Grade school gets inventive with special tech program
Since 2007, students of Jiachengli Primary School in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, have won more than 100 utility model patents, more than 30 of which were newly added this year.
Around 80 percent of the students in the school are children of the “new Wuxi citizens”, a local term referring to those who migrated to the city to work in recent years. And 75 percent of the patents have been granted to those students.
Although those children “from outside” might lag behind local children in terms of family education, they have very good hands-on skills, the school’s headmaster, Ji Qiuping, told local newspaper Jiangnan Evening News.
The teachers said that every single invention is based on the students’ observation of their daily life.
Ying Kaile, a student from grade six, won a patent for a chalk cap, a simple but practical gadget that contains the chalk with a fixer.
“When the teachers and students finished writing on the blackboard, chalk marks were left on their hands,” Ying told the Modern Express. “I was thinking if I can make something to wrap the chalk, and so I designed the chalk cap.”
Ou Suyue, whose hometown is in Anhui province, invented an umbrella dryer by combining a fan and a heater. She said the idea came up with her experience of shopping with her mother on rainy days.
“Water dripping from the umbrellas always makes the floor wet and slippery,” she said.
Some of the inventions are just designs without real objects. One example is a chair designed by Qu Jiaqi that helps correct children’s sitting posture with belts and a curved back.
Chen Yao has already won two utility patents and is looking to get a third.
“I want to make a mop with a flexible handle, so that my mother would not have to kneel on the ground to clean the floor under the sofa,” he said.
“In the beginning, the students were just making some wooden handicrafts, and we never thought about patents,” said Chen Huiping, a teacher responsible for practical skills classes. “Later we tried applying some of their good ideas for patent, and surprisingly they got approved.
“Since then, the students’ passion for creation has been stoked.”
“Their parents are busy working, but the children are independent and talented in creating things,” said Headmaster Ji. “We will provide them opportunities to bring their talent into full play.”
In 2010 a technology society was founded in the school, encouraging the students to make inventions under the guidance of teachers like Chen.
“I am probably one of the most popular teachers in the school now,” Chen said.
He said the local government also has provided support. The students do not have to pay application fees when they apply for patents and can get awards when their patents are granted.
Some inventions have attracted attention from interested companies that want to turn them into real products on the market. One of them is a nozzle installed in range hoods to clean them. Many makers of range hoods have come to the school out of interest in the patent, Chen said.