The shark used fossil shark teeth to interest colleges in paleontology and computer vision

Most children have natural curiosity for sharks, especially their clear and abundant teeth. Our team had the idea of ​​using the attraction of this charismatic apex predator to teach how scientists use artificial intelligence.

We are researchers in Itaph And Stem education WHO helped create a series of lessons that use fossil shark teeth to demonstrate the power and the traps of the AI.

Program guides middle school and teachers by building and evaluating computer vision models that can reliably classify the fossil shark teeth. Computer vision is a type of artificial intelligence which uses algorithms and many image data to classify and identify objects. It is the Same technology that allows Google Lens has Identify plant species in photographs or autonomous cars To recognize people, cars and bikes.

OUR Free shark curriculum At five modules, which are aligned with national standards and state sciences. These standards describe the key knowledge and skills that students should learn at each level. The lessons are designed to cultivate the interest of students for AI, data sciencePaleontology and the nature of science.

The overall objective of the sharks is to show that one should not be a computer scientist to use, teach or learn AI. We believe that all teachers can and should be ready to teach AI in order to facilitate the significant integration of technology in K-12 education.

Teach science with AI

AI is already Transform our lives at a dizzying pace.

To help prepare children to live and work in an AI world, it is important for them to find out about school technology. Most The resources available to teach AI In class K-12 Focus on technology himself. Consequently, these lessons can only be offered in specialty lessons such as IT and engineering, which may not be offered to all students in all schools.

The systematic integration of AI into education is relatively new, so many Teacher preparation programs Barely start to integrate it. There is a need for professional learning possibilities for teachers who already work in schools to learn more about AI.

Our research shows Science teachers have a variety of preconceived ideas on AI. In addition, Many teachers are worried On the teaching of something with which they have little experience. Almost half of educators told Edweek In an investigation that “they are uncomfortable with AI technology”, suggesting that they are not likely to add AI lessons to their already packaged program.

Sort the sharks

To decompose this ignorance, the program begins by introducing the different types of AI, such as natural language treatmentRecognition of automated speech and computer vision. The students then start to work with fossil kits containing 15 real fossil shark teeth and a megalodon printed in 3D. Megalodons were giant sharks This traveled the waters 20 million years ago and is now extinguished. Students sort their teeth as they wish, such as in size, color or shape. Then they learn how scientists generally classify fossils and practice sorting it with teeth with shark species and what it eats.

After that, students use Google Teachable MachineA free online tool that uses the powerful Tensorflow.js Automatic learning model formed on millions of images. This creates their own computer vision model to classify fossil shark teeth. The data they use can be photos they take from real teeth in their kits or photos they download from databases such as Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Paleobiology Digital Collection Or idigbio.

The models have sometimes classified their teeth, which creates an opportunity for teachers to discuss bias and limits of computer visionLike why it is important to form AI on many high quality and various images.

The AI ​​shark curriculum ends with the students creating, presenting and discussing their own Computer vision models.

Thanks to these activities, students learn the concepts of AI such as the strengths and weaknesses of AI compared to human intelligence as well as concepts of paleontology such as The fossil file Or the information that can be learned about the history of life on Earth by studying fossils.

Teachers have the flexibility to modify the activities, the sequence and the time they want to spend in the program. This allows them to highlight the aspects that make the most sense for their educational needs and objectives.

To prepare teachers to use the AI ​​of sharks, we organize a week of professional learning session in which teachers learn how AI is used in science. They also train to do the activities of the study program, and we leave a lot of time for discussion to demystify technology.

An important element of training is to create a community for teachers. They have the possibility of registering, thinking and helping out together throughout the year.

AI of shark staff also frequently check with teachers individually to provide personalized support, usually troubleshooting questions on Google Teachable Machine. The teachers meet in a group once every few months to build a community.

With these supports, we found that teachers can change their understanding and beliefs on AI, and feel comfortable and prepared to teach science with AI methods.

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