Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) is currently a much discussed topic evoking high expectations as well as fears. For a realistic assessment of the opportunities and risks of AI, basic understanding of what makes AI applications different from other computer programs is necessary. How and what AI concepts can be introduced in primary and secondary education depends on the age and the computer science background of the students.
In the talk, a sample of topics and methods for introducing AI in school is presented – covering machine learning as well as automated reasoning, offering unplugged material for students without background in computer science as well as possibilities for more formal introduction of AI algorithms and AI programming. In the second part of the talk, learning analytics and intelligent tutor systems are introduced as applications of AI methods to support students and teachers. While learning analytics is mainly behavioristic with focus on applying machine learning to prediction of students’ performance, intelligent tutor systems are based on cognitive and constructivist principles with focus on AI methods for individualized diagnosis of misconceptions and feedback generation.
Bio Ute Schmid
Ute Schmid is a full professor of Cognitive Systems at University of Bamberg. She has master degrees both in computer science and in psychology.
For more than 20 years she has been teaching and researching artificial intelligence with special focus on machine learning and cognitive modeling. Ute Schmid dedicates a significant amount of her time to measures supporting women in computer science and to promote computer science as a topic in elementary, primary, and secondary education. She won the Minerva Informatics Equality Award 2018 of Informatics Europe for her university. Since many years, Ute Schmid is engaged in educating the public about artificial intelligence and she gives workshops for teachers as well as high-school students about AI and machine learning. Ute Schmid is speaker of the task force AI in Education of the Artificial Intelligence Section of the German Informatics Society (FBKI of GI). She is a member of the Bavarian AI council and a EurAI fellow.
