With the advent of the intelligent era, facing the opportunities and challenges of the future society, popularizing programming education in primary and secondary schools has become a consensus among governments, which have begun to include youth programming education in national development strategic plans or action plans. The UK designated 2014 as the Year of Code. The UK government has mandated the inclusion of computer programming learning in local primary and secondary schools as a compulsory subject for children over the age of 5; it has launched a series of activities to promote programming to the entire population of the UK, and it has provided funding to help elementary school teachers keep up with programming curriculum training. In 2016, the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) released the K-12 Computer Science Framework. In China, robot programming education is gradually entering primary and secondary school classrooms. The education department's "The 13th Five-Year Plan" for Educational Informatization states that areas where conditions permit shall actively explore the application of information technology in STEAM education, maker education and other new education models. The Development Plan of the New Generation Artificial Intelligence issued by China also proposes to set up artificial intelligence-related courses in primary and secondary schools and gradually promote robot programming education.
Taking robot programming education as a powerful continuation of subject education after double reduction and combining gamification education with artificial intelligence
technology are of positive significance for shaping children's programming thinking, cultivating children's logical thinking and abstract thinking, and improving children's operational and inquiry abilities and anti-frustration ability. Due to the wide range of disciplines involved in robot programming education, the development trend of artificial intelligence, and the perfect fit with the concept of STEAM, the robot programming education industry has grown rapidly in recent years, and some strong high-tech companies have joined this field. The following companies have been selected as "2022 Global Robot Programming Education Industry Pioneers" based on big data analysis, corporate strength, brand honor, reputation rating, awards, etc.
I. LegoEducation
LegoEducation, a subsidiary of the Lego Group, was founded in Denmark in 1980, providing rich, challenging, interesting and operable learning tools and teaching solutions for teachers and students all over the world. LegoEducation learning solutions are designed according to different age characteristics to bring out children's natural creativity and imagination, develop thier team spirit, problem-solving skills, resilience, expression and social skills, etc., and can help them easily cope with the new challenges brought by the new era.
In 1998, the Lego Group and the US FIRST Foundation co-founded the FIRST LEGO League (FLL League), which has organized LegoEducation FLL Discover, LegoEducation FLL Explore and LegoEducation FLL Challenge, covering groups of students aged 4-16 in more than 110 countries and regions, to help them enhance confidence in the positive use of technology, generate interest in careers in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) fields, and develop creative collaboration ability and logical thinking to easily cope with the new challenges brought by the new era.
II. RoboThink
RoboThink is a children's STEAM education brand originating from the US, focusing on STEAM science and innovation education for children aged 3-14. RoboThink guides children to think, design and construct and provides a practical platform for children interested in robot programming and engineering to exercise their creativity and cultivate innovative thinking by designing and producing robot teaching aids with complete intellectual property rights and patents, structured engineering design and "intelligent manufacturing" courses, and personalized process-centered teaching methods.
RoboThink has won many awards for its high-quality and continuously updated courses and products and its in-depth and perfect global management support system. In the Chinese market, RoboThink activates children's innate creativity by organically combining knowledge of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics, education through entertainment, and a complete system of private courses to cultivate future globalized creative talents of STEAM.
III. ROBOTIS KIDSLAB
Founded in 1999, ROBOTIS KIDSLAB is a world-renowned robot education company headquartered in Korea, with three subsidiaries worldwide, which are located in China, the US and Japan. ROBOTIS KIDSLAB's main products include educational robot kits and the corresponding programming software ROBOTIS OP2 and ROBOTIS MINI, etc.
ROBOTIS KIDSLAB hopes to realize students' dreams about robot through diversified creativity and help them to be successful in the future. ROBOTIS KIDSLAB provides educational products and systematic courses for all levels of education, starting from kindergarten to elementary school, middle school, high school and even university, and is committed to becoming an industry pioneer in robot programming education.
IV. Morning Dot (Shanghai) Education Technology Co., Ltd.
Morning Dot (Shanghai) Education Technology Co., Ltd., founded in 2013, is a high-tech innovation institution integrating education, scientific research, incubation, and scientific and technological exchanges. As a leading robot education and training institution in China, Morning Dot has been focusing on quality education for a long time, taking the lead in planning the development in the robot education industry, making continuous efforts in artificial intelligence, youth programming education, robot education, science experiments, children's literacy and other fields, developing from online education to offline training centers, building complete layout of all-round three-dimensional science and technology education from online education to offline training centers. Morning Dot makes long-term progress together with and communicated with SIASUN (Creatineer), ROBOTC (China), Youth Maker Academy, Asia-Pacific Robot Competition Committee and other institutions and groups to exchange, proposing a number of groundbreaking educational ideas such as "education through entertainment", "accompanying children to grow up", and "enlightening children with scientific and technological innovation education", gradually filling the gap in the concept of robot programming education in China.
Through its strong faculty, product development and delivery ability of online and offline integration, hosting of domestic and international competitions, and innovative school-enterprise cooperation model, Morning Dot (Shanghai) Education Technology Co., Ltd. has empowered in-system education, filled the gaps in the current domestic education system, and strengthened universal robot education, significantly improving the level of robot education and promoting the achievements of robot education in schools. Morning Dot (Shanghai) Education Technology Co., Ltd. has won many awards and honors, including "Membership Unit of the China Robot Education Alliance", "APRC Diamond Director Unit", "APRC Best Cooperative Team", "the '14th Five-Year Plan' China (Industry) Innovation Demonstration Unit", etc.
V. Aicoders Children's Programming Education
Founded in 2015, TEDU's brand, Aicoders is focused on programming education for young people aged 3-18 in China, and has developed a robot programming education system for Chinese children. Its curriculum covers creative initiation courses, artificial intelligence programming, intelligent robot programming, and Olympiad programming in informatics.
Aicoders is currently providing programming teaching and services to more than 120,000 teenagers aged 3-18. In 2022, Aicoders helped 115 students win the championship, runner-up and third place in various activities through combination of offline and online instruction, and helped 2 students win the NOC Education Informatization Technology Invention and Innovation Award approved by the National Office for Science and Technology Awards.
With the development of artificial intelligence, the continuous improvement of people's living standards and the increasingly competitive job market in the future, the importance of robot programming education has equaled or even surpassed that of traditional disciplines, and robot programming education is determining the core competitiveness of children in the future society. Robot programming education, a popular subject that will continue to stimulate children's interest in exploring the physical and virtual worlds and provide them with a foundation for later higher-level learning and future life, is booming and is expected to keep growing.