Reinforcing Science Education Using Virtual Museums in China

In the information era, the requirements of personal ability, especially scientific literacy, in dealing with their social life will be higher than ever before. People will be required to learn more knowledge and skills about science and technology. A convenient and easy model of science education will be more and more important to the citizens. But in the developing countries, physical facilities of science education accessible to people are in disadvantageous condition. With the rapid development of internet technology (IT), services based on IT will be more and more in use, such as virtual museums (including virtual science and technology museums, virtual nature museums, and so on). Virtual museums could be developed as a feasible way for science education in developing countries. In china, people who are measured as having basic scientific literacy accounts for only 3.27% of the respondents according to the eighth civic scientific literacy survey in 2010. The rate is far below that of the developed countries such as USA, and some others. In order to improve people's scientific literacy at large and help producing leapfrog, virtual museums will be an additional channel alongside with more input in formal education of science in class. According to the 31th Statistics of Internet Development, up to December, 2012, China has 564 million net citizens, 420 million mobile net citizens, and 156 million of them living in rural areas; dozens of virtual museums and digital museums are operating in the country. Since 2000 Chinese government has supported to construct a lot of e-infrastructural facilities, which laid the base for further development and stipulated the motivation and demands for using virtual museums to facilitate science education. If the virtual museums for science education is wisely used and effective, people's scientific rationality, consciousness and literacy may be improved by a big margin.