Proceeding Paper

The Exploration of High Quality Education in Scientific and

Technological Innovation Based on Artificial Intelligence †
Xiaoli Yang * and Songbai Wang

Sichuan Quxian Middle School, Dazhou 635200, China; qxairbt@163.com

* Correspondence: yangxiaoli74@yeah.net
† Presented at the 2023 Summit of the International Society for the Study of Information (IS4SI 2023),

Beijing, China, 14–16 August 2023.

Abstract: This paper explains that setting up artificial intelligence courses can clearly enhance
students’ interest in high technology, boost learning confidence and promote students’ overall
development in the following three aspects: the significance of artificial intelligence education to
students, the confusion regarding artificial intelligence teaching in this stage, especially in rural
middle schools, and some related suggestions.

Keywords: artificial intelligence; quality education; scientific and technological innovation

1. Introduction
General Secretary Jinping Xi highlighted that we should vigorously promote the
development of the internet, big data and artificial intelligence in the report of the 19th
national congress. In July 2017, the State Council issued a development plan for a new
generation of artificial intelligence, which put forward the following goals: to set up
artificial-intelligence-related courses in primary and secondary schools, gradually promote
programming education and encourage social groups to participate in the development
and promotion of software programming lessons that combine teaching with fun [1]. Our
school is a first-class Provincial-Level Pilot Demonstration High School. In order to respond
to the call of the state and adapt to the times, we actively explored and undertook the
Citation: Yang, X.; Wang, S. The construction of an artificial intelligence robot laboratory, the development of science and
Exploration of High Quality innovation courses and the cultivation of quality talents, and we achieved certain results.
Education in Scientific and This paper describes the related work, which can be used as a reference for researchers.
Technological Innovation Based on
Artificial Intelligence. Comput. Sci.
2. Biased Understanding of Existing Quality Education
Math. Forum 2023, 8, 98. https:// Since the publication of the decision to deepen educational reform and comprehen-
doi.org/10.3390/cmsf2023008098 sively promote quality education, it has triggered a series of reflections and discussions
Academic Editors: Zhongzhi Shi
on high quality education in the educational system and all sectors of society. But today,
and Wolfgang Hofkirchner
most parents still think that quality education constitutes singing and dancing, and
few people pay attention to the all-round development of children’s morality, intelli-
Published: 26 February 2024 gence, physique, beauty and labor. Artificial intelligence simply corrects these cognitive
shortcomings of parents.

3. The Significance of Artificial Intelligence Education to Students

Copyright: © 2024 by the authors.
3.1. Innovating the Teaching Mode and Enlightening Students’ Thinking
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article In the traditional teaching mode, generally, the teacher stands on a platform and the
distributed under the terms and students passively accept this, which is called the cramming teaching, while in the teaching
conditions of the Creative Commons mode of artificial intelligence, teachers are simply guides, organizers and collaborators
Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// who are effective in guiding students to find and solve problems, thus stimulating students’
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ interest in learning, which is more in line with the new modern education mode [2]. For
4.0/). example, we can explain scratch graphical programming, where the students watch the

Comput. Sci. Math. Forum 2023, 8, 98. https://doi.org/10.3390/cmsf2023008098 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/csmf

Comput. Sci. Math. Forum 2023, 8, 98 2 of 5

examples, read the original program, write the examples themselves, learn the grammatical
structure, and the teachers answer questions. Students are not only planners but also
implementers of this teaching model, combining theory with practice; the student is not
only the director but also the actor. This enables students to actively explore and analyze
problems, encourages students to actively use their brains and mobilize all their body
functions, stimulates students’ multiple sensory abilities, causes them to become deeply
impressed, improves their capacity for understanding, enables students to access a space
for independent exploration and lays a foundation for their independent learning. It also
organically yields a perfect combination of practice and theory.

