Even in class, British students seem to be playing games. They have relatively few class hours each day, with secondary school students having four classes and primary school students even fewer, and exams do not use a percentage system. Schools believe that the most important aspects for students are physical fitness and quality education, and they do not advocate rote learning. Teachers rarely assign homework. Various student clubs, such as football, tennis, chess, and travel clubs, are organized by schools and the community, often crossing class and school boundaries, and schools encourage students to participate in club activities. The students playing football are all members of a football club, coming from different schools. Here, they can meet more friends, broaden their horizons, and develop social skills.
Compared to China, education in the UK does seem a bit 'laid-back'. Classroom teaching is not only casual but often 'noisy', and during break times, various associations and clubs organized by schools, community organizations, and students themselves seem to be everywhere. From the perspective of teachers and parents in China, isn't this just indulging students in idleness? However, people at all levels in the UK believe that their 'play' is also a form of learning, learning social skills and various competencies. Schools place the greatest emphasis on children's physical fitness and quality. Especially for primary school students, they not only need to learn academic knowledge but also maintain good physical health to be able to pursue further education in the future. In fact, those students playing football and games are all healthy and energetic, with almost none wearing glasses (consider how many people around us wear glasses).
In Edinburgh, there is a Geoscience Museum, part of the quality training base for British students, specifically built as a quality and science education center for primary and secondary school students, inaugurated by the Queen of the United Kingdom. When visiting the Geoscience Museum, primary school students must be accompanied by a teacher or parent, while secondary school students do not need to be. The elevator descends all the way to the underground, entering unique exhibition halls such as 'Moving Continents', 'Weather Observation', 'Testing Earthquakes', and 'Formation of the Universe', each exhibition hall is constructed using high-tech means, making it very realistic and vivid. For example, in the time tunnel, the elevator continuously descends from 'now' to 'the past', with an electronic clock showing the time rolling backward, while the surroundings of the elevator clearly display famous figures, scenes, and animals from different eras. Visitors can also see how the UK was formed, learn about ancient organisms and the mysteries of the insect world through giant domed screens, realistic audio-visual effects, and various computer screens, with the scenes being extremely lifelike. Since the opening of the Geoscience Museum, over one hundred thousand British primary and secondary school students have visited, and the knowledge they gain in this vivid and intuitive environment is no less than what they acquire from textbooks in the classroom.
