A recent applied science lesson for students at St Margaret College Senior Secondary School, Verdala, Cospicua, was  enriched by three Chinese masters who led three hands-on workshops in Chinese porcelain making, tea making and silk embroidery making respectively.

In the silk embroidery making workshop the students learnt about the science behind tiny silkworms and silk cocoons, the process of silkworm breeding, cocoon selecting, silk reeling and weaving. They got to know more about silk history and culture in Suzhou, China, and the abundant types of silk designs. They also had the opportunity to hold a needle and a silk thread in their hands and knit a design on a piece of silk net.

In the tea-making workshop, the students learnt all about Chinese Black Tea, which is made from the leaves of the tea shrub (Camellia sinensis) after the processes of withering, rolling, fermenting, and drying. It is much more oxidised and stronger in flavour than green tea and white tea. Actually, the infusion of black tea is red and its oxidised leaves are black.

An opportunity to see many science concepts put into practice in class while getting in touch with Chinese culture

During the workshop, students observed the precise steps needed to infuse Chinese Black Tea and then performed the process themselves  and tasted the fragrant aroma of fresh tea.

In the third workshop about Chinese porcelain making, students learnt that porcelain is a type of pottery made from kaolin, a fine whitish clay composed of quartz and feldspar, that becomes hard, glossy and nearly transparent when it is fired in a kiln. Students were invited to touch the prime clay and try to make finger and hand shapes out of it.

Senior science teacher Martin Azzopardi SDC said: “During this special lesson our students had an opportunity to see many science concepts put into practice in class while getting in touch with Chinese culture and enhancing their concept of multi-culturalism”.

The event was organised by the college’s Science department in collaboration with the Malta China Cultural Centre.

The authors are students at St Margaret College Senior Secondary School, Verdala, Cospicua.