CIC: Semester 2, Week 5: Teaching AI Literacy
This week we will look at AI literacy again - teaching children how to understand AI in the world around them. This is increasingly important because of the rapid improvements in AI technology and the profound impact it has on society.
Because it is midway through semester 2 and you are short of time (and possibly spare brain power), you have a choice of tasks.
Coding/playing track
Do you fancy messing around with some code? There is now a Scratch-like blocks language which enables you to make API calls to ChatGPT. Have a look at this example of a chatbot which answers questions in the style of Einstein. Talk to it first then have a look at the code.
Now make your own educational chatbot using this programming environment. For example, your chatbot could have the persona of one of the forgotten superheroes of computer science that we spoke about at the start of semester. How might you do content filtering for child protection?
Post some screenshots of your chatbot to EdStem and get ready to share it with the class on Thursday.
Reading/watching track
Read my article (starting p34) of Hello World magazine article about our research study about what children understand about Alexa and other smart speakers.
Watch a couple of scenes from this video that we made with a high school drama club to address our research findings about what children understand about Alexa. Which aspects do you think work well? What would you have done differently if you had been making it?
Read the Teacher's Guide which accompanies the video for the scenes you watched. This guide was written by a very experienced educator, so you might find it useful to see which information it presents to teachers.
Design an alternative or an extension activity relating to one of the lessons in the guide and put it on EdStem. You will have the opportunity to share it with the class on Thursday.