Students, teachers take pleasure taste of class out of world

"It's amazing to see Wang giving a lecture from space,'' Wang Bei, 7, a first grader at Shenyang Zhulin School in Northeast China's Liaoning province said.

"I'm was excited to see that even water can fly in space. It would be better if we could also move the classroom to space and have a lesson there."

Although the Ministry of Education didn't require primary schools to watch the class, the school allowed their pupils to view it due to the massive interest in space.

Zhang Han, a senior two student at the school, said she was intrigued and amazed by the water ball's behavior in zero gravity.

"The red water ball was magical and beautiful, just like a crystal ball.

"The lesson really was an eye-opening experience," she said.

"The lesson was vivid and interesting and made the textbook easier for us to understand," said Wang Ruijia, a senior student.

"The lesson was more authentic than any simulated environment," said Fan Jing, a teaching and research group leader at the school.

"Students got to see the interior of the space capsule and how experiments work up there."

Niu Xiaohua, school principal. "Senior one students in our school have studied gravity recently," Niu said.

"They were eager to know what happens when astronauts do experiments in a zero-gravity environment.

"The 50-minute lesson was rich in content. A lesson like this can inspire students to learn more about science." 

"We know about the lack of gravity in space, but today's class showed us this vividly. I was particularly amazed to see the water film experiment," said Li Yuanlan, a 16-year old student at Kunming Girls High School where 1,300 students watched the live broadcast on Thursday.

"We can see how much progress our country has made in science and technology. The class definitely aroused student interest and I heard some of them say they would like to be an astronaut when they grow up, " Yu Pingfei, Li's physics teacher, said. 

Huang Ye, 18, student at High School affiliated to Guizhou Normal University:

"Watching the sunrise 16 times a day is really wonderful. I enjoyed the lecture because we were able to see and learn interesting phenomena from space, which is really cool."

Cai Chengxuan, 18-year-old student from a high school affiliated to Guizhou Normal University

"Seeing astronauts doing experiments on TV really inspired me to pursue science. As a student of liberal arts, I am fascinated and intrigued by psychology. It's pretty exciting to find out that it's useful, even in space, just like physics is."

Tang Tianchu, 17, student at the school:

"The ball-shaped water is very interesting and fantastic. Water, which is commonplace on Earth, showed its magical power in space. It was wonderful."

Akbar, 18, student at the school from Aksu, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region:

"I gained a lot from this lecture. The most impressive sight for me was the weightlessness of the astronauts — actions which can hardly be performed on Earth."

Luo Dongjie, 17, student at the school from Yili, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region:

"We saw water balls and the astronauts' interesting life in space, learning about the state of weightlessness."

Duan Quanqing, 49, deputy principal at the school who used to teach math to Liu Yang:

"She (Liu Yang) liked to figure out the problems and solve them clearly. Such good habits benefited her education. Nowadays, students should focus on building up their interests, enhancing their imagination and being persistent."

Tao Ning, 35, vice-principal of Weiminglu Primary School in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province.

"Astronaut Wang Yaping gave a lesson of more than 40 minutes in space. Although it seemed as easy as the lessons we give on Earth, I knew it wasn't because I could see that every motion she made in space was difficult.

"I sometimes feel tired after giving a 40-minute lesson on Earth, so I can imagine that Wang Yaping must feel even more tired after this lesson. The dedication of the astronauts should be respected and appreciated by us.

"The space lesson inspired our students a lot, making them more curious about science and encouraging them to study harder."

Li Jiatong, 8, a second-grade student at Weiminglu Primary School in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province

"I'm thinking about how to build a better space station, such as a space station on the surface of the sun. That means I have to work on how to lower the temperature of the sun to an extent that people can bear."

Sun Kaiyuan, 10, a fourth-grade student at Weiminglu Primary School in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province

"I tossed my hair into the air after the lesson, but it didn't float because there is gravity on Earth."