New education guideline mandates hands-on scientific inquiry projects

The Ministry of Education issued on Tuesday a new guideline requiring all students in grades four through nine to complete at least one scientific inquiry project each semester, as part of a broader effort to strengthen hands-on science education and improve students' scientific literacy.

The guideline launched the "Learning by Doing" initiative, which will take effect starting from the fall semester of the 2026 academic year. It aims to address the overemphasis on knowledge transmission and the relative neglect of competency development in science teaching.

Under the guideline, science education will shift from traditional lecture-based instruction to project-based, interdisciplinary learning centered on real-world problems.

The guideline sets differentiated goals for different grade levels. In primary school, students are expected to observe phenomena, ask scientifically investigable questions, conduct simple experiments, and create basic projects — with the focus on sparking curiosity and imagination.

At the middle school level, students should formulate hypotheses based on real-world contexts, develop comprehensive inquiry plans, and apply multidisciplinary knowledge to solve problems, with emphasis on cultivating scientific thinking.

The guide provides sample inquiry tasks across six major themes: life and health, ecological environment, Earth sciences, aerospace, emerging industries, and artificial intelligence.

Example projects include simulating the causes of myopia and making antibacterial products, building an underwater vehicle from water bottles and seismometers from springs, constructing water rockets and aircraft models, and learning to use generative AI safely and ethically.

Each project must take no fewer than four class periods. For grades 1 through 3, students only need to complete the inquiry activities already stipulated in the science curriculum.

The guideline also overhauls the assessment approach. Rather than relying on examinations, evaluation will focus on students' problem-awareness, inquiry and hands-on abilities, capacity for reflection and improvement, and collaboration skills during the inquiry process. Performance-based assessments will be documented and included in students' comprehensive quality evaluation portfolios, with no additional testing requirements.