CHEN GENGYAN, a physics teacher at Shenzhen Henggang Central School, recently published a book on creative physics experiments with his wife. What distinguishes Chen’s book from traditional books are the QR codes attached to each experiment, which readers can scan to access videos, audio and online discussion groups, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

The book, titled “100 Creative Physics Experiments,” is divided into two volumes and mainly introduces 100 common and interesting physics experiments for junior high school students.

A remarkable difference between this book and other teaching reference books is that each experiment introduced in the book has a corresponding QR code. By scanning the code, students can watch a video of the experiment.

According to Chen, every experiment in the book includes a QR code for access to a video, a list of equipment, illustrations of the experiment’s procedure, reminders and an explanation of experimental principles.

Chen said the original intention of writing this book was to let more children understand physics and arouse their interest in the subject, so that they will be willing to do experiments themselves. Chen also hopes that students can learn to explore the mysteries of physics in daily life.

Chen is humorous and conscientious in his students’ eyes. His class is also very interesting. “We can focus on his teaching without being distracted,” said Wu Jiabao, Chen’s ninth grade student.

Chen’s wife, Zhang Huiyao, is also a teacher. She teaches science at Xialilang Primary School in Longgang District. Zhang and Chen were university classmates majoring in physics and now they are also good partners in their work.

They shot most of the videos for the experiments in the book on weekends. Zhang was mainly responsible for explaining the experimental principles, while Chen took care of the post production of the videos, including dubbing and video synthesis.

“After we finished shooting an experiment, it took us five hours to process the video with software,” said Chen. As there are a lot of experiments in the book and the experiments become progressively more difficult, it took Chen and Zhang 10 months to complete the book.

Since graduating from South China Normal University in 2015 and teaching in Henggang Central School for more than three years, Chen has won 10 national prizes in various competitions and one of his teaching aids has also obtained a patent.

“His passion for his work has never diminished since he started teaching. We also discuss and analyze the teaching content together and constantly reflect on our work to make continual progress,” Zhang said about her husband.

(Zhang Yu)