Artificial intelligence in curriculum

Flying taxis, driverless cars, robot professors - it seems the next generation may not find artificial intelligence (AI) as "new and exciting" as us.

They will be growing up with it, possibly making AI the norm for them, just as we are now accustomed to the internet, mobile applications and Siri.

However, are today's schools preparing the young ones for the hyper tech-savvy future that is approaching?

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has been making headlines worldwide, with various artificial intelligence projects becoming a main focus for many countries. A step ahead, the UAE recently appointed the world's first Minister of Artificial Intelligence.

In the blink of an eye, today's parents may see their children inside flying taxis, in driverless cars or studying in virtual classrooms.

But are they being taught about the ins and outs of AI, a technology that will possibly be part of their everyday lives?

A few Dubai teachers shared their thoughts on whether AI should be adopted as a core subject within school curriculums, which would allow educators to teach it just like other regular fields, such as Math, Science and History.

The robotics manager at Gems Dubai American Academy, Sreejit Chakrabarty, believes teaching students AI at an early stage can help them in their literacy skills. He thinks it should be considered as a core subject. "We at Gems Dubai American Academy believe that AI education is not just about technical aspects, but the development of cognitive and collaborative processes wherein students can create a new type of literacy from a young age," Chakrabarty said.

Elaborating, he said: "Naturally, this AI literacy brings in and helps students to extend their knowledge of English, maths and coding. For example, by seeing how their programming strategies are reflected in the learning and behaviour of a machine, they can better grasp abstract concepts such as cause and effect. They can also get immediate feedback from the machine and iterate their ideas based upon this. These are powerful opportunities for learning in a cross-disciplinary way."

The school actually has coding as one of their core subjects. Their students are programming robots at a quicker pace and with more depth, thanks to programming languages.

"To mention just a few of our robotics projects - we have high school students creating robotic representations of their poetry readings using multisensory inputs and outputs, middle school learners designing robotic solutions for the threat from genetic diseases, elementary students programming humanoid robots to tell interactive stories with alternative narrative paths, and primary learners doing rhythmic art using superhero robots," Chakrabarty said.

Although one educator, the head of curriculum at the Kindergarten Starters Gauri Meghani believes, AI should not be taught as a stand-alone subject, but integrated with all other subjects simultaneously in order to follow a blended approach for children and machine interaction.

Meghani said that students should remember that machines should not be considered a substitute for personal interaction. "Relying too much on these machines to grade or tutor may lead to educational oversights that hurt learners, more than helping them. It should not become an addiction to make our everyday tasks more efficient," she said.  "Our students at Kindergarten Starters have picked up programming skills very quickly as we offer Robotics as a part of our regular curriculum. Our Grades 3, 4 and 5 have learnt to Program LEGO Education Wedo 1.0 and 2.0. They have used all the sensors, motion and display blocks to make their robot do different tasks. like sailing a boat, for example. These activities have instilled a deeper understanding of math and science concepts and evidence based reasoning."

Source: Khaleej Times