Teaching the Future

Chinese schools are rushing to introduce artificial intelligence into the classroom，challenging studentsand teachers to keep pace

當AI走進傳統課堂，老師和學生準備好了嗎？

na science class somewhere in China，a group of sixth-graders is having a conversation across time. One boy asks astronomer Zhang Heng（張衡），who lived in the 2nd century， about what motivated him to invent the world's first seismograph.Another wonderswhetherNicolausCopernicus feltafraid when proposing that the Earth rotated around the Sun，rather than the other wayaround， like everyone else thought.

Asthe teachermakesa fewclickson the tablet， these centuries-old figures begin speaking to the children via text generated by the AI language modelDeepSeek. Later， the students work with AI to generate images of ancient Chinese history and mythology， drawing on theirown knowledgeand imagination，ranging from the mythical goddess Nüwa（女媧）mending the sky to the11th-century poet Su Shi（蘇軾） writing verses about the moon.

Thisisareal-life simulation ofa“class of the future”presentedatTianjin's ChinaEducational EquipmentExhibition thisApril by leading education tech company Shirui Electronics.For Su Xiaoling，an elementary school vice-principal attending the event all the way from southeastern China's Fujian province， these scenesarenotunfamiliar.Sutells TWOC that since last year， teachersather school have started to integrate AI into their work，using it to prepare lessons， reviewassignments，andmakesimilarlycreative simulations of historical figures to engage students in their learning.

Interest in AI applications in the education and other sectors has surged over the past year or two. Last November， China'sMinistry of Education （MOE） vowed to make AI education“the norm” in elementaryand secondaryschools by 2030.In manyschools， thisisalreadythereality.

Having frequentlyapplied AI in her classroom thisyear，FangQi，akindergarten teacherfrom eastern China's Anhui province， praises artificial intelligence asa great“helper.”Itrelievesher from time-consuming paperwork and other routine formalities，such as writing social media posts for the school's accounts or drafting safety plans foremergencies，which teachersare increasingly burdened with.“Itused to takeus at least a day to writea report onaclassactivity [for social media]， but now we can do it in an hour or so by giving the information to AI， setting a word count，and then editing the report it generates，”the 32-yearold teacher， who agreed to be interviewed under a pseudonym， tellsTWOC.

He Yanan，an elementary school Chinese language teacher fromnorthern China'sInner Mongolia region， shares a similar outlook on AI tools.Inhersixth-gradeclass，some studentshave struggled with essay writing， often due to limited reading skills， especially while taking online courses during thepandemic.Previously， she had to guide them through multiple rounds of revisions for a single piece.Now， she says，“By inputting the students’ original writing，AI can generate a more structured version for them to learn from through comparison and imitation.” This， she notes， helpsimprove the organization and structure of their writing while boosting their confidence. She'salso open to parents using ByteDance's AI chatbotDoubao or similar tools to support their children'swriting.

HuangJia，a Chinese andhomeroom teacher atahigh school in Foshan， Guangdong province， onthe otherhand，hasbecome lessenchanted with AI since she started using it three years ago.“AI helps mainly with the chores，including writing news releases [for the school's publicity] and communicating with parents， rather than teaching，\"she concludes.

For the pedagogical part of her work，Huang has triedusingDeepSeek，butfeelstheplansuggestions are“impractical”and“useless.”The 28-year-old， who agreed to be interviewed undera pseudonym， was initially excited when the large language model designed an interactive game using internet slang to explain poetic imagery.But her excitement soon faded whenshe realized the plan didn't meet current teaching standards，largely due toalackof relevant training data on existing lesson plans.

She then tried to use AI for essay grading， but \"scanningand uploading all the essays and writing detailed prompts for review took so much time I couldhave graded many of them myself，”she says， adding that the free version she used could only review five essaysata time，so she had to repeat the process 2O times to mark all 1OO students in the two classes she taught.“[The server] is always busyand slow.”She then had to repeat the process with other AI models， such asDoubao and Kimi， to cross-check the results，adding more time to the already exhausting practice.

“It would be better if the school could purchase education-specific AI tools...[ImplementingAI ineducation] shouldn'trely solelyon teachers' effortsand free AI services，”Huang suggests.“The schoolshould establishastudent database that could generate one-on-one study materials for each student.\"

Huang is not alone.Another teacher recently shared on the social mediaplatformXiaohongshu （RedNote） that she spent an entire night trying to use free apps to create an AI avatar that could read textaloud—only to fail.Her post drew hundreds of comments from fellow teachers，many of whom are also struggling with school mandates to incorporate AI-generated content into their lessons without proper training， guidance， or access to paid tools.

