scholarly journals PopBots: Designing an Artificial Intelligence Curriculum for Early Childhood Education

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 9729-9736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randi Williams ◽  
Hae Won Park ◽  
Lauren Oh ◽  
Cynthia Breazeal
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Social Robot ◽  
Kindergarten Children ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Teaching Approaches ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Specific Learning

PopBots is a hands-on toolkit and curriculum designed to help young children learn about artificial intelligence (AI) by building, programming, training, and interacting with a social robot. Today’s children encounter AI in the forms of smart toys and computationally curated educational and entertainment content. However, children have not yet been empowered to understand or create with this technology. Existing computational thinking platforms have made ideas like sequencing and conditionals accessible to young learners. Going beyond this, we seek to make AI concepts accessible. We designed PopBots to address the specific learning needs of children ages four to seven by adapting constructionist ideas into an AI curriculum. This paper describes how we designed the curriculum and evaluated its effectiveness with 80 Pre-K and Kindergarten children. We found that the use of a social robot as a learning companion and programmable artifact was effective in helping young children grasp AI concepts. We also identified teaching approaches that had the greatest impact on student’s learning. Based on these, we make recommendations for future modules and iterations for the PopBots platform.

scholarly journals ENSINANDO MATEMÁTICA AOS BEBÊS: encantos, descobertas e exploração das relações entre grandezas

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (esp.) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Luciana Figueiredo Lacanallo Arrais ◽  
Lucinéia Maria Lazaretti ◽  
Paula Tamyris Moya ◽  
Silvia Pereira Gonzaga de Moraes
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Kindergarten Children ◽  
Pedagogical Practice ◽  
Current Analysis ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Teaching Of Mathematics ◽  
Crucial Condition

  No cenário da educação infantil, principalmente na prática pedagógica com bebês, ainda persistem desafios em torno da organização do ensino para esse período de vida. Diante disso, este texto tem o objetivo de discutir as possibilidades educativas para os primeiros anos de vida da criança em relação à aprendizagem da matemática por meio de uma atividade de ensino, considerando a singularidade do desenvolvimento infantil. Ancoradas na Teoria Histórico-Cultural, estruturamos essa discussão em dois momentos: a) a especificidade do desenvolvimento da criança pequena e a organização do ensino de matemática na educação infantil; b) a análise de uma atividade de ensino para crianças do berçário. Esperamos que o texto possa auxiliar o trabalho educativo com a matemática na educação infantil, pois um ensino sistemático e dirigido, desde os primeiros anos, é condição fundamental para a aprendizagem e para as transformações qualitativas no desenvolvimento psíquico das crianças.Palavras-chave: Educação Infantil. Ensino de Matemática. Primeira Infância.TEACHING MATHEMATICS TO YOUNG CHILDREN: attraction, discovery and exploration in relationships between magnitudes ABSTRACT: Several challenges exist on teaching organization within early childhood, mainly with regard to the pedagogical practice with young children. Owing to the uniqueness of children´s development, the educational possibilities on the teaching of Mathematics, through activities, in their early life period, are discussed. Based on the Cultural and Historical Theory, current discussion underscores two factors: a) the specificity of children´s development and the organization of the teaching of Mathematics in early education; b) the analysis of a teaching activity for kindergarten children. The authors expect that current analysis will aid the teaching of Mathematics in young children´s education. In fact, systematic and monitored teaching during the early years of life is a crucial condition for learning and for qualitative transformations in children´s psychic development.Keywords: Early Childhood Education; the teaching of Mathematics; Early childhood.ENSEÑANDO MATEMÁTICA A LOS BEBÉS: encantos, descubrimientos y exploración de las relaciones entre grandezas RESUMEN: En el escenario de la educación inicial, principalmente en la práctica pedagógica con bebés, aún persisten desafíos en torno a la organización de la enseñanza para ese período de vida. Este texto tiene por objetivo discutir las posibilidades educativas de los primeros años de vida del niño en relación al aprendizaje de las matemáticas considerando la singularidad del desarrollo infantil, a través de una actividad educativa. Ancladas en la Teoría Histórico-Cultural, estructuramos esta discusión en dos momentos: a) la especificidad del desarrollo del niño y la organización de la enseñanza de las matemáticas en la educación inicial; b) el análisis de una actividad de enseñanza para bebés. Esperamos que el texto pueda auxiliar el trabajo educativo con las matemáticas en la educación inicial, pues una enseñanza sistemática y dirigida desde los primeros años es condición fundamental para el aprendizaje y las transformaciones cualitativas en el desarrollo psíquico de los niños.Palabras clave: Educación inicial; Enseñanza de la Matemática; Primera infancia. 

