High school students from Hangzhou Foreign Language School, Cambridge A-Level Centre pose for a picture during the national finals of the China Think Big competition in Shanghai. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]
Six high school students from Hangzhou Foreign Language School, Cambridge A-Level Centre will compete with 50 world-class teams in the global finals of the China Think Big (CTB) competition at Harvard University in mid-April, bringing their innovative cervical vertebra project with them. CTB is China's largest research competition for high school students. Founded by Harvard University, CTB gives talented students from around the world the opportunity to demonstrate their intelligence and creativity by tackling important global issues posed by Harvard professors and other industry leaders. A German study showed that among young people in China (10-19 years old), around 170 million use smartphones for three hours a day on average, ranking second in the world. "Text Neck", a health concern caused by the overuse of handheld mobile technology, is particularly serious. To solve the problem, the six-member team, who won the top prize at the national CTB finals in March, spent 10 weeks creating a set of relaxation exercises and an app, known as "Break", promoting the protection of the cervical vertebra. The students tested out their regiment on a group of teachers. The teachers were required to do the relaxation exercises every day and were told to keep away from electronics for 10 to 15 of every 20 to 30 minutes. If they didn't, the app would cut off their phone's internet access. After a month, the teachers were surprised to find that the pain experienced in their cervical vertebrae had subsided. |