NEW! Workshop resources - iRobot
We’re thrilled to be releasing our brand new workshop resources! Developed by our curriculum content developer, Estelle Ashman, and her development team, our new workshop materials will be teaching the Computing curriculum in true DSH fashion using our unique play-based approach and featuring innovative ideas that will spark the imagination of any child!
All our new resources are now available on our website.
Each week we will feature a new resource in depth – and this week, get stuck in Ai, with iRobot. Read on…
What is artificial intelligence...?
This workshop asks and answers the question ‘What is artificial intelligence?’. Machines can do the most clever things, from beating humans at chess to flying planes and producing works of art. But machines carry these activities out by following computer programs. Programs written by humans. The machines are simply following the rules. So then where does the intelligence lie?
Through an exploration of a range of unplugged activities, pupils discuss the issues and consider what we understand by human intelligence in order to explore the implications of artificial intelligence.
This workshop is based upon the work of Paul Curzon, Peter McOwen and Jonathan Black from Queen Mary, University of London and the original work can be found on the Computer Science For Fun (CS4FN) website. From machine learning with sweets to emotional robots, students rate the intelligence of objects to identify intelligent behaviours. They then move onto programming a Lego Mindstorms EV3 robot to mimic these intelligent behaviours before revisiting the original question.
It is worth noting that while this workshop has been developed using the Lego Mindstorms EV3 robot, the workshop is designed to allow teachers to drop in and use whichever robotic device they have in the classroom. In due course we will be updating this resource with guidance on how the workshop can be delivered with other commonly used classroom robotic devices.
Download the iRobot workshop pack here.