On December 29,2017,Mr.Li Ding, deputy director of the Digital Experimental System R&D Center of Shanghai Elementary and Secondary School, a PhD. student in science education,was invited by the Mr.Liu Jing hai,president of Shanghai Zhabei Eighth Middle School, the director of the Shanghai Institute of Successful Education, special-grade principal of senior school and special-grade teacher, to give a a lecture with the title “Looking at the Starry Sky and Embracing Science” for all the teachers and students of the Eight Middle School in the Successful Education lecture hall in the Eighth Middle School of Zhabei.

This lecture was presented to all students in the second year of high school and broadcast live to the whole school. At the beginning of the lecture, Mr.Li broke the routine and walked among the students as sci-fi enthusiasts. He interacted with the students directly and confronted the sci-fi fans in the room with the secret code “42”,and this blew the audience away.

The introduction of Mr.Li’s scientific lectures is always unexpected—— a famous painting from Gauguin.Through this painting, General Li pointed out that “looking up at the stars” and “pursuing the mysteries of the universe” is the fundamental driving force for human civilization, and this expanded the horizon of both teachers and student.

After that, Mr. Li Ding led everyone from the north latitude N31°18′12.06′′ and the east longitude E121°25′56.20′′——Zhabei Bazhong, to flew out of the atmosphere, leaped to the moon system, the solar system, the Milky Way, the local group of galaxies, Virgo Supercluster and Laniakea Supercluster,until it reaches the edge of our universe known to man—— this series of leap is not only a new geographical positioning of human beings from the light year scale, but also an unprecedented perspective of the universe,.The lecture has changed the mindset of the teachers and student and leaved them mind blown.

Mr.Li Ding and Chinese science fiction writer Ms.Liu Ci xin

An hour later, the lecture reached its climax at the end: Mr.Li first arranged the “winter assignments”for the students according to the school's conventions—— a list of science fiction books with varying degree of difficulty, then, to emphasis main the point ,he played a feature film “From Zhabei Eighth to the End of the Universe”which was personally produced by him.Along with the exhilarating theme music in "Polar Express", the teachers and students felt like they are all in the universe, exclamation and warm applause burst out from time to time. In the film,there was the famous Tsiolkovsky's saying: " A planet is the cradle of mind, but one cannot live in a cradle forever.", and Mr. Li’s expectations for the students: “Science is an important tool for human beings to get out of the cradle. Look up at the stars, embrace science while we are still young!” The teachers and students are deeply touched.

Throughout the whole lecture, Mr. Li explained the positioning of human beings through the journey of the universe, from the unique identity of scientific researchers, entrepreneurs and sci-fi enthusiasts,constructed the logical link of "Looking at the Starry Sky - Pursuing the Attribution - Exploring the Mystery - Developing Science - Going Out of the Earth's Cradle", selecting and weaving amazing multimedia material carefully.From the beginning to the end, it has attracted the eyes and thoughts of the teachers and students of the Eighth Middle School in Zhabei, receiving a strong impact on the visual and mental aspects in an hour and finally realized the value and meaning of“look at the stars and embrace science”.This lecture is not only a successful practice of Mr.Li in his field of science education, but also a major leap towards the comprehensive development of of science education. As the special consultant of Principle Liu Jing Hai, Mr. Li will rely on the platform of Zhabei Eighth to bring us more surprises in the future!