Education model: Learn by playing, even mistakes, to boost innovation

Learning by playing and making mistakes might seem controversial to many in China, yet an event promoting such ideas attracted 1,000 children and their parents in Tianjin in late June.

"To improve Chinese children's creativeness, we have imported an advanced education model," Sun Tianqun, head of the Need International Institute (NII), told China National Radio.

Using an educational philosophy developed at renowned universities worldwide, including Ivy League schools, the approach not only focuses on schoolwork, but also works to cultivate positive values and engender innovation, perception, communication, willpower, decision making and leadership, according to the NII website.