Not long ago, the Suzhou Industrial Park hosted the seventh "Wu Wenjun Artificial Intelligence Science and Technology Award" ceremony. When a reporter asked the representative of the organizer, "Which industry is currently being most impacted by artificial intelligence?" Li Deyi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chairman of the China Artificial Intelligence Society, did not hesitate to answer: Education!

On July 8, 2017, the State Council issued the "New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan," which pointed out the promotion of AI applications throughout teaching, management, and resource construction; and the establishment of a new educational system that includes intelligent learning and interactive learning. Thus, in this new era, the integration of artificial intelligence into schools has become a national strategy.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly entering the field of education.

Looking back at the journey of AI integration into schools in our country, it's clear that the programming education of intelligent robots should be an important medium for AI in schools. In 2001, the China Association for Science and Technology held the first National Youth Robotics Competition at the Nansha Science and Technology Museum in Guangzhou; in 2004, the Ministry of Education and the Central Electrified Education Museum included "computer robots" as a competition event in the national computer works production activity for primary and secondary schools; since 2003, the Ministry of Education decided to pilot robotics education as an elective course in high schools in some provinces and cities, such as simple robot making in the "general technology" elective module and introductory artificial intelligence in the "information technology" elective module for student learning.

However, before 2014, most schools conducted activities in the form of extracurricular activities, interest groups, and training classes, which was far from the comprehensive popularization of robotics education. In 2015, Chinese primary and secondary schools welcomed the "Maker Year," with many schools establishing maker spaces to conduct maker education and STEAM education based on intelligent robots. With the World Robot Conference held in Beijing from 2015 to 2017, China entered the springtime of robotics.

Huang Ronghuai, co-chairman of the High School Information Technology Curriculum Standard Revision Group and professor at Beijing Normal University, pointed out that regarding the issue of opening artificial intelligence courses in primary and secondary schools, ever since the release of the "New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan," basic knowledge of artificial intelligence has been added to the compulsory modules of the "High School Information Technology Curriculum Standard," and the preliminary module on artificial intelligence has been revised. He made two suggestions: one is to adjust and connect robotics education, maker education, comprehensive practice, and related competitions in primary and secondary schools, especially during the compulsory education stage, with high school stages; and two is to integrate enterprise and other social resources to carry out targeted training for artificial intelligence teachers in primary and secondary schools.

"Artificial intelligence is rapidly entering the field of education, serving both as a new tool for educational reform and as new content for curriculum teaching," said Ren Youqun, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Education's Educational Informatization Expert Group and professor at East China Normal University. He believes that the replacement of some existing jobs by artificial intelligence and the creation of new positions will bring significant changes to the types of talent cultivation, the content of training, and supply and demand, and will have a profound impact on deepening the reform of the educational system.

Ren Youqun believes that artificial intelligence should be included as a compulsory subject, aiming at literacy cultivation, with programming practice as the approach. Several points should be noted here: one is to start with the teaching of basic knowledge of artificial intelligence, understand the development of cutting-edge fields, and conduct enlightenment education on artificial intelligence; two is to enable every student to interact with intelligent tools and experience artificial intelligence products in daily life; three is to implement programming teaching at different levels according to educational stages, learn to solve practical problems through programming, and cultivate computational thinking, innovative thinking, and other basic qualities of the information age.

AI education must emphasize ethical values.

Zhang Sheng, director of the network platform department of the China Basic Education Quality Monitoring Collaborative Innovation Center, believes that AI education must emphasize the design of ethical value orientations. People's keen attention to the development of artificial intelligence is largely based on concerns about humanity itself. Will humans be replaced by robots? Will humans become slaves to artificial intelligence? The essence is the question of how human intelligence can coexist harmoniously with artificial intelligence or robots. Education not only carries the task of changing ways of thinking but also bears the major task of shaping worldviews and values. Ethical issues of artificial intelligence should be given full attention in curriculum design and implementation. Questions such as "When an autonomous vehicle is about to have an accident, should it prioritize protecting pedestrians or passengers?" and "How to increase the happiness brought by artificial intelligence to humans while reducing worries" will allow students to develop critical thinking in real problem scenarios related to their subjects and learn to think and solve problems from the perspective that combines scientism and humanism.

Dr. Qi Yuan of the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences believes that AI courses should focus on the development of children's computational thinking. In recent years, "computational thinking" has become a hot term in education, with some organizations advocating it as the fourth basic skill alongside reading, writing, and arithmetic. The programming language is the material shell of computational thinking and a key to understanding the world of technology. It is essentially a way of thinking and understanding. Only by mastering this language can one communicate better with artificial intelligence as a tool. With technological development, the acceptable age for programming languages continues to decrease, laying a solid foundation for AI integration into schools.

The reporter has been following Wang Tongju, the founder of the "Smart Creation Space" at the Guangzhou Educational Information Center, for several years. As one of the earliest teachers engaged in intelligent robotics education in China, Wang Tongju has personally experienced the integration of artificial intelligence into schools. He said: "Conducting maker education and STEAM education based on intelligent robots, using information technology classes and school-based elective courses to offer intelligent robot programming courses in schools, forming extracurricular interest groups, and carrying out AI popularization courses based on intelligent robot programming in some grades, allowing AI courses to enter the classrooms of primary and secondary school students, is a path worth trying and capable of changing the traditional education model."

Artificial intelligence has a significant impact on future schools, teachers, and students.

Artificial intelligence simulates the information processes of human consciousness and thought. Based on artificial intelligence's virtual reality technology applications, students can immerse themselves in historical and fictional worlds or explore environments and scientific objects difficult to access in the real world. Digital smart reading devices will become more intelligent, providing automatic connections to supplementary information databases and equipped with automatic translation systems for different languages, assisting in learning new knowledge.

In recent years, with the rise of artificial intelligence, more and more universities have opened AI majors to train talents engaged in intelligent scientific research. Artificial intelligence involves multiple interdisciplinary fields, not only driving the development of its own discipline but also affecting the rapid development of related fields, such as brain science research, big data technology, the Internet of Things, virtual reality technology applications, etc. The future development of artificial intelligence will not only replace or transform existing jobs but also create many new types of jobs. Therefore, education in schools must keep pace with the times, constantly adjusting disciplinary and professional directions and talent training goals, to cultivate more innovative talents for society.

Perhaps when artificial intelligence and traditional education advantages are closely integrated, that will be the day when our new era's educational innovation blossoms fully.