Inspiring the Creativity of "Digital Natives"
如今，我们身处一个由技术推动的、巨型的、紧密相连的全球化社会。“Z世代”被视为其中的“数字原住民”，自出生就与这个时代融为一体。他们的生活早已不仅限于个人所处的物质世界当中，技术已经在这个新的数字世界释放出强大的力量。
Nowadays, we are in a technologically driven, giant, tightly connected global society. "Generation Z" is regarded as one of the "digital natives" and has been integrated with this era since birth. Their lives have long been more than just the physical world they live in, and technology has unleashed a powerful force in this new digital world.
对于“将科技揣在口袋里成长”的孩子们来说，比起享受成果更重要的是，他们如何从享受者转变为创造者，提升自己的数字生产力？在日常课堂里，荟同老师们充分利用数字化教学手段，引导着孩子在数字时代的广泛探索与健康成长。与此同时，本学期由荟同工作室开设的丰富多彩的课后项目也涵盖了数门以编程为核心的课程，将编程作为一种创造性的手段，帮助“数字原住民”们了解数字社会的底层逻辑，并尝试利用技术手段实现数字化创作。
Children who "grow up with technology in their pockets" enjoy the digital creations of others, but more importantly, how can they move from being enjoyers to creators and improve their digital productivity? In the daily class, our teachers make full use of digital teaching methods to guide children's extensive exploration and healthy growth in the digital age. Meanwhile, our abundant after-school programs offered by Huitong Studios tin this semester includes several programming-focused courses that use programming as a creative tool to help "digital natives" understand the underlying logic of digital society and experiment with technology for digital creation.
Scratch 编程入门 Basic Scratch Programming
针对小学三四年级低年段的学生，学校开设了“Scratch编程入门”课程，帮助学生们踏入图形化编程的世界。Scratch是麻省理工学院“终身幼儿园（Lifelong Kindergarten）”团队在2007 年推出的图形化编程工具。它的编程语言简单易懂，有助于发展儿童的逻辑思维能力。
For students in the early grades of third and fourth, the school offers "Basic Scratch Programming" to help students get started in the world of graphical programming. Scratch is a graphical programming tool introduced by the MIT Lifelong Kindergarten team in 2007. Its programming language is easy to understand and helps develop children's logical thinking skills.
开课至今，孩子们已经学习了Scratch的基本知识——添加故事/游戏的背景、创建多个不同角色，以及最重要的认识各个积木模块的作用及其应用。在此基础上，大家尝试将不同模块功能与学科课堂所学相结合。比如他们结合画笔模块与数学课中的几何图形知识，指示计算机画出了不同特点的几何图形；通过应用变量模块，孩子们添加不同变量，实现了科学课中的杠杆平衡测试。
The children have learned the basics of Scratch - adding the background of a story/game, creating several different characters, and most importantly understanding the role of each block module and its applications. Based on this, the children has tried to combine the functions of the different modules with what they have learned in other class. For example, they combined the paintbrush module with their knowledge of geometric shapes in math class and instructed the computer to draw geometric shapes with different characteristics; by applying the variables module, the children added different variables to implement the lever balance test in science class.
课堂里最有意思的是，每次老师给出一个编程脚本的例子，大家都会努力寻找Bug，还不断挑战自我，尝试编写出能够比老师的程序实现更多功能的程序！在一次实现角色跨栏的场景中，同学们就发现如果要通过背景的重复移动实现角色的相对运动，那么就不应该持续使用一个背景，而应该变化多个不同背景让运动更加真实。大家的探究精神和挑战精神总能带给老师们许多惊喜。
The most interesting part of the exploration process was that every time the teacher gave an example of a programming script, everyone would try to find bugs and keep challenging themselves to try to write programs that could achieve more functions than the teacher's program! In a scenario where a character hurdle was implemented, the students found that if they wanted to achieve relative movement of the character by repeated movement of the background, they should not use the same background continuously, but should change several different backgrounds to make the movement more realistic. The children's spirit of inquiry and challenge always brings many surprises to the teachers.
Python入门《我的世界》建筑师 Python and Minecraft
针对小学五六年级高年段的学生，学校开设了“Python入门《我的世界》建筑师”课程。Python是一门众所周知、横跨万千领域的编程语言，各种数字化场景的应用背后，无不充斥着Python 的身影。Minecraft （我的世界）则是一款风靡全球的创作平台，创作者可以基于其沙盒的理念尽情搭建梦想之作，唯一能限制住他们的只有想象力。以Python为笔，同学们将在Minecraft 的沙盘上搭建起一座座世界知名建筑，创造出独属于自己的建筑。
For students in the upper grades of G5&6, the school offers an "Python and Minecraft" course. Python is a well-known programming language that spans a wide range of fields and is used in almost all kinds of digital scenarios. Minecraft is a popular creation platform that allows creators to build their dreams based on its sandbox concept, and the only thing that can limit the creators is their imagination. This course will lead students to use Python as a pen to build world-renowned buildings and create their buildings on the sand table of Minecraft.
目前，同学们已经完成了Python基础知识的学习。通过学习Python基本的语言特性，大家能够定义不同的数据类型，并使用各种数据类型和自定义的函数，解决了包括计算图形面积、输出复杂文本内容、遍历列表和字典等在内的多种问题。他们还有能力去设计一些类和子类，从而让代码结构性更强。
In the first half of the semester, students have completed learning the basics of Python. By learning the basic Python language features, the students were able to define different data types and use various data types and custom functions to solve a variety of problems including calculating the area of a graph, outputting complex text content, and traversing lists and dictionaries. They were also able to design several classes and subclasses, which allowed for more structured code.
