On July 29, the 2023 Fourth SEE Education Service Co-Construction Conference was held in Hangzhou. Laura, Executive President of TAL Education Group, attended the event and delivered a keynote speech titled "Uphold Integrity and Pursue Innovation to Create Greater Value for Society." She shared TAL's practices and explorations in creating social value in the fields of technological innovation and scientific education, in response to the needs of the times.

Technological Innovation Adds to Educational Development

Laura introduced that the rise of science and technology, especially artificial intelligence, is driving a comprehensive technological revolution. In the field of education, technological innovation can facilitate the digital transformation of education and is a key factor in promoting inclusive education. As a pioneer in the domestic educational technology field, TAL has always been committed to using educational technology to support the modernization of education and leveraging its unique advantages in technology, product, and content innovation to contribute to educational development.

Taking TAL's "Dual-Teacher Class" public welfare project as an example, Laura mentioned, "By building an internet public welfare education platform, TAL's outstanding teachers empower local teachers and students, cultivating 'seed teachers' in local areas and forming a long-term teaching mechanism that combines online remote teaching and offline guidance. This delivers more advanced, scientific, and convenient educational models to various regions and counties, allowing more children to enjoy the high-quality educational resources of county towns and even the capital, Beijing."

Since its inception, TAL has highly valued investment in technological innovation. In 2017, TAL established the "AI lab (AI Laboratory)"; in 2019, the Ministry of Science and Technology approved the construction of the "National New Generation Artificial Intelligence Open Innovation Platform for Smart Education" relying on TAL; in May 2023, this platform officially launched the AI Cloud Classroom.

In May this year, TAL announced the launch of the self-developed math AI model MathGPT, actively promoting the exploration and evolution of AI technology in professional fields. MathGPT will address the challenges of mathematics teaching in a personalized manner and promote the realization of "large-scale" tailored teaching.

Science Education Aims to Cultivate Future Scientists

Science education is one of the directions recently prioritized by the Ministry of Education. The Ministry, along with eighteen other departments, issued the "Opinions on Strengthening Science Education in Primary and Secondary Schools in the New Era," which emphasizes, "Focus on practice, stimulate interest. Center on students, tailor education to individual needs, promote inquiry-based and practice-based science education, stimulate the curiosity, imagination, and exploratory desire of primary and secondary school students, and cultivate their interest in science."

Laura stated that TAL has  developed a comprehensive curriculum system  in science education designed to spark  children's interest in science through engaging, participatory, and  real-life related methods. This approach helps children broaden their horizons, think independently, and grow comprehensively.

TAL's "Xueersi Natural History Department" series products, for example, lead children to explore the mysteries of natural science through natural teaching aids such as meteorites, animal specimens, and fossils. The "Scientific Thinking" course creates inquiry-based classrooms centered on children, encouraging them to discuss scientific topics. Recently launched, the "THE First Lesson on Artificial Intelligence" uses TAL's self-developed large language model to allow children to experience cutting-edge AI technology.

Additionally, TAL collaborates with external institutions, experts, and companies, widely uniting societal forces to "add value to science education." Recently, TAL and Tencent Education jointly launched the "Mars Exploration Theme Course.", through which children learn programming skills by carrying out Mars exploration tasks. Innovatively, TAL partnered with LEGO Education to use LEGO as the core teaching aid in robotics programming courses. TAL also regularly collaborates with universities and research institutes for science lectures and Q&A sessions.

"During a public welfare class, several scientists deeply interacted  with the children. A 45-minute course extended to two hours. When departing, the scientists asked us to collect more questions from the children as these questions were unique and might provide special insights to help them overcome their research bottlenecks. These details made us appreciate the value of science education even more," Laura shared.

TAL is an educational technology company dedicated to building an innovative organization. It aims to meet lifelong growth needs and promote the sustainable evolution and healthy development of the industry through technological, product, and content innovation, guided by the "three sciences" strategy: sci-tech education, scientific innovation, and popular science. This approach brings incremental value to society.

Laura concluded by noting that creating social value is not just a corporate responsibility but also TAL's mission. "This endeavor has the potential to transform various industries. In the future, we will continue to invest more resources, empower education with technology, and explore the potential of science education to make a positive impact on society."

This article is reprinted from CNR: https://tech.cnr.cn/techph/20230731/t20230731_526356255.shtml