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Quadcopters and robots: What young students do in modern technology classes
EDUCATION
Today’s education in Moscow doesn’t stop at the school walls. The entire city is a school: lessons are held at museums, factories, children’s tech-parks and colleges. Using contemporary equipment, pupils learn 3D-printing, programming, robot assembling and car repair, but, what’s more important, they try their hand at various jobs to choose the most interesting career direction.
Robotics instead of fretwork and a 3D printer instead of a mallet: Who wouldn’t have dreamt of such a craft lesson or home economy class? It is real for today’s Moscow pupils. For example, School No. 1298 has an engineering bureau, where young students design models themselves, create projects and test them. And School No. 293 holds lessons on robotics, electrical engineering and 3D-modelling.
For those who do not have these classes, technology lessons are held at children’s technology parks and colleges, which have all the latest equipment, both innovative and advanced. If teachers and pupils made a stool, an apron or a vegetable salad before, now they make quadcopters, high-tech agricultural complexes and smart feeders.
Colleges began holding lessons for pupils last year. For the 2017/2018 academic year, the project includes 39 colleges that are holding technology classes for more than 7,000 children from 101 schools. They work with real equipment in real job conditions.
EDUCATION
Today’s education in Moscow doesn’t stop at the school walls. The entire city is a school: lessons are held at museums, factories, children’s tech-parks and colleges. Using contemporary equipment, pupils learn 3D-printing, programming, robot assembling and car repair, but, what’s more important, they try their hand at various jobs to choose the most interesting career direction.
Robotics instead of fretwork and a 3D printer instead of a mallet: Who wouldn’t have dreamt of such a craft lesson or home economy class? It is real for today’s Moscow pupils. For example, School No. 1298 has an engineering bureau, where young students design models themselves, create projects and test them. And School No. 293 holds lessons on robotics, electrical engineering and 3D-modelling.
For those who do not have these classes, technology lessons are held at children’s technology parks and colleges, which have all the latest equipment, both innovative and advanced. If teachers and pupils made a stool, an apron or a vegetable salad before, now they make quadcopters, high-tech agricultural complexes and smart feeders.
Colleges began holding lessons for pupils last year. For the 2017/2018 academic year, the project includes 39 colleges that are holding technology classes for more than 7,000 children from 101 schools. They work with real equipment in real job conditions.
Assemble a robot and set a local network at college
Robotics is one of the most popular vocations. Eighth-graders learn the basics at the Railway and City Transport College. “They’ve seen the main structural elements of a robot and now they are trying to assemble basic control circuits,” explained Yury Obydenkov, an instructor. The main challenge is arranging LEDs and range sensors correctly and to understand how to control them with a computer.
Of course, a small vehicle won’t be moving by the end of a lesson: pupils can only assemble control circuits in 45 minutes. However, they will receive their first skills in programming and designing algorithms for a robot, which will be able to identify surface irregularities and move automatically. They will also learn how to be part of a team, because they work in pairs and have to decide who does which tasks.
Another more contemporary job, is network and system administration. During these classes, children learn how a local network is organised and what transmission facilities there are today. Pupils set network parametres, create a list of necessary technical equipment and transfer information to the local network computers.
Future car-owners can attend classes on failure diagnostics and fixing car starters. Here, pupils grades 8-10 can assemble and disassemble a car’s alternator. “Now they know how to check a alternator and what tool is needed for every operation,” said Alexei Shulyak, a teacher. Now it is more of a hobby for them, but it could become a job for someone. And even if it doesn’t, it’s always useful to know how to fix a car.
Robotics is one of the most popular vocations. Eighth-graders learn the basics at the Railway and City Transport College. “They’ve seen the main structural elements of a robot and now they are trying to assemble basic control circuits,” explained Yury Obydenkov, an instructor. The main challenge is arranging LEDs and range sensors correctly and to understand how to control them with a computer.
Of course, a small vehicle won’t be moving by the end of a lesson: pupils can only assemble control circuits in 45 minutes. However, they will receive their first skills in programming and designing algorithms for a robot, which will be able to identify surface irregularities and move automatically. They will also learn how to be part of a team, because they work in pairs and have to decide who does which tasks.
Another more contemporary job, is network and system administration. During these classes, children learn how a local network is organised and what transmission facilities there are today. Pupils set network parametres, create a list of necessary technical equipment and transfer information to the local network computers.
Future car-owners can attend classes on failure diagnostics and fixing car starters. Here, pupils grades 8-10 can assemble and disassemble a car’s alternator. “Now they know how to check a alternator and what tool is needed for every operation,” said Alexei Shulyak, a teacher. Now it is more of a hobby for them, but it could become a job for someone. And even if it doesn’t, it’s always useful to know how to fix a car.
