On the national competition stage, students Sun Shengxin and Gao Siyuan from Hongling Middle School (Hongling Education Group) in Shenzhen’s Futian District shone brightly, winning first prize. Sun Shengxin stated, “Under the guidance of Teacher Li Mao, I completed repeated thinking and debugging, growing stronger through the failures and successes of program debugging, and the competition with AI platforms and other contestants.” This reflects the vivid embodiment of Hongling Middle School’s deep commitment to AI education.
With the rapid development and widespread application of artificial intelligence technology, how to cultivate future talents with innovative capabilities and social responsibility has become a continuous focus in the education sector. After 18 years of relentless exploration and practice, Hongling Middle School has developed a unique AI curriculum system based on the “Five-Dimensional Four-Level” model for cultivating top innovative talents, promoting mutual empowerment and development between teachers and students, and establishing an “incubation cradle” for AI talent growth.
To ensure the smooth advancement of AI education, Hongling Middle School upgraded its hardware facilities, establishing AI laboratories and several innovative spaces on campus, providing students with ample experimental conditions and hands-on practice platforms. In these innovative spaces, students can conduct experiments, engage with AI, and bring their imaginative ideas to life.
How to construct an AI education curriculum system? Hongling Middle School formed an AI teaching team and established a master teacher studio. The Li Mao studio team regards curriculum development as a crucial approach to nurturing talent, forming a curriculum structure of “theory-led, project practice, and multi-dimensional integration.”
Combining real-life scenarios and teaching contexts, the studio team developed multiple AI-related courses. The courses cover various fields such as robotics technology, programming development, and data analysis, closely aligning with cutting-edge technology and reflecting deep interdisciplinary integration and practical application value. Among them, the robotics series courses and C language courses have been recognized as excellent courses in Shenzhen’s primary and secondary schools, while “Arduino Open Source Hardware” and “Python and Artificial Intelligence” have been identified as brand courses in Futian District.
“Courses should not be islands of knowledge but bridges that guide students to explore the mysteries of technology, allowing them to learn to apply technology to real problems; this is the essence of educational innovation.” According to Li Mao, the team also needs to innovate teaching methods, planting seeds in students’ hearts to nurture them into top innovative talents.
To this end, the Hongling Middle School teaching team continuously optimizes teaching methods, seeking suitable and personalized approaches. The teaching team actively promotes project-based learning (PBL), bringing real problems into the classroom, stimulating students’ innovative potential and their ability to solve complex problems through the process of addressing real issues.
In the process of exploring and constructing the AI curriculum system, students’ technical literacy and innovative capabilities have been continuously enhanced. In recent years, student teams have repeatedly won gold and silver medals in important domestic and international technology competitions, accumulating over 300 awards at world, national, and provincial levels. Among them, students Sun Shengxin and Gao Siyuan won the national first prize, while Wang Yizhi and Li Jiamu won the championship at the World Robotics Competition. Additionally, more than 60 students have been recognized as “Tomorrow’s Science and Technology Stars” in Shenzhen’s primary and secondary schools.
In many research projects, students from Hongling Middle School have also made their mark. Student Shao Zihan and others undertook the Rhinoceros Bird Middle School Science Talent Cultivation Program project “Using Skeletal Point Recognition for Sit-Up Recognition and Correction,” which has successfully concluded and received an excellence award. Student Guo Weihao’s invention, the “Smart Alarm Clock (Large Model),” has successfully obtained a utility model patent, and student Ding Hetian’s paper “Mobile Phone Heat Dissipation Stability Practice” has been published.
Each achievement in talent cultivation is backed by the Hongling Middle School teaching team’s long-term guidance and project mentoring during weekends and holidays, using the dedication and professionalism of teachers to inspire students’ innovative spirit and capabilities.
Today, the AI talent cultivation project at Hongling Middle School has received multiple recognitions from the Guangdong Provincial Education Department and the Shenzhen Municipal Education Department. Team teachers have been awarded as one of the top ten STEM teachers in the country, and the heads of the Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Education Master Teacher Studio have received honors such as excellent science and technology counselors in Guangdong Province.
Furthermore, the studio team has systematically distilled the results of curriculum construction and teaching research, publishing five monographs including “Robot Design and Production” and “Exploration and Research on the Path of AI Innovative Talent Cultivation in Primary and Secondary Schools.” This provides a reference for AI education in the region.
The 18 years of exploration and practice reflect the mission and original intention of the Hongling Middle School AI teaching team: to cultivate talents who can promote social progress. The studio team insists on enabling every student to find their value in the technological era, becoming future talents rich in innovative spirit and social responsibility, allowing students to combine theoretical knowledge learned in class with practical applications to create results of real value.
In the future, the Hongling Middle School team will continue to focus on curriculum innovation, build on teacher-student collaboration, continuously optimize and expand the content and methods of AI education, deepen regional cooperation and resource sharing, and continuously enhance the school’s leadership and demonstration role in regional AI education.
(Zhang Jian)
China Education News, September 11, 2025, Page 10
http://paper.jyb.cn/zgjyb/html/2025-09/11/content_144749_18878137.htm