While the technology is advancing fast， calls forgoingback to traditional learningarealso growing louder. ThisApril，apollof over 4，200 parents nationwide found that one-third supported the idea of bringing traditional blackboards back in the classroom to replace screens.As earlyas 2021，the MOE banned students from bringing mobile phones to school， citing addiction and eye health concerns.

Teachers are also sounding the alarm over students usingAI to plagiarize.Huang has caught several AI-generated assignments handed in by students this year. When presentinga book report， one student introduced well-known modern writerWang Zengqiasa botanist—a typical AI hallucination likely based on the title of Wang's prosecollection，roughly translated as“Grassand Trees of the Earth.”Huang asserts that she can spot AI-generatedessaysataglance，describingthem as“empty contentloaded with fancyphrases that aren't consistent with a high school student's style，\" and often filled with“typical words AI uses.”

Toaddress this issue， theMOE issued two guidelines on AI education in May to promote AI literacy while preventingAIabuse.Schoolsare to introduce courses on thebasic concepts，technical principles，and ethical and security issues of AI， while students are prohibited from copying AIgenerated content forassignments or exams.It is unclearhow thisprohibitionwill be enforced or howit might add to the already heavyburden on teachers，who，alongwithparents，aredeemed by the MOE to be responsible for nurturing students' creativityand critical thinking.

Adequate facilities and sufficient funding remainmajorobstacles to mainstreamingAI education in China's schools.Vice-principal Su，for one，doesn't find it realistic for hersmall school of around 2，OoO students inFujian to utilize AI in the way presented at the exhibition. \"It's unlikely for us，and probably the majority of schools，tohave one tabletfor eachstudent that can cater to their individual needs，”she says.

The lack of devices and funds to popularize AI ineducationisparticularlynoticeableinruraland economically disadvantaged regions.Jiang Bo， deputypresident of theInstitute ofAIEducation atEastChinaNormalUniversity，notedinMarch thatwhile someclassesin Shanghai boasted one tablet for every two students， computers or computer rooms were still luxuries in other parts of the country， contributing to growing educational inequalities.

The lack of qualified teachers presents another obstacle.According to a report jointly released by Tencent，East China Normal University，

and ChinaNational Academy ofEducational Sciences，as of 2022，only one-third of teachers who are supposed to teach AI literacy courses to students had received relevant training. In many schools， science and information science teachers，who typically studied computer science in college，are assigned to teach AI-related knowledge to both teachersand students.Some schools have even tried outsourcing AI-tutoring tc specializedcompanies.

AI researcher Zhang Yizhen haswelcomed elementary school students from Shanghai to his Beijing workshop，where they can explore a range ofAI gadgets designed to support the elderly， children，and people with disabilities， giving young visitors a broader perspective on the ethical and human-centered dimensions of the technology. He feels that AI literacy should go beyond the knowledge ofhowtousethelatestmodel.He hopes to develop courses in the future that can help students build critical thinking skills，learn to evaluateinformationgeneratedbyAIanduseitas a tool to bring their own ideasand creativity to life “Currently， there are few such courses in China... and most quality resources are in English，” says Zhang： His startup， founded just a year ago， currently offers free AI lectures onits video channel， with titles like“How Large Language Models Work”and “Will People Lose Their Jobs Because ofAI？\"

Zhang is optimistic about the future of AI education in China.“The key lies in technological breakthroughs [likeDeepSeek]...Whenmore user-friendly products emerge，more people will be driven to learn and use them，”he points out， believing the next leap is justa couple of years away.‘Justlook at[howmuchhaschanged] in the past threeyears.\"

But frontline teachers remain skeptical.Huang has stopped using AI tools to grade essays， finding the process too complicated to be worthwhile in terms of saving time.She's also concerned that students'personal data couldbe leaked without consent， given the current lack of laws or mechanisms to ensure data security.

Su also cautions against the potential “fever\" to roll out AI education nationwide without fully accounting for the diverse realities across regions and schools.Though she doesacknowledge that AI education in China is destined to become a lifelong，society-wide undertaking.“It’s not just a single course with an examat the end，\" she says.