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Updated: May 30, 2022
The collection, representation and interpretation of data are everyday tasks for students of all ages. The science subjects are a rich source of data, whether students measure plant growth in biology, the time it takes for a chemical reaction to occur in Chemistry, or how far a projectile will fly in physics.
Common to these and many other experiments is that we want students to understand the data based on their interpretation of input-output relations and whether these relations are simply linear or more complex.
Those of us with experience in the matter can often tell by just looking at the charts how these relations are. But learners who take their first steps in data science often struggle. This is particularly true when multiple variables affect the outcome.
Artificial Intelligence is particularly suitable for looking at datasets and learning the relations between input variables and outputs. Because programming can get in the way when dealing with AI libraries, we have made a simple toolkit that students can use without writing code. We call it the AI Science Lab. The code-freeness makes the lab suitable for all students who understand what a table is.
Let's take a look:
Students enter the data from their science experiments in the table on the left-hand side. As they enter it, the data gets plotted in the charts. At the top of the screen is a simple deep-learning artificial neural network. Students scroll through the data with the input sliders. The instructions on the right-hand side menu help students to navigate.
The input table allows students to enter records, rename the columns, de-select them if their experiment has fewer than three input variables, etc. In addition, students can store their data on the server to avoid losing it between lessons.
Training the AI:
When the data has been entered, the real fun begins. By clicking on the Start learning button at the bottom of the screen, the AI starts to learn about the data.
First, it tries to recreate the relations between inputs and output. Red lines on the chart appear to inform the trends that the AI sees in the data.
Is the output growing with the input? Is it shrinking? How much growth is there? The red curves provide important cues concerning the nature of the relationship between input and output.
Using the AI Model
Students use the input sliders to test their model once the training process is complete (or stopped manually). Then, they compare the calculated output from the AI against the results they would expect. The AI Science Lab supports both interpolation and extrapolation to explore data areas between our outside the records students collected previously.
In Summary
You find the AI Science Lab directly here of by navigating from the My Computer Brain Website to the Artificial Intelligence (Secondary+Tertiary) course. Look out for the yellow robot. Teacher accounts are free and student accounts are very reasonably priced. Check out the getting started blog post.
The AI Science Lab is the last activity in the AI course.
We hope you and your students like the new Lab. Please ping us if we can be of any help !
We hope you had a restful break and peaceful Christmas these past few weeks. The new school year is starting, and we would like to draw your attention to our resources to support you in your professional development and teaching, be it remote or in the classroom.
Artificial Intelligence
The self-paced Google grant-funded teacher PD continues to be freely available until Mach 31, 2022. To enrol, visit www.dti-classroom.com.au.
The online version contains all the great content from the workshops we ran last year, with links to resources and the tools we used. Be it the Google Teachable Machine, MyComputerBrain, Replit, videos or PDFs: Everything you need to get started with AI in the classroom is there with detailed step by step instructions.
My Computer Brain
We have polished our online course system over the holidays, improving usability. It has engaging interactive courses for students on Artificial Intelligence, AI Robotics, Binary Numbers, How to Build a CPU, Computer Graphics, Algorithms Logic, and more. You can purchase student licenses from as little as $5 per student for a single course, or $10 for all courses for 3 months. Head over to MyComputerBrain to start exploring. As a registered teacher, head over to the shop to create student accounts.
B4 Computer Kits
Our physical computing kits have modules that represent core functions of a computer, such as binary counting, adding, memory, graphics, etc. With these, students undertake experiments which lead to increasingly sophisticated hardware and software arrangements.
The B4 operates at human speed and allows students to explore what is generally hidden inside the black box of their smartphones, tablets or laptops. Each B4 kit comes with lesson plans jointly written by computing experts and teachers and online videos containing a sequence of exciting experiments for the learner. The B4 Computer Kits have their virtual counterparts on My Computer Brain. Hear from the fantastic teachers Maree and Stephen from Galen Catholic College in Vic about their experiences with the B4 and how they use it. Their video is here. To check pricing and purchase kits, head over to the shop.
From the Digital Technologies Institute team, we wish you a wonderful and hopefully a bit less crazy year. Please contact us if you have any queries or if we can be of any help.
We've had a tremendous response on the Google-grant-funded Artificial Intelligence Workshop Series for primary, secondary and pre-service teachers, run by QSITE and the Digital Technologies Institute. Due to COVID related lockdowns and travel restrictions we had to limit the location of the workshops to South-East Queensland. However, we had many teachers from interstate and rural and remote areas enquire about a workshop in their vicinity.
In response, we created an online version of the workshop for teachers from all around the country. The workshop is free until Mach 31, 2022. To enrol, go to here to visit www.dti-classroom.com.au.
The online version contains all the great content from the F2F workshop, links to resources and embeds the tools we use. Be it the Google Teachable Machine, MyComputerBrain, Replit, videos or PDFs. Everything you need to get started with AI in the classroom is there with detailed step by step instructions.
To get started, create an account by selecting the "Log In" button in the top right hand corner.
The "Log In" button takes you to the following page.
Here you can choose to create an account or log in with an already existing account. For convenience you may choose to log in and authenticate with Facebook or Google (this process is handled outside of our service with the respective entity. We do not receive your password).
You can access the online workshop once you have created your account and are logged in (you should see your name in the top right hand corner where "Log In" used to be).
Open the Online Course or click on the "Online Courses" button on the page and select the Artificial Intelligence Workshop.
Once enrolled, you can view the course. It should look something like this:
Each drop down menu is a module in the course and will cover a different aspect of Artificial Intelligence. When you click on a module, you'll see that it consists of a collection of steps.
Clicking on a step will bring you to a new page with the course content for that step.
That's all you need to know to get started with our online Artificial Intelligence Workshop. We've included some screenshots of the course below for you to look forward to.