Why Teach Coding to Early Elementary Learners

2021 ◽  
pp. 21-40
Author(s):  
Claudia M. Mihm
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Early Elementary ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
Way Of Thinking

As coding and computer science become established domains in K-2 education, researchers and educators understand that children are learning more than skills when they learn to code – they are learning a new way of thinking and organizing thought. While these new skills are beneficial to future programming tasks, they also support the development of other crucial skills in early childhood education. This chapter explores the ways that coding supports computational thinking in young children and connects the core concepts of computational thinking to the broader K-2 context.

scholarly journals ‘They Get Fed up with Playing’: Parents' Views on Play-Based Learning in the Preparatory Year

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 266-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyndal O'Gorman ◽  
Jo Ailwood
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Academic Progress ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Strong Focus ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Parental Opinion ◽  
Preparatory Year

Within early childhood education two ideas are firmly held: that play is the best way for children to learn, and that parents are partners in the child's learning. While these ideas have been explored, limited research to date has investigated the confluence of the two — how parents of young children view the concept of play. This article investigates parents' views on play by analysing the views of a small group of parents of Preparatory Year (Prep) children in Queensland, Australia. The parents in this study held varying definitions of what constitutes play, and complex and contradictory notions of its value. Positive views of play were linked to learning without knowing it, engaging in hands-on activities, and preparation for Year One through a strong focus on academic progress. Some parents held that Prep was play-based, while others did not. The complexities and diversity of parental opinion in this study echo the ongoing commentary about how play ought to be defined. Moreover, the notion that adults may interpret play in different ways is also reflected here. The authors suggest that for early childhood educators these complexities require an ongoing engagement, debate, and reconceptualisation of the place of play in light of broader curricular and sociopolitical agendas.

Programming Robots in Kindergarten to Express Identity

2012 ◽  
pp. 1952-1968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina U. Bers ◽  
Alyssa B. Ettinger
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Day School ◽  
Kindergarten Children ◽  
Programming System ◽  
Developmental Needs ◽  
Engineering Design Process ◽  
Tangible Programming ◽  
Community Day School ◽  
Ethnographic Analysis

This chapter presents a research program that uses robotics as a powerful tool to engage Kindergarten children in developing computational thinking and learning about the engineering design process. Using an ethnographic analysis of an experience in a Kindergarten classroom at the Jewish Community Day School (JCDS), a pluralistic school in Watertown, MA, in which children worked with robotics as a way to explore issues of identity, the chapter highlights both developmental and technological considerations that need to be addressed when engaging young children with robotic activities. This project used an innovative hybrid tangible programming system composed of interlocking wooden blocks, called CHERP, specifically designed to meet the developmental needs of young children. While many robotic programs highlight building aspects and their relationship to engineering education, the approach presented in this chapter complements this by focusing on programming by teaching powerful ideas from computer science at a very early age.

scholarly journals LearningML: A Tool to Foster Computational Thinking Skills Through Practical Artificial Intelligence Projects

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (63) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan David Rodríguez García ◽  
Jesús Moreno-León ◽  
Marcos Román-González ◽  
Gregorio Robles
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Supervised Machine Learning ◽  
Hands On ◽  
The Face ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
Critical Citizens

El uso de sistemas de inteligencia artificial en múltiples niveles de la sociedad ofrece nuevas y prósperas oportunidades, pero también introduce nuevos riesgos y cuestiones éticas que deben abordarse. Sostenemos que la introducción de contenidos de inteligencia artificial en las escuelas a través de proyectos prácticos es el camino a seguir para educar ciudadanos conscientes y críticos, para despertar vocaciones entre los jóvenes, y para fomentar las habilidades de pensamiento computacional de los estudiantes. Sin embargo, la mayoría de las plataformas educativas de programación existentes carecen de algunas características necesarias para desarrollar proyectos completos de IA y, en consecuencia, se requieren nuevas herramientas. En este artículo presentamos LearningML, una nueva plataforma dirigida al aprendizaje automático supervisado, una de las técnicas de IA más exitosas que se encuentra en la base de casi todas las aplicaciones actuales de IA. Este trabajo describe las principales funcionalidades de la herramienta y discute algunas decisiones tomadas durante su diseño, para el que hemos tenido en cuenta las lecciones aprendidas al revisar trabajos anteriores realizados para introducir la IA en la escuela y el análisis de otras soluciones que permiten proyectos prácticos de IA. También se presentan los próximos pasos en el desarrollo de LearningML, que se centran en la validación, tanto aparente como instruccional, de la herramienta. The use of artificial intelligence systems in multiple levels of society offers new and thriving opportunities, but also introduces new risks and ethical issues that should be dealt with. We argue that the introduction of artificial intelligence contents at schools through practical, hands-on, projects is the way to go in order to educate conscientious and critical citizens, to awaken vocations among youth people, as well as to foster students’ computational thinking skills. However, most existing programming platforms for education lack some required features to develop complete AI projects and, consequently, new tools are required. In this paper we present LearningML, a new platform aimed at learning supervised Machine Learning, one of the most successful AI techniques that is in the basis of almost every current AI application. This work describes the main functionalities of the tool and discusses some decisions taken during its design, for which we took into account the lessons learned while reviewing previous works carried out for introducing AI in school and from the analysis of other solutions that enable practical AI projects. The next steps in the development of LearningML are also presented, which are focused on both the face and instructional validation of the tool.