3.2. Integrating Subject Knowledge and Improving Practical Ability

Artificial intelligence involves the programming of language, algorithm design, sens-
ing, motion, control and other forms of knowledge, among which the programming of
language and algorithm design require students to have a good mathematical foundation
and logical thinking ability; sensing, motion and control require students to have a good
command of physics; and debugging requires students to have a good team spirit and
cooperation ability. Therefore, artificial intelligence is also the embodiment of students’
comprehensive qualities [3]. During artificial intelligence training, our students taught
themselves C language, Easy language and some circuit operation knowledge throughout
their summer and winter vacations in order to improve their skills. Some students even
learned relevant college physics, chemistry, advanced mathematics, calculus and algorithm
design, which not only cultivated their interest in learning, but also greatly improved their
academic performance. They not only won the provincial first prize in many youth science
and technology innovation competitions and robot competitions but also gained entry to
their 985 and 211 ideal universities, with excellent performances in the national college
entrance examination, such as Fudan University, Sichuan University, Nanjing University of
Aeronautics and Astronautics, Xihua University, etc.

3.3. Creating Team Spirit and Sublimating Students’ Emotions

Most of today’s students are only children lacking life experience, failing to deeply
understand the hard work and intentions of their parents, elders and teachers. The imple-
mentation of artificial intelligence is a project-based teaching method in which teachers
put forward some questions, while students discuss and write plans in groups; then, the
teachers review and question the students’ work, the students consult materials, repeatedly
explore topics and draw conclusions, and the teachers summarize and provide comments.
In this process, students need to do everything by themselves. This enables students not
only to learn knowledge and improve their ability to comprehensively analyze and solve
problems but to understand the ardent hopes and wishes of their parents, as well as the
expectations of their teachers, and to experience team spirit as though sailing together
in the same boat over thousands of miles through the wind and waves so as to achieve
the purpose of cultivation. For example, for the project “a toilet assistance system for the
elderly and hemiplegic patients”, we set up four groups: a program group, in which the
members racked their brains for a solution to a problem; a hardware group, in which the
members worked hard and adjusted repeatedly in order to achieve a building in the best
state; a logistics group, in which the members tirelessly strove to buy materials; and a
finance group, in which the members lobbied sponsors to assist in the program financially.
Having experienced these difficulties, every member found that it is not easy to do one
thing well and came to truly understand that unity is strength. Thus, the program also
sublimates the emotional education of “the importance of living, learning, gratitude and
team spirit” for students.
Comput. Sci. Math. Forum 2023, 8, 98 3 of 5

4. Confusion in Artificial Intelligence Education

4.1. Confusion in Conceptual Understanding
At present, artificial intelligence is a focal topic in the IT field. It plays on concepts, in-
volves gimmicks and replaces flowers with trees. Artificial intelligence is a basket inti which
everything can be placed. All kinds of pseudo-artificial intelligence are popular, disturbing
the audio-visual realm and causing great harm. Many students are still confused about
artificial intelligence. They cannot distinguish between robots, games, big data technology,
cloud computing, automation systems and artificial intelligence. Professor He Huacan
noted that the current artificial intelligence is mostly a set of encapsulated programs written
according to human thinking, which cannot reflect the attributes of artificial intelligence in
essence. The best example is driverless cars. Therefore, can artificial intelligence imitate
people in performing some simple tasks? Does artificial intelligence have full human
thinking, and can it make all kinds of judgments in a complex environment? The definition
of artificial intelligence requires further discussion [4].

4.2. Confusion about Teaching Content

Artificial intelligence, abbreviated as AI, is a new technical science that studies and
develops theories, methods, technologies and application systems for simulating, extending
and expanding human intelligence (from Baidu).
Artificial intelligence is a science and technology based on computer science, biology,
psychology, neuroscience, mathematics and philosophy. One of the main driving forces of
artificial intelligence is the aim to develop computer functions related to human intelligence,
such as reasoning, learning and problem-solving ability (From Zhi Hu).
From the above definitions, we can see that artificial intelligence is a comprehensive
discipline whose research fields involve robotics, language recognition, image recog-
nition, natural language processing and so on. It encompasses too much knowledge.
However, in middle schools, teaching content is still the theoretical basis of office system
software and information technology. There are few systematic textbooks on artificial
intelligence written for middle school students. While there are a wide variety of pro-
gramming software tools related to artificial intelligence in the market, most of which
were developed by educational product R&D institutions, the engineers of these R&D
institutions have little understanding of students’ psychology and physiology when
developing these products and do not fully consider the educational scene. They mainly
serve to advance their own educational products. Therefore, this has caused some con-
fusion regarding information technology among teachers and students not knowing
where to start with artificial intelligence teaching. For example, we have the Python
language, C language, C++ language and scratch software, and each company has its
corresponding graphical programming, with dozens of programming software types.
Therefore, the unification of standards is imminent.

