To prepare the future workforce to live and thrive in a society where this piece of technology is so fundamentally ingrained, several schools are now offering age and level appropriate training in artificial intelligence.
Leading education body CBSE has taken the lead in introducing AI in the school curriculum. They have developed an integrated curriculum, and AI as an elective subject is already being implemented in classes 8-10. Other schools, particularly the ones affiliated with the International Baccalaureate (IB), have also been proactive in giving their students ample exposure to AI.
Analytics India Magazine spoke to a few school principals and heads to understand the trend better.
AI wave in schools
Many educational institutions, including Kendriya Vidyalayas, teaching CBSE syllabus, have already introduced AI to their students. The AI wave has truly caught the fancy of the students, who not only take a keen interest in these classes but also develop AI models based on learning.
As per CBSE mandate, schools will begin to integrate AI with other disciplines from Classes 1 to 12. Mehreen Mushtaq Shamim, the AI teacher from DPS East, said, “At the moment, the teachers are undergoing training of the ”integration manual”; we intend to incorporate AI in normal teaching class in the next academic year.”
Although other syllabuses have not announced integrating AI in their regular curriculum, many international schools have been imparting elementary technology in their curriculum to their students.
For instance, Canadian International School (CIS), which follows the International Baccalaureate (IB) syllabus, was recognised as an Apple Distinguished School for their innovation and integration of technology in education.
Dr Ted Mockrish, Head of School, CIS, has said, “Robotics has been a component of the elementary technology curriculum, and the skills have been used to approach real-world issues such as using AI to simulate an earthquake and its effect of magnitude on buildings. Middle school students have created their own inventions at the maker space lab. The high school students have been learning skills in robotics and computer science, and students in the IBDP (International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme) are challenged to consider the moral and theoretical implications of AI in theory or knowledge.”
At Greenwood High International School, with IB curriculum, artificial intelligence is part of the newly introduced robotics subject.
Mr. Aloysius D’mello, Principal of the school, said, “Students will go on to take a variety of roles in the future based upon what they learn today. They will go on to become coders, developers, builders and inventors and they will have to learn cutting edge disciplines like Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the school level itself. At Greenwood High International School, robotics is taught as a subject and AI being a part of robotics automatically becomes a topic to be studied. AI has also grown out of disciplines such as Science, Mathematics, Philosophy, Sociology, Computing and others, and hence, it is the right thing for any school to recognise the importance of integrating AI readiness to maximise learning across disciplines. Artificial intelligence is growing rapidly with the potential to change the face of the education sector massively.”
At the Indus International School, Hyderabad, which also follows the IB syllabus recognised the importance of integrating AI into their curriculum and using AI to personalise the learning for students. “We introduced AI to our students about four years back. Students are involved in coding from grade 1 onwards. They use code.org, which helps them to learn the concept through gaming. It gives students the ability to try and try again until they succeed and produce the result they are looking for. From grade 6 upwards, students are involved in learning Python and Javascript,” said Ms Aparna Achanta, Principal of Indus International School Hyderabad.
Humanoid teachers
Indus International schools in Bengaluru and Hyderabad became the first schools in India to introduce the Collaborative Learning Model (CLM). Under this model, teachers will have robot assistants while delivering lessons in classrooms who will share the everyday responsibilities of a teacher. The CLM is being implemented for Grades 7, 8 and 9 for Physics, Biology, Chemistry, History and Geography. The school says that these robots will not replace human teachers.
Credit – History TV18
