Part II
“Artificial Intelligence – the Science of the Future!”
Timmy’s science teacher introduced the unit as “Artificial Intelligence – the Science of the Future!” The project-based learning activity was divided into two main sections. First, all students were introduced to AI World School at https://aiworldschool.com/. Their course, AI Primus, was divided into twenty-four one-hour sessions. The goal of this first section was to give Timmy and his classmates the foundations for understanding what artificial intelligence was and how AI was used to assist people in daily tasks at home and work.
The second part of the project would be more immersive. Timmy, and his classmates, would be given the opportunity to use a wearable – a wristwatch computer – for one week. The wearable contained sensors, voice recognition software, and a camera.
As was normal with Timmy, he wanted to jump in and start learning. He already knew some basic code using a drag-and-drop design. But this time, he would be able to use voice commands to interact with the watch verbally. He anticipated that artificial intelligence might even be able to help him do his homework. He thought it would be awesome to wear a computer on his wrist for a whole week. But first, he had to improve his coding skills and understand how machines learn through code. Before getting to use the wearable, he had to design some basic applications that the wristwatch would use in part two of the project.
With sensors attached, the wearable could identify Timmy’s location, the temperature of the air, and how fast he was moving. Since the computer contained voice recognition software, Timmy could talk to it. And since the computer had access to the Internet, he could ask it basic questions and receive immediate answers. The goal of the project was to determine how well the computer could interact with the user in the user’s natural habitat.