回想刚开始上课的时候，老师说同学们在一节课里大概只能写一二十行代码，还有一些同学面对着开发工具显得手足无措。但如今，同学们一节课能够完成近百行代码，这是一个非常了不起的成就。因为编程绝非易事，过程也比较枯燥，但大家都展现出了十足的耐心和毅力。
The teacher said that the students could only write about ten or twenty lines of code in the beginning, and some of them looked overwhelmed by the development tools. Today, however, students can write nearly 100 lines of code in a class, which is a very impressive achievement. Programming is never easy and the process is tedious, everyone showed patience and perseverance.
更给老师们留下深刻印象的是同学们总能放飞想象力，思考能够通过编程来改变什么。有的同学设想过如何通过编程让一些数学运算变得更加简单，有的同学能将现实问题简化成数学模型并通过编码来解决，还有的同学认识到了计算机的局限性和人的智慧的无限性。这些思维的养成对于同学们未来的学习都是弥足珍贵的，也更令我们期待他们驾驭着自己的编程能力在Minecraft中自由放飞想象，创造他们理想中的世界。
What impressed the teachers, even more, was that the students were always able to let their imagination fly and think about what they could change through programming. Some students envisioned how to make some mathematical operations easier through programming, some were able to simplify real problems into mathematical models and solve them through coding, and others recognized the limitations of computers and the infinite nature of human intelligence. The development of these mindsets is invaluable for the student's future learning, and we look forward to them harnessing their programming skills to create their ideal world in Minecraft.
Python高阶 语音识别和人脸识别 Python and Reinforcement Learning
面向有基础的中学生们，学校开设了“Python高阶 语音识别和人脸识别”课程。同学们将学习到语音识别和人脸识别的基本原理，在此基础上使用Python编写语音识别和人脸识别的程序，同时领略到编程和AI的强大魅力。
The course "Python and Reinforcement Learning" is designed for middle school students with basic programming skills. In this course, students will learn the basic principles of speech recognition and face recognition. On top of that, students will also learn how to write programs for speech recognition and face recognition using python and learn the power of programming and AI.
目前，同学们已经能够通过编程来实现一些较为复杂的数学计算和函数，对计算机这个科技黑箱有了更深入的了解。随后，他们将开展对AI理论的学习，理解AI的底层逻辑，并最终利用编程能力和AI模型编写出一个AI应用。无论是语音识别、人脸识别等常规应用，还是AI绘画等更加激动人心的应用，相信同学们无穷的想象力一定能创造出令人惊喜的作品！
Currently, the students have been able to program some of the more complex mathematical calculations and functions and have gained a deeper understanding of computers as a technological black box. They will then carry out the study of AI theory, understand the underlying logic of AI, and eventually write an AI application using their programming skills and AI models. We believe the endless imagination of the students will help them create amazing works!
老师说同学们展现出的逻辑思维能力和想象力，总能让人眼前一亮。比如在输出一些复杂文本内容时，同学们能非常顺利地将一个复杂的问题转化为简洁的数学模型并通过代码实现。在谈到人工智能时，小到身边的应用，大到飘渺的哲学问题，同学们都能够侃侃而谈。人工智能再发展下去会成为人类吗？什么是人类？人会不会也是一段程序？代码由简单0和1组成，而人类也是由简单的碱基对组成的DNA控制的，这一切都是巧合吗？天马行空的问题漂浮在同学们的脑海当中，不断激发着他们的灵感，给予他们动力。
The teacher said that the logical thinking skills and imagination shown by the students always shine through. For example, when outputting some complex text content, the students were able to transform a complex problem very smoothly into a concise mathematical model and implement it through code. When it comes to artificial intelligence, the students were able to talk about everything from small applications to big philosophical questions. Will artificial intelligence become human if it continues to evolve? What is a human being? Will humans be a program too? Is it all a coincidence that code consists of simple zeros and ones, and that humans are also controlled by DNA consisting of simple base pairs? A variety of questions floated in the minds of the students, constantly inspiring them, and giving them motivation.
“当前，课堂里所学的知识会让同学们获得一些实实在在的技能，但更长远地看，他们今天建立的知识体系、技术观念和哲学思考，将对他们未来的人生产生深远的影响。”正如老师所说，学习编程的过程不仅在于掌握技能，也在于培育一种数字思维，学习解决问题的策略和逻辑。期待看到孩子们立足于数字时代的浪潮之上，通过持续的练习提升自己的数字生产力，充分发挥主观能动性和丰富想象力，最终实现自我价值并为社会创出更大的价值。
"Currently, what they learn in class will give students some tangible skills, but in the longer term, the knowledge system, technical concepts, and philosophical thinking they build today will have a profound impact on their future lives." As the teachers say, the process of learning programming is not only about mastering skills, but also about cultivating a digital mindset and learning problem-solving strategies and logic. We look forward to seeing the children stay on top of the wave of the digital age, improve their digital productivity through continuous practice, give full play to their initiative and rich imagination, and ultimately realize their self-worth and create greater value for society.
感谢张彤彤、甘文蔚以及其他课后项目的授课老师对本文提供的支持！