Shixing Elementary School in Hsinchu County participated in the 2022-2023 VEX Robotics World Championship, and stood out among 758 participating teams. The school won the Amaze Award and the second prize in the Teamwork Challenge Division, proof of their great championship achievements! Hsinchu County Magistrate Yang Wen-ke noted that Shixing Elementary School had already won the Design Award at VEX in 2022 and 2019. With the dedication of the school’s teachers and support from parents, these elementary school students and Hsinchu County have once again taken to the international stage. This is truly inspiring!
An official from the Hsinchu County Education Development and Information Institute explained how the VEX Robotics competition works. Based on the themes and rules in each championship event, contestants must use a wide variety of technologies, including designing mechanical structure and coding, to construct and control their robots. Additionally, they have to use their English communication abilities to cooperate with other teams and complete challenges (remote control, teamwork, etc.).
Team 93396A was formed by four Shixing Elementary School contestants: Two sixth graders, Liao Che-le and Shen Yan-ting; and two fourth graders, Lü Chun-I and Peng Min-cheng. They showed outstanding overall quality in their robot design and construction. For their great achievements in both the remote tournament and automated programming, the team won the Amaze Award. Team 93396G, formed by fifth graders Lo I-chih and Chen Chi-yu, had outstanding performance in their cooperation with teams from other countries. They won second prize in the Teamwork Challenge division’s remote tournament.
Cheng Shih-hsun, the student team advisor, stated that the participating students constantly trained for the competition, using the recess after second period, lunch breaks, and afterschool time – two hours every day, and also weekends. Some students even took specialized robotics courses to improve their skills. To win their prizes in the world championship, the students constantly worked hard and sacrificed their leisure time to train and practice.
Hsinchu County Education Bureau Director Yang Chun-tzu indicated that, to implement Magistrate Yang’s vision of culture, science, technology, and smart cities, Hsinchu County has established the Digital Learning Office. This Office will enhance students’ basic competencies, broaden their international perspectives, and shorten educational gaps between urban and rural areas. Shixing Elementary School, which has received numerous awards, is a 2023 coach school in the Ministry of Education's Digital Sprout Project. During the project, teachers Cheng Shih-hsun and Sung Yuan-ling will share curriculum modules at Fengtian and Buhe elementary schools. They will teach students at these schools in remote areas to do programming and to control mobile robots. Shengli Junior High School has also started training contestants for VEX V5. In many ways, the digital technology abilities of students in Hsinchu County are being enhanced.