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“Pay attention to the defense route!” “Hit him!” “Capture the scoring bridge on the left!” On Friday afternoon, eight junior and sophomore students from Jiulong Middle School gathered around the operation table, their eyes fixed tightly on two VEX robots that were being tested.
This is the headquarters of the “Jiulong Sky VEX Robot Team”. This team of about 20 members has won the provincial and municipal VEX Robot Challenge championships for five consecutive years.
Not long ago, they won the championship of China’s first high school robot league – Nanjing “First Step Cup” Metal Robot Series Exchange and Display Activity.
Behind the championship lies “complete autonomy” of creation. For each participating robot, from conceptual design, robot assembly to code writing, all were completed by the students under the guidance of their coaches, with them handling every step themselves.
“The preparation process is more important than the outcome,” said Coach Yang. He witnessed countless creations from sketches to actual objects. To optimize a grasping action, the students would repeatedly adjust the pressure value of the air pressure device to make the robotic arm move more stably; to enhance the moving speed, they self-studied gear transmission ratios and conducted hundreds of simulation tests on the computer.
Liu Zihan, the operator who is currently practicing the anti-attack operation, is concentrating on remotely controlling the robot. We can see that the robot skillfully avoids obstacles, and the mechanical arm steadily grabs the red ball, raising it, aiming, and shooting. The ball precisely lands in the scoring area. “By practicing for 20 minutes every day, my skills are all accumulated through practice.” He speaks calmly, exuding a composure beyond his age.
Last year during the training, their shooting device frequently malfunctioned. The entire team spent a whole week in the laboratory. Eventually, they independently installed a gear linkage device and added adjustable baffles to control the shooting direction. After repeated tests and optimizations, the speed of ball shooting significantly increased, and the overall scoring efficiency improved by approximately 30%.
Such in-depth participation has greatly enhanced students’ comprehensive abilities. “It enables children to integrate mathematical calculations, physical principles and program logic to solve real and complex problems.” Teacher Yang pointed at a robot and said, “They designed a parallelogram mechanical arm that can maintain the direction of the claws unchanged when lifting or lowering. The integrated color sensor and adaptive algorithm allow the robot to automatically identify and sort the task items. ‘This is not just about learning knowledge, but also about learning engineering thinking, project management and teamwork skills.'” These robots, which embody calculation and ingenuity, seem to have been given a rudimentary “life” and agility in the hands of the teenagers.
“We hope to provide a nurturing environment where children’s creativity can flourish on its own,” said Wang Jian, the deputy secretary of the school’s Party branch and the vice principal. “Rather than focusing on winning or losing, we are more concerned about whether they are willing to design, brave to make mistakes, and see their passion and potential in the process of creation.”
At Jiulong Middle School, “laying the foundation for the happy growth of every student” is not just a concept, but also a daily practice.
To support students in turning their wild ideas into reality, the school has successively purchased equipment such as 3D printers and laser engraving machines for the maker laboratory. The school adheres to the principle of dedicated funds for specific purposes in science and technology education, investing no less than 70,000 yuan each year. It also implements “zero fees” for students throughout the teaching and competition processes, making science and technology education truly a growth platform within reach for all students.
Such “happy” experiences not only bloom on the stage of technological education, but also grow in the vibrant vegetable garden on the campus.
This school is one of the 7th batch of schools in Jiangsu Province that implement the project of enhancing students’ character and mental health education. The students of Jiulong Village cherish their hometown and engage in farming and reading. They work to cultivate beauty. They learn through labor, create through learning, and understand through creation.
The students step out of the technological training room filled with metal and code scents, and a 400-square-meter labor practice base comes into view. The green vegetables, radishes, broccoli are lush and green, while spinach, lettuce, and chrysanthemum leaves are neatly arranged, presenting a vibrant and lively scene.
The school assigns each class a dedicated “responsibility plot”. Under the guidance of the head teacher, students design personalized class plaques and, during labor classes and during breaks, they venture into the fields to personally experience the entire process of sowing, watering, weeding, and harvesting. This allows for the cultivation of character and the growth of the soul, taking root gradually through the small acts of cultivation.
Here, students try out soilless cultivation techniques and experience the convenience brought by the solar-powered automatic irrigation system. When the vegetables are ready, they will bring the fruits of their own cultivation to the school gate and sell them to parents and teachers. Every “labor payment” is filled with a sense of achievement and pride.
“Our school is located at the foot of Baoushan Mountain. Many trees on the surrounding mountains were planted by the teachers and the students together. Every spring, the hibiscus flowers bloom all over the mountains, and the sweet fragrance of the flowers drifts into the campus, permeating everything with fragrance.” Xionglong Middle School’s Party Secretary and Principal Shen Xuesong smiled and recalled.
Throughout the four seasons, children witness the broccoli forming its head in low temperatures and observe the rapid growth of spinach under short days. These vivid experiences are more vivid than the illustrations in textbooks and deeply root the knowledge of nature and life in their hearts.
From the intelligent robots controlled by fingertips to the soft earth beneath their feet, the teenagers of Jiulong Middle School are writing their own chapters of growth through innovation and labor.