Programming Robots in Kindergarten to Express Identity

2012 ◽  
pp. 168-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina U. Bers ◽  
Alyssa B. Ettinger
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Day School ◽  
Kindergarten Children ◽  
Programming System ◽  
Developmental Needs ◽  
Engineering Design Process ◽  
Tangible Programming ◽  
Community Day School ◽  
Ethnographic Analysis

This chapter presents a research program that uses robotics as a powerful tool to engage Kindergarten children in developing computational thinking and learning about the engineering design process. Using an ethnographic analysis of an experience in a Kindergarten classroom at the Jewish Community Day School (JCDS), a pluralistic school in Watertown, MA, in which children worked with robotics as a way to explore issues of identity, the chapter highlights both developmental and technological considerations that need to be addressed when engaging young children with robotic activities. This project used an innovative hybrid tangible programming system composed of interlocking wooden blocks, called CHERP, specifically designed to meet the developmental needs of young children. While many robotic programs highlight building aspects and their relationship to engineering education, the approach presented in this chapter complements this by focusing on programming by teaching powerful ideas from computer science at a very early age.

A study of the role and educational needs of ophthalmic specialist nurses

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (14) ◽  
pp. 858-864
Author(s):  
Pornjittra Rattanasirivilai ◽  
Amy-lee Shirodkar
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Skills ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Educational Needs ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Standards Of Care ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Specialist Nurses ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Training Opportunities

Aims: To explore the current roles, responsibilities and educational needs of ophthalmic specialist nurses (OSNs) in the UK. Method: A survey of 73 OSNs ranging from band 4 to band 8 was undertaken in May 2018. Findings: 73% of OSNs undertake more than one active role, with 59% involved in nurse-led clinics; 63% felt formal learning resources were limited, with 63% reporting training opportunities and 21% reporting time as major barriers to further training. More than 38% emphasised hands-on clinic-based teaching had a greater impact on their educational needs. Some 64% were assessed on their skills annually and 59% felt confident with their skill set. Conclusion: The Ophthalmic Common Clinical Competency Framework provides a curriculum and assessment tools for OSNs to use as a structure to maintain clinical skills and knowledge. Eye departments should use this as guidance to target learning needs and improve standards of care to meet the changing needs of society.

Coding Is Lit: Integrating Coding and Literacy in Early Childhood Inclusive Settings

2021 ◽  
pp. 004005992110101
Author(s):  
Nicole S. Fenty ◽  
Abby Pierce ◽  
Julia Schildwachter
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Young Children ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Grade Level ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Inclusive Settings ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Common Grade ◽  
To Receive

There has been an increased emphasis in recent years on supporting young children with building 21st century literacy skills such as critical thinking and collaboration. Unfortunately, young children with or at risk for disabilities are unlikely to receive access to experiences that build 21st century literacies. Pre-coding activities, which include hands-on coding games and stories appropriate for young children, are one way to provide access to this population of students. The purpose of this article is to provide details about how educators in early childhood inclusive settings may integrate pre-coding activities with everyday routines and procedures as well as with common grade level appropriate read alouds. Fundamentals of pre-coding are provided along with guidelines for planning and instruction.

Smart design of intelligent companion toys for preschool children

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Xin Wang ◽  
Nian Yin ◽  
Zhinan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Preschool Children ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Child Centered ◽  
Toy Design ◽  
Complete Framework ◽  
New Framework

Abstract Early childhood education has long-lasting influences on people, and an appropriate companion toy can play an essential role in children's brain development. This paper establishes a complete framework to guide the design of intelligent companion toys for preschool children from 2 to 6 years old, which is child-centered and environment-oriented. The design process is divided into three steps: requirement confirmation, the smart design before the sale, and the iterative update after the sale. This framework considers the characteristics of children and highlights the integration of human and artificial intelligence in design. A case study is provided to prove the superiority of the new framework. In addition to enriching the research on intelligent toy design, this paper also guides for practitioners to design smart toys and helps in children's cognitive development.

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