AI and IoT integration in STEM Education

• The AI4STEM Curriculum aims to explore the application of AI in educational robotics and introduce the 5 Big Ideas in Artificial Intelligence using the Internet of Things (IoT) in STEM education.
• The project number is 2022-1-FR01-KA220-SCH-000085611.
• The document was last updated on August 24, 2023, by Sofia Sousa, Ana Barroca, and Joana Santos (SCHOLÉ) and has the document reference 2022-1-FR01-KA220-SCH-000085611
• The document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Module Introduction

• The module explores Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its use in everyday life.
• The goal is to help teachers understand AI and explore its themes in the classroom, emphasizing the interaction between AI and the Internet of Things (IoT).
• Teachers can gain information about AI, its applications, and examples for elementary and secondary school classrooms.
• The module will present scenarios on how AI and IoT can be approached through the lens of the 5 Big Ideas proposed by the AI4K12 initiative, focusing on Societal Impact.

Key Notions and Concepts

• AI combines computer science and robust datasets to enable problem-solving and perform tasks requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation.
• A robot is any automatically operated machine that replaces human effort.
• Capacity-based AI is categorized into Artificial Narrow Intelligence, Artificial General Intelligence, and Artificial Superintelligence, based on how they learn and apply knowledge.
• Functionality-Based AI concerns how an AI applies its learning capabilities to process data, respond to stimuli, and interact with its environment and can be sorted by four functionality types.
• The AI4K12 project focuses on teaching AI in K-12 in the US and has aligned its vision for AI education with the CSTA standards for computer science.
• The Internet of Things (IoT) involves using computer tools to automate real-world processes and transfer information over a network without human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) simulates human intelligence processes using computer programs and is now applied to different products and services making our lives easier.
• AI focuses on developing algorithms and systems that perform tasks requiring human intelligence, such as reasoning, self-learning, problem-solving, pattern recognition, decision-making, and language understanding.
• Learning in AI can happen in three ways: Supervised, Semi-supervised, and Unsupervised.
• Supervised learning involves a person providing the AI with the information it must give when faced with certain situations.
• Semi-supervised learning involves the programmer making known to the AI a series of images of animals and identifying them as cats and other images that it identifies as dogs.
• In unsupervised learning, the AI has access to multiple images of mixed cats and dogs. The AI itself identifies patterns and differentiates the images autonomously.

Types of Artificial Intelligence

• AI is diverse, simultaneously existing in various types, applications, and challenges, serving to resolve complex problems and constantly evolving with increasing investment in different areas and sectors.
• Classification depends on the criteria used, with two major criteria being Capacity-based, Intelligence and Functionality-Based.

Capacity-Based AI has three types:

• Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) executes very specific actions or commands and is common in image recognition software, self-driving cars, and AI assistants like Siri or Alexa.
• Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) can learn, think, and perform tasks almost like a human, aiming to create machines that can multitask and act in everyday life like assistants.
• Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) is the kind of machine seen in science fiction movies, believed to surpass human intelligence once AI machines reach general intelligence.

Functionality sorting of AI has four types:

• Reactive Machines react immediately to a request without storing memory or learning from past experiences, responding to external stimuli in real time.
• Limited Memory stores past data and makes predictions using it, allowing the AI to improve its performance using the knowledge that it builds constantly, by being able to store and learn from past experiences
• Theory of Mind can pick up on emotions and subtle environment changes and act on them, but researchers are still far from creating AI that responds to human emotions and predicts actions.
• Self-Aware marks a type of AI that reaches its singularity, meaning the AI machines would be out of our control with a sense of self and independent thinking.

Task for the classroom - AI in the classroom

• To introduce AI, teachers can show images where AI is used and ask students if they know what they are and how to use them.
• Learning objectives include discussing and understanding AI, recognizing different types of AI, and discussing their similarities and differences.

Application of AI in everyday life

• AI is present in our routine and in sectors such as healthcare, finance, manufacturing, transportation, entertainment, and education.
• Search engines, social networks, virtual assistants, the automotive industry, and medicine all utilize AI for various purposes.
• AI is used in educational platforms and smart homes.

Task for the classroom - AI in everyday life

• The objective is to discuss with students how much their everyday life relies on AI.
• Students should identify AI's role in their routine, discuss its uses, and understand its widespread presence.

AI and the 5 Big Ideas

• The "Five Big Ideas" of Artificial Intelligence (AI) were proposed by John Haugeland:
• Perception: AI enables computers to perceive the world with sensors for practical use.
• Representation & Reasoning: AI helps maintain representations of the world for reasoning.
• Learning: AI has the capability to learn from various inputs through machine learning.
• Natural Interaction: AI agents require knowledge to interact with humans naturally.
• Societal Impact: AI Technology has both positive and negative impacts on society.

Societal Impact in AI

• AI has a significant impact on society in various areas and levels.
• Automation of repetitive tasks, improvements in healthcare, advancements in autonomous transport, personalization in education, e-commerce, and recommendations are all examples of AI.
• AI also impacts accessibility, cyber security, ethics, and privacy.

The Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence

• IoT helps the AI to process and create an appropriate response to a real-world event that was signaled by the IoT and is essential to IoT.
• AI helps the IoT to reduce the need for direct human participation.
• IoT users should monitor AI developments closely and watch for new opportunities and symbiosis.

Robots in Manufacturing

• Robots are employed and facilitate data transmission as they are turning smarter with the implementation of different sensors.
• Enhanced manufacturing: Robots equipped with AI algorithms learn from the new data, saving time and cost, and improving the manufacturing process.

Self-Driving Cars

• IoT and AI working together by predicting the behavior of pedestrians and other cars in different circumstances.
• Enhanced road awareness: Taking under consideration road conditions, weather, optimal speed, and AI connection, they get better each trip.

Smart Thermostat Solution

• AI-powered IoT checks and manages the temperature from anywhere based on user work schedule and temperature preferences.

Task for the classroom - Iot and AI

• After discussing IoT and AI, the teacher can ask students to think of examples where the two are used and describe the role of each.

Ethics in Artificial Intelligence

• the increasing use of AI raises ethical concerns, including fairness, data responsibility, privacy, climate degradation, human rights, accountability, and technology misuse.
• Focus on AI in education and child-rearing, which leads to potential invasion of privacy using AI.
• Relying on AI can prevent students from developing social and personal skills.

Task for the classroom - Ethics and AI

• Show equipment used in the classroom that demonstrates artificial intelligence, discuss the benefits and drawbacks, and divide students into groups to define positive and negative aspects, and safe rules for using the equipment.
• Learning objectives include describing ethical issues, creating guiding principles, gaining conscience about risks, and reflecting on positive and negative aspects of AI.