"3D Printing Drone” DIY Department of Physics Cultivates Talents Unveil of the Teaching Research and Development Center

Flying up to one thousand and two hundred meters high in the sky, with the size of 70 multiply 70 centimeters and with GPS, the drone, manipulated with a tablet, can catch the beautiful scenery in a second. There is also a miniature version of a robber band Ferris wheel, which is operated by the solar power. The multi-layered 3D-printed miniature chairs, cute pictures, and physics demonstration facilities with practical and special usages are created through the cooperation between the teachers and students.

Based on the current foundation, the Department of Physics at Soochow University established the Teaching and Research Development Center, in order to explore physics teaching materials, to develop digital experiments and also to cultivate students’ abilities to create and practice. In addition, the Teaching and Research Development Center aims not only to strengthen the teaching quality of physics but also to increase more practices in teaching and researches. The Teaching and Research Development Center was officially unveiled on April 15th.

At the unveiling ceremony, the Principal Dr. Pan Wei-Da said that the Department of Physics established the Teaching and Research Development Center in order to enable students and teachers to devote more efforts and sources to the innovative research industry, and this center will also be the cradle for cultivating talents. As the Dean of the School of Science, Dr. Song Hong-Gong mentioned that science is everywhere in our life and that as long as students learn the fundamental theories well in school, and demonstrate the result of their study with practices, they will be able to contribute people’s well-being. The Dean also indicated that the placard at the unveil ceremony of the Teaching and Research Development Center was an example—it was made by the razor cutting machine in the Physics Department. The chair of the Department of Physics, Dr. Wu Jyun-Sian emphasized that through the re-integration of the characteristic sources, teaching, and researches of this department, the establishment of the Teaching and Research Development Center will not only increase the dedication of students and teachers but also cooperate with institutes outside the campus to explore the red-hot 3D printing technology.

The current environment of higher education—the birth rate declining, the education reformation, the change of educational environment and the lack of innovative teaching materials, excessive emphasis on theories rather than practical experiments—makes science education difficult to take root. In the past few years, Cooperating with the physics centers at some senior high schools and the Kuang-Tian International Co. Ltd., the Department of Physics had hold such activities as conferences on physics history and digitalized science experiments, as well as workshops on scientific experiments. It also cooperates with National Museum of Natural Science to train qualified teachers, which is highly affirmed by senior high school teachers Their affirmation becomes the Department’s motivation to keep on conducting these activities.

Now, the Teaching and Research Development Center is putting in use officially. There are mainly four missions of it. Besides planning the development and researches, submitting related projects, they also need to plan and hold related seminars, and also to demonstrate and publish the research results of the related teaching materials, and also to conduct activities related to the objectives of this center. The immediate responsibility a university educator must assume is to cultivate physics talents, to promote the science education, and also to assist the development of the popular science education in junior and senior high schools. The establishment of the Teaching and Research Development Center of the Physics Department would not only contribute to the enrollments, student trainings, volunteer groups, summer camps, and workshops and make these activities reach a new milestone but also elevate the publicity and research development of our university.