As you progress from the suburbs to the town, the tree cover often thins as skyscrapers rise. A bunch of scholars from the New England Innovation Academy wondered why that is the case.
“Our friend Victoria noticed that there are lots of trees in our backyards in Marlborough. But should you drive just half-hour to Boston, there are almost no trees,” said highschool student Ileana Fournier. “We were struck by this contrast.”
This inspired Fournier and her classmates Victoria Leeth and Jessie Magenyi to develop a prototype for a mobile app that illustrates deforestation trends in Massachusetts for AI Daya free, hands-on curriculum developed by the MIT Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education (RAISE) initiative, based at MIT Media Lab and in collaboration with MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and MIT Open Learning. They were amongst a gaggle of 20 students from the New England Innovation Academy who presented their projects through the 2024 Day of AI. Worldwide celebration with the Museum of Science.
The AI Curriculum Day introduces students to artificial intelligence. Now in its third yr, Day of AI empowers students to enhance their communities and collaborate on larger global challenges using AI. Fournier, Leeth and Magenyi’s TreeSavers app falls under the “Telling Climate Stories with Data” module, considered one of the 4 latest teaching units on climate change.
“We want you to find a way to precise yourself creatively to make use of AI for problem-solving with critical considering skills,” said Cynthia Breazeal, director of MIT RAISE, dean of digital learning at MIT Open Learning, and professor of media arts and sciences, during this yr's global AI Day celebration on the Museum of Science. “We want you to think ethically and responsibly about this really powerful, cool, exciting technology.”
From understanding to motion
Day of AI invites students to explore the intersection of AI and various disciplines equivalent to history, social studies, computer science, mathematics, and climate change. Because the curriculum is out there year-round, greater than 10,000 educators in 114 countries have brought Day of AI activities into their classrooms and houses.
The curriculum gives students the chance to evaluate local problems and develop meaningful solutions. “We're serious about how we will construct tools that give kids direct access to data and make a private connection that intersects with their life experiences,” said Robert Parks, curriculum developer at MIT RAISE, at the worldwide AI Day celebration.
Before this yr, freshman Jeremie Kwampo said he knew little or no about AI. “I used to be very intrigued,” he said. “I began experimenting with ChatGPT to see the way it reacts. How close can I get to human emotions with it? How much knowledge does AI have in comparison with the knowledge of a human?”
In addition to helping students develop an interest in AI skills, teachers all over the world have told MIT RAISE that they wish to use data science classes to interact students in conversations about climate change. So Day of AI's latest hands-on projects use weather and climate change to point out students why it's essential to develop a critical understanding of how data sets are designed and picked up when observing the world around them.
“In on a regular basis life, there’s a delay between cause and effect,” Parks said. “Our goal is to demystify that and provides kids access to data in order that they can get a long-term view of things.”
Tools like MIT App Inventor—which allows anyone to construct a mobile application—help students understand what they will learn from data. Fournier, Leeth, and Magenyi programmed TreeSavers in App Inventor to map regional deforestation rates in Massachusetts, discover current trends using statistical models, and predict environmental impacts. Students put this “long-term view” of climate change into practice when developing TreeSavers' interactive maps. Users can switch between Massachusetts' current tree cover, historical data, and future high-risk areas.
While AI provides quick answers, it doesn't necessarily provide equitable solutions, says David Sittenfeld, director of the Center for the Environment on the Museum of Science. The Day of AI curriculum requires students to make decisions about sourcing data, ensuring unbiased data and considering responsibly about how the findings may be used.
“There are ethical concerns about tracking people's data,” said Ethan Jorda, a student at New England Innovation Academy. His group used open-source data to program an app that permits users to trace and reduce their carbon footprint.
Christine Cunningham, senior vice chairman of STEM learning on the Museum of Science, believes students are prepared to make use of AI responsibly to make the world a greater place. “They can imagine themselves shaping the world they live in,” Cunningham said. “When they move from understanding to doing, kids won’t ever take a look at a bridge or a chunk of plastic lying on the bottom the identical way again.”
Deepening cooperation on Earth and beyond
Speakers at AI Day 2024 emphasized collaborative problem solving at local, national and global levels.
“Through different ideas and perspectives, we are going to find higher solutions,” said Cunningham. “How can we start early enough in order that every child has the possibility to grasp the world around them while shaping the longer term?”
Speakers from MIT, the Museum of Science, and NASA addressed this query with a standard goal: expanding STEM education to learners of all ages and backgrounds.
“We were thrilled to partner with the MIT RAISE team to bring this yr's Day of AI celebration to the Museum of Science,” says Meg Rosenburg, director of operations for the Museum of Science's Centers for Public Science Learning. “Not only does this chance to spotlight the brand new climate modules for the curriculum align perfectly with the Museum's goals of specializing in climate and lively hope during our Year of the Earthshot initiative, but it surely also allowed us to bring our teams together and construct a relationship that we’re excited to construct upon in the longer term.”
Rachel Connolly, Head of Systems Integration and Analysis for NASA's Science Activation Programdemonstrated the ability of collaboration by exemplified the evolution of human understanding of Saturn's appearance. From Galileo's early telescope to the Cassini spacecraft, modern images of Saturn represent 400 years of science, technology, and arithmetic collaborating to advance knowledge.
“Technologies and the engineers who developed them are changing the questions we will ask and, with them, our understanding,” said Connolly, a scientist on the MIT Media Lab.
Students at New England Innovation Academy saw a chance to collaborate slightly closer to home. Emmett Buck-Thompson, Jeff Cheng, and Max Hunt envisioned a social media app to attach volunteers with local charities. Their project was inspired by Buck-Thompson's father's struggles finding volunteer work, Hunt's role as president of the varsity's Community Impact Club, and Cheng's drive to cut back social media users' screen time. Using MIT App Inventor, their combined ideas resulted in a prototype with the potential to have an actual impact on their community.
The Day of AI curriculum teaches the mechanics of AI, ethical considerations and responsible use, and interdisciplinary applications to varied fields. It also empowers students to develop into creative problem solvers and engaged residents of their communities and online. From supporting volunteer efforts to promoting motion to guard the state's forests to tackling the worldwide challenge of climate change, Day of AI is empowering today's students to develop into tomorrow's leaders.
“We want to point out you which you could use this tool to enhance your community and help the people around you using this technology,” Breazeal said.
Other speakers on the Day of AI included Tim Ritchie, president of the Museum of Science, Michael Lawrence Evans, program director of the Boston Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics, Dava Newman, director of the MIT Media Lab, and Natalie Lao, executive director of the App Inventor Foundation.
