Seeds of curiosity grow beneath giant telescope

A Tsinghua University student volunteer teaches children Latin dance during a two-week summer camp at Kedu Experimental Primary School in Pingtang county, Guizhou province, on Aug 3, 2026. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In early August, 20-year-old Liu Chang stood at the front of a classroom, feeling slightly nervous. It was her first experience as a volunteer teacher.

Facing her were students from Kedu Experimental Primary School in Pingtang county, Guizhou province. Pingtang is home to the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope, or FAST, the world's largest single-dish radio telescope.

A student in the department of engineering physics at Tsinghua University, Liu was among 14 members of the university's Cyrus Tang Love and Care Society who traveled to the county for a two-week summer camp from July 27 to Aug 10.

Huang Zijun, 22, the team leader, said the camp aimed to combine local characteristics with children's personal growth.

"FAST is of great significance to national security and scientific development," he said. "Drawing on the region's astronomy culture and the children's interests, we created courses that brought together scientific exploration, sports, artistic expression and life education."

To make the science behind FAST more accessible, Liu designed a course in which students built their own telescope models to explore its structure and working principles.

The lesson drew an enthusiastic response. One student, usually energetic and easily distracted, worked on the model in her spare time and finished it ahead of schedule. She then picked up Liu's camera and filmed a short vlog, introducing each part of her model and explaining how it related to the real telescope.

In another class, Li Yiheng, 21, a student at Tsinghua University's School of Aerospace Engineering, taught the children how to make water rockets.

Rather than giving them answers directly, Li asked the students to experiment with different amounts of water and launch angles to see which combinations could make their rockets fly farther.

"When they found the answers themselves, my explanations became much more meaningful," Li said.

The emphasis on experience extended beyond science: the volunteers also sought to support the personal growth of rural girls.

Du Xuanye, 21, a philosophy student at Tsinghua University's Rixin College, helped design sports activities that, rather than emphasizing competition, aimed to build girls' "body confidence".

"Many girls worry about being judged for their appearance when taking part in sports, which can affect their focus and enjoyment," Du explained. " So, we encouraged them to pay more attention to how they feel and build a stronger connection with their bodies."

As a member of Tsinghua's drama club, Du also brought theater exercises into the classroom. For example, she guided the children to use body movements to "write" their names and make funny expressions to relax their facial muscles. She also introduced exercises to help improve their concentration and self-awareness.

To Du's surprise, the children soon required less guidance than she had expected. During a flag football activity, one girl wearing a skirt and sandals threw herself into the game without hesitation.

"She did not spend time worrying about whether her clothes were suitable for sports," Du said. "She simply focused on running and carrying the ball toward the end zone."

For the volunteers, these small changes were encouraging. But they also raised a more difficult question: How much could a two-week program truly achieve?

"There were so many things we wanted to do together, but we could not get to them all," Liu said. "After seeing the challenges the children face in their daily lives, we realized there was only so much we could do."

According to Huang, university volunteer teaching programs are sometimes criticized as being "brief and superficial". As a result, the team took steps before the camp to make their work more sustained and responsive to the children's needs. They exchanged letters with the children before arriving to better understand their expectations and interests.

After returning to Beijing, they plan to keep in touch with the children through letters.

For Liu, the value of the experience may ultimately lie not in how much the volunteers were able to change in two weeks, but in what the children take away from their time together. "At least they may remember the happiness of those two weeks and that someone took the time to listen to their stories, interests and worries like an adult friend," she said.