See future professions at a tech-park
Sixth- and seventh-graders learn about similar disciplines at children’s technology parks. The programme includes four modules: Do it Yourself, Information Technology, Industrial Design and Robotics. All of them are represented at tech-parks like Moskva Technology Park, where 300 pupils from five schools are studying.
Among the first pupils to attend technology classes at children’s tech-parks were 73 sixth-graders from School No. 1423. They spent one day a week building a quadcopter or a smart fish-feeder and using a 3D-printer for their own eyeglasses design. “These young people have realised that they can find knowledge from many city resources in addition to school,” said Director Irina Ulyanova.
Classes from technology park programmes are held at schools, too. For example, pupils at Marshall Golovanov Maryino School study industrial design and VR technology, and at Intellect School No. 439, geomatics and space.
In total, students from 20 schools and six colleges have attended classes from technology park programmes during these six months, with Moscow being the only region to hold school technology lessons at technology parks. This allows the young people to try a possible career: if they study well, they will have a chance to sign a deferred contract with a resident company.
Sixth- and seventh-graders learn about similar disciplines at children’s technology parks. The programme includes four modules: Do it Yourself, Information Technology, Industrial Design and Robotics. All of them are represented at tech-parks like Moskva Technology Park, where 300 pupils from five schools are studying.
Among the first pupils to attend technology classes at children’s tech-parks were 73 sixth-graders from School No. 1423. They spent one day a week building a quadcopter or a smart fish-feeder and using a 3D-printer for their own eyeglasses design. “These young people have realised that they can find knowledge from many city resources in addition to school,” said Director Irina Ulyanova.
Classes from technology park programmes are held at schools, too. For example, pupils at Marshall Golovanov Maryino School study industrial design and VR technology, and at Intellect School No. 439, geomatics and space.
In total, students from 20 schools and six colleges have attended classes from technology park programmes during these six months, with Moscow being the only region to hold school technology lessons at technology parks. This allows the young people to try a possible career: if they study well, they will have a chance to sign a deferred contract with a resident company.
New content, new approach
How has all this been achieved? It was necessary to change the contents of the lessons. “The concept to better relate school skills to real life was created several years ago. This is an attempt to get away from vegetable salads and wooden stools, not to limit children with these, but to go further, not just learning practical cooking skills, but adding actual technology to the lessons, something that is all around us,” said Deputy Head of the Department of Education Tatyana Vasilyeva.
The approach to teaching has also changed. One of the main principles of the new approach is to use the knowledge in practice with metadisciplinarity and project- based learning. The first point is clear: the skills are really used and not just memorized. Metadisciplinarity means that one course unites the skills learned in several other classes, such as physics, geometry, technical drawing and ICT.
Project-based learning is necessary to teach children to create real things that are in demand, such as the smart agricultural complex created by pupils from School No. 2087 at a children’s tech-park. The design is very useful: when you leave for vacation, the system waters plants and gives them light when necessary. It can also be a robot, whose sensors see an obstacle and negotiate around it. During these lessons, eighth-graders learn 3D-printing, programming, modelling and also how to test their designs.
In fact, craft lessons have become something like career guidance: children learn various disciplines and choose what they like.
“Today Moscow pupils know a lot about the world of technology and can make informed choices by the ninth grade, when it is time to decide: take profile education or apply to a vocational educational institution,” said Tatyana Vasilyeva. All of this is possible thanks to the education system that works for children’s interest, giving them every opportunity to be creative.
How has all this been achieved? It was necessary to change the contents of the lessons. “The concept to better relate school skills to real life was created several years ago. This is an attempt to get away from vegetable salads and wooden stools, not to limit children with these, but to go further, not just learning practical cooking skills, but adding actual technology to the lessons, something that is all around us,” said Deputy Head of the Department of Education Tatyana Vasilyeva.
The approach to teaching has also changed. One of the main principles of the new approach is to use the knowledge in practice with metadisciplinarity and project- based learning. The first point is clear: the skills are really used and not just memorized. Metadisciplinarity means that one course unites the skills learned in several other classes, such as physics, geometry, technical drawing and ICT.
Project-based learning is necessary to teach children to create real things that are in demand, such as the smart agricultural complex created by pupils from School No. 2087 at a children’s tech-park. The design is very useful: when you leave for vacation, the system waters plants and gives them light when necessary. It can also be a robot, whose sensors see an obstacle and negotiate around it. During these lessons, eighth-graders learn 3D-printing, programming, modelling and also how to test their designs.
In fact, craft lessons have become something like career guidance: children learn various disciplines and choose what they like.
“Today Moscow pupils know a lot about the world of technology and can make informed choices by the ninth grade, when it is time to decide: take profile education or apply to a vocational educational institution,” said Tatyana Vasilyeva. All of this is possible thanks to the education system that works for children’s interest, giving them every opportunity to be creative.
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