Students don’t have to use an artificial intelligence program to learn about AI.
There’s an alternate approach—“unplugged AI” —which leverages paper and other analog tools to teach about the cutting edge technology. It was the subject of a session at the ISTELive 26 + ASCD Annual Conference, held here this week.
Although unplugged AI may sound like a contradiction in terms, Roberta Freitas, an education technology specialist and Google Trainer, says that these activities can teach students critical concepts about AI bias, data classification, and algorithms.
“Unplugged activities are about what is behind AI, the concepts, the fundamentals, without using technology,” she said.
These teaching strategies don’t have to be completely unplugged from technology. There are many other digital tools educators can use to show students the mechanics of how AI works.
Freitas presented on the concept this week’s ISTE event. She spoke with Education Week about how unplugged AI activities can provide students with a strong foundational understanding of how AI works before they ever type a query into a chatbot.
One of her messages to educators: Students aren’t the only ones who can benefit from unplugged activities.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What are the benefits of teaching AI, unplugged from technology?
I have a 20-hour course for teachers and [in] the first 15 hours of the course, we don’t touch AI, we don’t use AI. We just talk about it. And when teachers actually get to use AI, they are much more critical because they understand what’s behind [it]. They understand why they’re getting those answers.
I’m Brazilian. And for us, there’s lots of bias in AI. Whenever we ask for an image or text, what we get are very American pictures. If you ask for an image of a teacher, you are going to get a teacher inside an American [classroom]. If you ask it to be Brazilian, they’re going to put a Brazilian jersey or a Brazilian flag in the room.
So, it’s very important for students and teachers to understand what’s behind [AI], why they get the answers they’re getting. This is why it’s very important to get the fundamentals before you actually interact with AI.
What ages are these activities best for?
It could be used in all grades, [but] especially for very young kids because there are age restrictions with AI. So, for very young students, they need to be ready for this world because AI is infused in everything. We need to understand how this works. Why do you get the recommendations you’re getting on social media?
With older students, when you’re introducing a concept, I think it’s important to know what that means before they get to interact with technology.
What is an example of an unplugged AI activity?
Bias detectives. This is an activity to get students to understand that bias is not generated or invented by AI. Bias is in society. Bias is in the data that is being used to train AI.
So, [students] get a set of [cards with] doctors, surgeons, and nurses, they’re either male or female. And the students will have to analyze how many doctors are male [or] female.
The bias here [in the cards] is nurses are mostly female. Surgeons are mostly male, doctors are mostly male. So this is for students to understand [that AI generalizations are] not coming out of nowhere, [they’re] not being invented.
So, students see that the AI output can be skewed. Do manipulatives help crystallize what’s happening under the hood?
When it’s more visual and you get to really manipulate and interact, it gets you to think deeper and talk to other students. I usually do these in groups.
So students have to interact and collaborate to come to an answer. And I believe that using their hands makes things more tangible and more memorable for students.
