Beijing Women's Federation

An activity, on the theme “empowering girls with science and technology, Beijing in action,” it has been held in Beijing from July to December in 2022. It is a measure to promote the development of women talents in science and technology — which is a goal of the Women’s Action for Scientific and Technological Innovation. Diverse events, including online scientific and technological courses, live-streamed interactions with scientists and practices in sci-tech innovation, have been organized to improve the sci-tech literacy of girls. Platforms, interactive forms and content of the activity have been expanded and improved on the basis of previous activities.

Courses Enriched for Improving Girls’ Scientific Literacy

The course on scientific literacy and technological know-how for girls has science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, classes. This year, on the basis of the IBM Skills Build for Students platform, the organizers have offered a reading class and opened an audio channel, both for scientific popularization. The course also unveiled a new subject on the protection of the earth and set up a class to strengthen the training of creative thinking for teenagers in response to the proposals of the UN-backed COP15 biodiversity conference. Experts were invited to hold live-streaming courses and answer the questions from adolescents.

Girls attend a scientific popularization course online.

Activities on Vision of Science, Technology Inspire Girls

People can get boundless strength from role models, whose stories help stimulate the interest of girls in science and technology. Accordingly, four representatives of female sci-tech workers were invited to hold lectures on scientific popularization and relate their personal experience to guide children and teenagers to embrace sci-tech innovation, and to offer them confidence in science and technology.

Four representatives of sci-tech workers give lectures to girls.

Lu Jing, a researcher with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), spoke with the teenage audience about the evolution of ancient fish species and shared her journey to become a scientist and conduct scientific expeditions across the world.

Li Jinfeng, a researcher with the China Institute of Atomic Energy, briefed attendees on the utilization of nuclear energy, the prevention and control of nuclear radiation, and her work experience with the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency.

Zhu Jiangling, a senior engineer from the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences at Peking University, gave a lecture titled To Be a Doctor of Nature, in which she called on children to show their love and care for nature.

Xu Jingjing, founder of the Global Green Development Capital and president of Beijing Wisdom Jinglun Health Technology, presented a report titled Aspiring to Be Mulan in the New Era, in which she highlighted the importance of artificial intelligence in the development of inclusive healthcare for the interest of the people.

Program Strengthens Capacity-building of Girls in Innovation

The program on putting innovative thinking in science and technology into practice has collaborated with the Beijing Youth Science and Technology Innovation Institute to build professional platforms to collect the stories and cases of invention among female students of Beijing-based primary and middle schools. Teenage participants from five primary and middle schools in Beijing were guided by supervisors and experts in the production of their self-made creative items. Thanks to the concerted efforts of teachers, students and experts, many inventions were presented in the form of videos, practical plans and concrete goods.

Several students applied the motion principle of the Mecanum wheel to smart parking to solve the difficulty in parallel parking. Other students developed biogas-driven fruit-processing machine, an alarm system for water logging in cities, and automatic watering facilities for fishbowls and flowers.

Many outstanding entries were recommended to be displayed at the 8^th Beijing Youth Invention Exhibition in a drive to help girls become more interested in science, raise their sci-tech literacy and find prospective development directions.