AI Curriculum: AI and Internet of Things

• The AI4STEM Curriculum focuses on the application of AI in educational robotics.
• It introduces the 5 Big Ideas in Artificial Intelligence using the Internet of Things in STEM education.
• The document was last updated on August 24, 2023, by Sofia Sousa, Ana Barroca, and Joana Santos (SCHOLÉ).
• The project number is 2022-1-FR01-KA220-SCH-000085611.

Module Introduction

• This module explores Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its current applications and seeks to help teachers integrate AI into the classroom, including the interaction between AI and the Internet of Things (IoT).
• Teachers can find information about AI, real-world applications, and the IoT, along with examples, questions, and activities for elementary and secondary school classrooms.
• Scenarios show how AI and the IoT can be approached and introduced through the lens of the 5 Big Ideas.

Glossary: Key Notions and Concepts

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) combines computer science and datasets to enable problem-solving and performs tasks requiring human intelligence like visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and language translation.
• A Robot is any automatically operated machine that replaces human effort.
• Capacity-based AI is based on how AI learns and applies knowledge, categorized into artificial narrow intelligence, artificial general intelligence, and artificial superintelligence.
• Functionality-Based AI relates to how an AI uses data to respond to stimuli and interact with its environment, sorted into four functionality types.
• The AI4K12 project is focused on teaching AI in K-12 in the US, aligning AI education with the CSTA standards for computer science.
• The Internet of Things (IoT) automates real-world processes by enabling computing devices to transfer information over a network without human interaction.

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the ability of machines to simulate human intelligence processes using computer programs to make our lives easier.
• AI focuses on developing algorithms and systems for tasks that require human intelligence such as reasoning, self-learning, problem-solving, pattern recognition, decision-making, and language understanding.
• AI is not always in the form of robots, which are a more complex form of AI.
• Artificial Intelligence can learn in three ways: Supervised, Semi-Supervised and Unsupervised.
• Supervised learning is where a person passes on the information that AI must give when faced with certain situations.
• Semi-supervised learning is where the programmer makes known to the AI a series of images of animals and identifies them as cats and other images that it identifies as dogs.
• Unsupervised, in this case, the AI has access to multiple images of mixed cats and dogs and the AI itself identifies patterns and differentiates the images autonomously.

Types of Artificial Intelligence

• Various types of AI exist, each with its own applications and challenges, serving to solve complex problems.
• The classification of AI types depends on the criteria used, mainly capacity-based and intelligence and functionality-based.
• In the Capacity-based type of AI exists three types of capabilities: Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI), Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI).
• Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) describes AI tools designed to execute very specific actions or commands and cannot learn skills beyond its design.
• Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) describes AI that can learn, think, and perform tasks almost as a human.
• Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) is the kind of machine that appears in science fiction movies.
• Regarding their functionality, AI can be sorted in four different types: Reactive Machines, Limited Memory, Theory of Mind, and Self-Aware.
• Reactive Machines react to a request but can't store any memory or learning from past experiences.
• Limited Memory refers to the AI that can store past data and make predictions using it to improve performance.
• Theory of Mind refers to a model of AI that can pick upon emotions and subtle environment changes and act on them.
• Self-Aware marks a type of AI that reaches its singularity, where AI machines would be out of our control.
• Sophia, a robot developed by Hanson Robotics, is an example of a more developed AI, even though it is not technically self-aware.

AI in the Classroom

• Even though AI is all around, it is not easy to explain the functionality and different types of AI to students.
• Teachers can show images of AI applications and ask students about their uses.
• Teachers can choose images of: robots, virtual assistants (like Alexa or Siri), facial recognition apps, self-driven cars, chatbot website (like chat GPT).
• Teachers can introduce the theme of AI using images of AI applications and encourage conversation about the types of AI.

Application of AI in Everyday Life

• AI has occupied spaces in everyday life by making routine tasks easier.
• Common applications include unlocking phones with facial recognition and personalized streaming or product recommendations.
• AI is also prominent in fields like healthcare, finance, manufacturing, transportation, entertainment, and education.
• Search engines and social networks use AI algorithms for voice, image search, translation, and personalized content.
• Virtual assistants can interact, answer questions, and perform tasks using natural language processing.
• Autonomous transportation systems utilize AI to improve efficiency.
• AI aids in medical diagnoses by helping algorithms to find patterns and assist doctors' decisions.

AI in Daily Life

• The teacher can discuss with students how reliant they are on AI.
• Students should discuss how AI has made their lives easier, smart equipment at home, AI in school, and name areas of life that might be improved with the use of AI.

AI and the 5 Big Ideas

• The "Five Big Ideas" of Artificial Intelligence (AI) were proposed by John Haugeland, philosopher and AI researcher, as a way to summarize the key concepts that make up the area of AI.
• The Five Big Ideas provide a foundation for understanding fundamental principles and concepts of Artificial Intelligence.
• The Five Big Ideas of AI4K12 that have made the industry soar with AI are: perception, representation and reasoning, learning, natural interaction, and societal impact.
• Perception allows computers to perceive the world with sensors, enabling them to 'see' and 'hear' for practical use to extract meaning from sensory signals.
• Representation and Reasoning involves agents' maintaining representations of the world and using them for reasoning.
• Learning means computers hold the capability to learn from the inputs it receives.
• Natural Interaction means AI agents require many kinds of knowledge to interact with humans naturally.

Societal Impact in AI

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) has a significant impact on society in various areas and levels.
• AI influences society by automating tasks, improving healthcare and medicine, transport, education, and more.
• In E-Commerce, AI helps create personalized product recommendations based on purchase history and user behavior.
• AI helps generate technologies that make life more accessible for people with disabilities, such as voice recognition systems for people with motor difficulties.
• AI helps improve security by detecting patterns of cyber threats and attacks and help to improve efficiency of public administration with Government and Global decision-making.

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.
• AI is essential to the use of IoT.
• AI can help the IoT to reduce the need for direct human participation.
• Examples of the interaction and contribution of AI to the IoT: robots in manufacturing, self-driving cars and smart thermostat solutions.
• In manufacturing, robots are employed and facilitate the data transmission as they are turning smarter with the implementation of different sensors using AI algorithms.
• A good example of IoT and AI working together are the Tesla self-driving cars because they can predict the behaviour of pedestrians and other cars in different circumstances.
• Some thermostat solutions have AI-powered IoT, being able to check and manage the temperature from anywhere based on the work schedule and temperature preferences of its users.

IoT in the Classroom

• Teachers can ask students to think of examples where the two (IoT and AI) are used and describe what is the role of the IoT and the role of the AI.
• Practical examples include smart parking systems and healthy diet monitoring systems.

Ethics in Artificial Intelligence

• As the use of AI has become more and more common, facilitating some of the tasks and lowering the risk of failure, it also raises some ethical concerns.
• Examples of AI ethic issues include fairness, data responsibility and privacy, climate degradation, threaten human rights, accountability, and technology misuse.
• AI can collect a lot of data about behaviour, preferences and learning patterns, and the fact that it is unaware of who has access to this information is a matter to worry about.
• AI can prevent students from developing social and personal skills like communication, perseverance, or critical thinking.

Ethics in the Classroom

• Show the students some school equipment used in the classroom and ask the students to describe the equipment, describing the intelligence that might be built in.
• The teacher should then ask the students what some of the benefits and drawbacks of these technologies might be.
• Divide the class in smaller groups and ask each group to focus on one equipment and define positive and negative aspects about the use of it.
• Ask the students to deliver some safe rules while using the equipment.