Integration of Artificial Intelligence in Science Curriculum

All of us is very much aware of the word ‘Artificial Intelligence’ or ‘AI’ as we are surrounded by technology all the time. When you first hear the word AI your mind must stuck on ‘Robot’ or ‘Alexa’. Right? You are not wrong.

In a newspaper article published in The Financial Express by Jhumur Nandi on 5^th Sep 2020, As AI in entering the mainstream there are various programmes being initiated by Intel like AI for youth, Responsible AI for Youth and AI for All based on Intel AI for Citizens program where they teach skills in data science, computer vision and natural language processing along with the collaboration with CBSE and Ministry of Education. Under these three initiatives, over 3,50,000 students have been trained with AI skills since 2019.Also planned a program called “AI for future workforce” in upcoming time. The curriculum designed for AI for future workforce is technical; however; students does not require any prior domain knowledge. Furthermore, projects under the programme are focussed on industrial impacts such as common trade application, predictive maintenance, viral post protection, insurance fraud protection among others.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

It is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence, but AI does not have to confine itself to methods that are biologically observable.

The prevalence of Artificial Intelligence has been around us every now and then. As nowadays we are more into the technological era of having electronic gadgets like smartphones, laptops, Alexa, etc. with us every time, there are applications in these gadgets which are based on the concept of artificial intelligence.

For example, we think YouTube knows us better when it starts suggesting what we would like to watch the next after searching for our favourite video. Right? This concept of suggestions about what we like from our previous history of videos we watched and enjoyed is based on the artificial intelligence of the machine.

Similarly, we are surrounded by applications of artificial intelligence and serve a dominant role in our daily life. Some of the examples are depicted below. 

Artificial Intelligence Tools

Likewise, we have different applications in our smartphones for various purposes; there is a variety of tools based on artificial intelligence which acts as a supporting system of various aspects. Through AI tools one can conduct experiments and create a model based on machine learning. Some of the AI tools are designed without any coding functions and can be used by anyone. These AI-based tools are used in the field of education to use the feature of machine learning to explore various concepts with experimentation. It boosts the student’s creativity level as they use their cognitive skills to understand a concept. There are a lot of AI tools as an experiment from the google team and creators from around the globe. The below table mentions some of the AI tools which can be integrated as an instructional aid in the classrooms.

So, these AI tools can be efficiently used to make lesson plans to make learning fun and interesting.

Let me share a lesson plan based on science curriculum of 8^th class using AI tool ‘Teachable Machine’ for your better understanding.