4.3. Confusion about Teachers’ Qualities

Artificial intelligence is a comprehensive interdisciplinary subject which places high
requirements on teachers. In most schools, artificial intelligence is taught by teachers
of physics, information technology, chemistry and biology and other teachers lacking
comprehensive and systematic artificial intelligence knowledge [5]. The level of teaching is
uneven, and schools are short of funds; hence, it is difficult to guarantee the training and
learning of professional teachers of artificial intelligence, and the growth rate of teachers is
slow, which leads to some difficulties in artificial intelligence teaching and limits students’
understanding and mastery of artificial intelligence.

4.4. Confusion in Finance

Artificial intelligence is a cutting-edge discipline with high requirements for hardware
and software configuration, which requires independent artificial intelligence teaching
rooms, computers, sensor parts, 3D printers and some maker experimental tools. The
Comput. Sci. Math. Forum 2023, 8, 98 4 of 5

replacement rate of accessories is very high. Sometimes, a part or a sensor costs as much
as several hundred yuan, and some can cost thousands of yuan or even higher, which
is undoubtedly a great barrier for county-level middle schools with insufficient funds
and rural students from poor families, thus hindering the construction and promotion of
artificial intelligence.

5. Solutions to the Confusion Regarding Artificial Intelligence Education

5.1. Raising Money from Various Sources and Ensuring Funds
As the saying goes, “before soldiers and horses move, food and grass come first” and
“having food in your hand, not panicking in your heart”, capital guarantee is the premise of
success. In order to ensure the smooth implementation of artificial intelligence in primary
and secondary schools in counties, towns and townships, the government should set up
special funds for scientific research and development [6], raise an artificial intelligence
foundation to allow people from all walks of life to participate in the construction of artificial
intelligence and help individual schools, teachers and students with difficulties and those
having made outstanding achievements, and establish an artificial intelligence association
to provide organizational support and financial guarantees for the establishment of artificial
intelligence competitions and regular academic seminars on artificial intelligence.

5.2. Vigorously Reserving Talents and Ensuring Teacher Availability

Adhering to the strategy of “Come out, and bring in”, we should invite AI experts and
scholars to give lectures, organize teachers to study in Chengdu, Shanghai and other places
in batches, and build on the cooperation of schools with colleges and universities to provide
better teaching environments and teacher guarantees for AI teaching. The government
should offer policy support to provide a certain level of autonomy and priority for the
selection of excellent teachers so as to improve the overall level of teaching.

5.3. Making Every Effort to Optimize Teaching Materials and Doing a Good Job in Position Support
To achieve sustainable and good development, a school must obtain three “assets”:
funds, talents and teaching materials. Obviously, teaching materials can clarify a direction
for teachers, consolidate their position and ensure that students take fewer detours. They
are not only the specific basis enabling teachers to teach and do a good job in teaching
and educating people but also an important tool enabling students to obtain systematic
knowledge, develop intelligence and improve their ideological and moral consciousness
so as to render the knowledge obtained more systematic and standardized. Therefore, it
is essential to organize experts and professors in compiling more systematic textbooks on
artificial intelligence for primary and secondary schools at different levels and establish
competitions according to the latest development trends of artificial intelligence under the
unified, national standard of artificial intelligence. It is necessary to compile school-based
textbooks in light of the real context of the county and the school.

6. Conclusions
To sum up, setting up artificial intelligence courses can enhance students’ interest in
high technology, boost their learning confidence and promote their overall development.
Although we will encounter many difficulties in this process, we believe that with the
support of national policies, the help of all sectors of society and the joint efforts of school
leaders and teachers, we will become better.

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, X.Y.; formal analysis, S.W. All authors have read and
agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.
Comput. Sci. Math. Forum 2023, 8, 98 5 of 5

Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement: No new data were created.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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