The "Photo Search Questions" App Goes Offline
How can "technical teaching assistants" take the road of the future?
The "Double Reduction" management of homework apps and online training apps for preschool children is to hope that training institutions can make educational products that conform to the laws of education, and not only do business and do things that violate the laws of education.
——Xiong Bingqi, Dean of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, Education Expert
◎Intern reporter Sun Mingyuan
On the occasion of the new year's winter vacation, the "double reduction" has made new news-Recently, the General Office of the Ministry of Education issued a notice, putting forward clear requirements for strengthening the connection between the promotion of education app management and the "double reduction" policy.
The notice pointed out that homework apps that provide and disseminate bad learning methods such as "photo search questions" that inert students' thinking ability, affect students' independent thinking, and violate the laws of education and teaching will be temporarily offline, rectified and reviewed by the provincial education administrative department. The recordation can be resumed only after the review; if the review is not passed, the recordation will be revoked.
In the "Opinions on Further Reducing the Burden of Students' Homework and Off-campus Training in Compulsory Education" issued by the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council in July 2021, it is clarified that online training institutions shall not provide and disseminate "photo search questions", etc. It is a bad learning method that inerts students' thinking ability, affects students' independent thinking, and violates the laws of education and teaching.
Now, the Ministry of Education has issued a notice requiring such homework apps to be temporarily offline, which is implementing the "double reduction" regulations.
Different people have different views on the "photo search" apps and "technical teaching assistants".
Parents: "Taking photos and searching for questions" does more harm than good
What is the specific application of the "Photo Search" App?
A reporter from Science and Technology Daily interviewed several parents of students in different grades, and the results show that such apps are widely used among middle school students who have a high demand for "writing questions", but not used by primary school students.
Indeed, some parents have reported that apps such as "photographing and searching for questions" will inert students' thinking ability.
Liu Hao (pseudonym), a college student who lives in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, often tutors his cousin in junior high school with his homework, said that his cousin often used "photographing to search for questions" to copy answers, and his study habits were very bad.
However, some netizens believe that students who try to copy the answers to complete their homework do not need the help of the app, but will also look for the paper version of the answer, or directly copy the homework of their classmates.
Therefore, the “Photo Search Questions” App actually affects students who are really serious about self-study.
In this regard, Liu Hao analyzed his own experience and said that copying paper answers and copying classmates' homework are both "threshold" behaviors, which cannot be obtained easily and require students' time and favor.
However, the "photo search questions" category of apps eliminates this "threshold". Just pick up the mobile phone and take a photo to get the desired answer, which in itself will make more students choose to be lazy.
"In addition, in the teaching and examination activities, middle school teachers often set up their own papers, and do not always use ready-made teaching materials. These examination questions originally did not have paper answers, but with the App, it is different." Liu Hao The analysis said that, in his opinion, the existence of "photo search questions" apps may have advantages and disadvantages, but on the whole, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Good teaching assistant', but I believe students like my cousin are more common in the population."
Education Practitioner: "Seeing the Answer" is a Complicated Thing
"The 'Photo Search' App is not only used by students, but also used by our teachers. It is a good lesson preparation tool, especially for teachers in areas where educational resources are scarce." Fang Lei, a high school teacher from Fushun, Liaoning Province ( pseudonym) talked about his situation in the interview.
He believes that this type of app is an available teaching tool for teachers, and believes that the app after the rectification is in place will be more conducive to helping teachers complete education and teaching.
Tao Chenyi, who once engaged in online education entrepreneurship and is currently the head of a campus digital project, also mentioned that the real core service target of educational technology should not be students, but teachers.
She said: "We always ignore that teachers also need to grow, and they are also educated in a sense, ignoring the concept of 'teaching to learn from each other'. Let teachers get rid of the daily complicated administrative work and better focus on students and learning. Let teachers have better learning and growth methods, and a simpler way of working, which is what education technology should really strive for.”
Tao Chenyi also talked about his understanding of "seeing the answer": "I have given lectures in many high schools across the country, and one of the most important points is to talk about 'seeing the answer cleverly' - when encountering a question that has no clue, think about it. After a while, you can read the answer first, but after reading the answer, you must understand the problem-solving process of the answer, and make a special mark on this question. When reviewing, you must do it again to ensure that you can understand it independently and thoroughly. ."
这也正是为什么教育部要对那些惰化学生思维能力、影响学生独立思考、违背教育教学规律的“拍照搜题”类App，进行规范整改，让科技真正能够对教师、学生起到帮助作用。
“有些老师、家长视‘看答案’为洪水猛兽，一说‘看答案’就说是不独立学习，此言差矣。要知道所有的学习都是站在前人研究的肩膀上，某种程度上说，看课本就是在看答案，看科学家、学者对知识总结的答案。上课的时候无论是语文、数学还是体育、音乐、美术，不也是老师先演示一遍再让学生去做吗？我们常说先模仿再超越，就是这个道理。”陶晨毅提醒说。
陶晨毅总结说：“‘看答案’这件事，对学生的自主学习能力要求很高。对于很多学生而言，‘拍照搜题’类App的存在就等于诱惑他们抄答案。”因此，应合理规划学生对于“拍照搜题”类App的使用频率与使用方式，毕竟有自律自学意识的孩子只是少数，这部分孩子即便没有“拍照搜题”类App，也能很好地自学。但对于更多还没有形成良好的学习习惯与科学思维方法的孩子来说，则需要谨慎利用“拍照搜题”类App。
专家：合理引导“科技助教”
21世纪教育研究院院长、教育专家熊丙奇在接受采访时指出，暂时下架“拍照搜题”类App，并不是要对这类App“一刀切”，而是一种对作业App进行合理引导的举措。
“‘拍照搜题’类App确实会使学生产生依赖性，但政策并非不允许所有作业App存在，而是要引导其趋利避害，限制作业App的弊端，发挥作业App的优势。作业App利用人工智能、大数据，在布置个性化作业、弹性作业，反馈学生作业效率等方面还是具有其优点的。”熊丙奇说。
“在‘科技助教’中，科技必须起到促进教育的作用，尊重教育规律，不能有违教育初衷，刺激应试焦虑，甚至使得孩子养成不良的学习习惯。‘双减’对作业App和面向学前幼儿的线上培训类App的治理，是希望培训机构做符合育人规律的教育产品，不能只顾做生意，做出违反教育规律的事。”熊丙奇补充说。
Speaking of "technical teaching assistants" and the long-term direction of current education, Xiong Bingqi believes that fundamentally, it is still necessary to cultivate students' good study habits and improve students' autonomous learning ability.
This requires school education and family education to perform their own duties and work together, and "technical teaching assistants" can participate in it.
"Let the homework become the student's homework, and the students can complete it independently. Parents should also reduce their participation in their children's homework. This can not only relieve parents' anxiety, but also cultivate children's independence and sense of responsibility." Xiong Bingqi said.