Students don’t have to use an artificial intelligence program to learn about AI, according to an Education Week article.
“Unplugged AI” leverages paper and other analog tools to teach about rapidly advancing technology.
“Unplugged” activities can teach students critical concepts about AI bias, data classification, and algorithms, says Roberta Freitas, an education technology specialist and Google Trainer.
Teaching strategies don’t have to be completely unplugged from technology. Many digital tools show students the mechanics of how AI works.
Freitas was interviewed by Education Week about how unplugged AI activities can give students a strong basic understanding of how AI works before ever using a chatbot.
What are the benefits of teaching AI, unplugged from technology?
I have a 20-hour course for teachers and [in] the first 15 hours of the course, we don’t touch AI, we don’t use AI. We just talk about it. And when teachers get to use AI, they are much more critical because they understand what’s behind [it]. They understand why they’re getting those answers.
I’m Brazilian. And for us, there’s lots of bias in AI. Whenever we ask for an image or text, what we get are very American pictures. If you ask for an image of a teacher, you are going to get a teacher inside an American [classroom]. If you ask it to be Brazilian, they’re going to put a Brazilian jersey or a Brazilian flag in the room.
So, it’s very important for students and teachers to understand what’s behind [AI], why they get the answers they’re getting. This is why it’s very important to get the fundamentals before you interact with AI.
What ages are these activities best for?
It could be used in all grades, [but] especially for very young kids because there are age restrictions with AI. Very young students need to be ready for this world because AI is infused in everything. We need to understand how this works. Why do you get the recommendations you’re getting on social media?
With older students, when you’re introducing a concept, I think it’s important to know what that means before they get to interact with technology.
What is an example of an unplugged AI activity?
Bias detectives is an activity to get students to understand that bias is not generated or invented by AI. Bias is in society. Bias is in the data that is being used to train AI.
So, [students] get a set of [cards with] doctors, surgeons, and nurses, they’re either male or female. And the students will have to analyze how many doctors are male [or] female.
The bias here [in the cards] is nurses are mostly female. Surgeons are mostly male, doctors are mostly male. So this activity is for students to understand [that AI generalizations are] not coming out of nowhere, [they’re] not being invented.
Do manipulatives help crystallize what’s happening under the hood?
When it’s more visual and you get to really manipulate and interact, it gets you to think deeper and talk to other students. I usually do these in groups.
Students need to interact and collaborate to come to an answer. And I believe that using their hands makes things more tangible and more memorable for students.
Education Week
