Those scientists include Erwin Neher, winner of the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, John Roger Speakman, a biologist and a foreign academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Pan Yi, director of the school of computer science with CAS Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology.

Guo, the course attendee, once studied bioscience at Guangzhou University.

"It's a horizon-widening and inspiring experience for me to get to know the latest advances in scientific research in the fields that I once studied as a university student," she says.

The course also took her to visit schools that have incorporated science education into the curricula and even their architectural designs. Sciensly Primary School in Shenzhen's Nanshan district is among them.

"The school is just like an amusement park, where huge containers have been set up as a space to grow different species of plants, which is full of fun," she says.

The course was co-initiated by the department of teacher education with the Ministry of Education, as well as the academic divisions and the bureau of science communication at CAS, to continuously improve teachers' scientific literacy and further cultivate young scientists.