Science goes pop

Another pavilion showcased two cleaning robots designed by students from Beijing Bayi High School. The robots used mechanical arms to sweep and pick up garbage.

Director of the school's science center Zhu Kai explains that 80 percent of the school's 3,000 students select its elective science courses.

The school invested in a computer and robotics lab, an aviation and automobile model club and a multimedia science studio.

China's science education market boom has also caught foreign players' attention.

World-class science popularization organizations, including the Edinburgh International Science Festival and the South African Science Festival, brought hands-on activities and workshops.

Junior Achievement, which has become the world's largest education NGO since its 1919 founding in the United States, showcased innovative programs. The organization is dedicated to linking enterprises and educators.

The Beijing Science and Technology Film Festival, which runs from Sept 14-Oct 15, coincides with the popular science fair. It will show more than 40 domestic and international science films in 3D, 4D, IMAX and full-dome formats in the China Science and Technology Museum, the China National Film Museum and the Beijing Planetarium.

Engaging and enjoying science is the main theme of this year's festival, the Beijing Association for Science and Technology's deputy chairman Zhou Lijun explains.

"We hope it will generate interest not only among students but also among the general public."

Science festivals have a long history of doing so, starting with the 1989 Edinburgh International Science Festival, which has become the largest of its kind in Europe.

Zhou used the Beijing event's science forum to call for the creation of an international science festival association to bring better popularization programs to more people.

Contact the writer at wangru@chinadaily.com.cn.