. In the end, Xiaomei encouraged the kids to selectthreebest paintings and taught them to evaluate others' works. This simple task taught the kids another lesson!

　　They learned to appropriate and reward, which in turn would encourage learning.

　　In the classroom, a prize-winning Q&A session was designed to raise the kids' classenthusiasm. In order to learn well, we must know the new and refresh the old! Appropriate rewards for students can motivate them to answer questions; whether they can answer questions correctly or not, the kids will try to recall what Xiaomei has already taught, so that they can absorb the ideas and keep them deep in their hearts. In fact, all the kids who raised questions to Xiaomei answered correctly! It means they had learned by heart.

　　After the first success, more will come

　　About the test class, the teachers, the students and the museum staff all feel very happy. The students were more polite and attentive than expected. The students sat very straight in class, listened to Xiaomei carefully, and watched the screen intently! The only fly in the ointment was that there is really a gap between students in Shanghai and those in the remote mountains. Students must be taught in accordance with their aptitude. A well design course for students with different learning backgrounds will make the kids more enthusiastic and more committed! I believe that the "Expo Lecture Hall" to be officially launched this autumn will definitely be much more successful. It is the best reward for teachers to see the big smiles of the kids.

　　Ma Binping

　　Headmaster of Mayao Primary School, Dashi Town, Gangu County, Gansu Province

　　The course planned and developed by WEM is very good. Using online explanations, the course opened our kids’ eyes and gave them knowledge beyond textbooks. From this class, I also benefited as a teacher!

　　Tang Junqi

　　Head of “WE Kids” Expo Lecture Hall Project

　　As a museum educator, I am very proud to participate in today's test class. I am deeply moved by the kids' serious eyes and their enthusiasm in the class. I really hope that WEM will have more opportunities to offer similar courses and use our resources to change the current imbalance of education between regions. These lovely kids are the target participants of our Small Lecture Hall in the long term. It is our duty to open the window to the world for these kids.

　　▲ Crystal Palaces the kids drew in class

　　▲ Teacher Xiaomei

　　Finally, I would like to thank Xiaomei for her careful preparation for this class. I would also thank our partner for their assistance to make the attempt a success. Let us look forward to the official launch of Expo Lecture Hall in September!

　　This is not just a task;

　　It is an opportunity.

　　We must treat this remote education practice as

　　spiritual baptism,

　　a valuable experience,

　　a journey of growth, and

　　a development platform.

　　We expect more museums to join us to advance this cause of charity.