TEC Graduate Students Win First Prize in the 2024 Zhixing Cup Shanghai College Students Social Practice Competition

On November 16, 2024, the 2024 Zhixing Cup Shanghai College Students Social Practice Competition (hereinafter referred to as the 2024 Zhixing Cup), co-sponsored by the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League, the Publicity Department of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, the CPC Shanghai Municipal Education and Health Work Committee, the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, the Social Affairs Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, the Social and Legal Affairs Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the Shanghai Municipal Civilization Office, and the Shanghai Students' Federation, concluded at Shanghai Institute of Technology.

This year's competition set up eight categories: Zhixing · Strengthening the Country and Rejuvenating the Nation, Zhixing · High-Quality Economic Development, Zhixing · Technological Innovation, Zhixing · Rural Revitalization, Zhixing · Labor Education, Zhixing · Yangtze River Delta, Zhixing · Construction of an International Metropolis, and Zhixing · Traditional Culture. It encouraged young students to understand national conditions and serve society through research and practice, and to contribute their youth to the mission of promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-style modernization with practical actions.

A team from TEC (UNESCO Teacher Education Centre), led by Cheng Jialei, a 2023 master's student in Comparative Education, showcased extraordinary performance in the competition. Their project, Boosting Educational Development and Prosperity in the Global South – A Study on STEM Education Volunteer Service and Its Effectiveness in Tanzania, incubated from the International STEM Education Volunteers activity, competed in the Zhixing · Strengthening the Country and Rejuvenating the Nation category. After university-level selection, municipal preliminary selection, and final defense, the project stood out among 491 practical projects across the city, winning the first prize of the 2024 Zhixing Cup. Dr. Ding Ruoxi, the project advisor, was awarded the Excellent Advisor in the municipal competition.

Team Introduction

Advisor: Dr. Ding Ruoxi

Project Leader: Cheng Jialei (2023 master's student in Comparative Education)

Team Members: Liu Yutian (2023 master's student in Comparative Education), Zhou Zheng (2023 master's student in World History), Qin Yu (2023 master's student in Educational Economics and Management), Hu Qi (2023 doctoral student in Comparative Education), Zhang Yunji (2023 doctoral student in Comparative Education), Zhu Jiawen (2022 master's student in Comparative Education)

[From left to right: Cheng Jialei, Liu Yutian, Zhou Zheng, Qin Yu, Hu Qi, Zhang Yunji, Zhu Jiawen]

Project Overview

Taking Tanzania as a pilot, this project innovatively carries out international STEM education volunteer service based on China's existing youth volunteer system. Focusing on the professional development of STEM teachers, the team leverages the strength of young students to disseminate China's educational experience and practical methods. It connects upwards with Tanzania's national education policy departments to build cooperation bridges, and understands downwards the development needs and difficulties of grassroots schools to enhance the feasibility of experiences and methods, helping Tanzania build a national teacher professional development system (known as MEWAKA in Swahili).

Combining volunteer service with social research, the team finally proposes two possible development directions for China's international education volunteer system, aiming to tell China's educational stories to more Global South countries, act as responsible strivers, and shoulder the responsibility of building a strong education country.

Relying on the platform of UNESCO Teacher Education Centre, team members have been fully involved in online and Shanghai-based volunteer services supporting the professional capacity building of STEM teachers in Tanzania since 2021. In the summer of 2024, the first batch of student volunteers from the International STEM Education Volunteer Group went to three regions in Tanzania. Guided by the theory of participatory development and focusing on cross-cultural teaching research, they established a working model integrating collaborative lesson preparation, teaching implementation, knowledge sharing, cooperative research, and reflective improvement. They went deep into grassroots communities and carried out localized volunteer services in 4 primary and secondary schools, 2 normal schools, and the National Institute of Education.

During this period, team members not only demonstrated STEM classroom teaching to Tanzanian teachers and students as teaching assistants, but also interacted with local teachers, principals, and scholars using tools such as observation forms and guidelines, sharing experiences on effective lesson preparation, observation, and evaluation, influencing over 500 local educators. Currently, the team is exploring the migration of this volunteer service model to high school communities in Brazil, hoping to tell China's educational stories to more Southern countries and gather youthful efforts for building a community with a shared future for mankind.

[Pictures of volunteer services in Shanghai and localized services on-site]

Genuine and sincere knowledge is action, and clear and insightful action is knowledge. Although the 2024 Zhixing Cup has concluded, students from TEC continue to stride forward in scientific research and practice. It is expected that more students will combine their professional knowledge with their strengths, grow through tempering in the new world of the new era, and continuously transform practical achievements into practical driving forces for social development.