In artificial Intelligence Age, many School Teachers Unaware of Concept

24th Apr, 2018

THANE : The number of youth showing interest in the world of artificial intelligence has increased drastically in recent times. However, many schoolteachers are still oblivious of the existence of this concept.

Students who have approached their teachers with artificial intelligence-related queries have often been sent back with blank stares and instructions to leave aside their computer games and focus on academic studies.

A 13-year-old student, Shubham Kamat, came across the concept of artificial intelligence after reading about the Cambridge Analytica scandal. “I have always been interested in robotics. However, after reading about the scandal, I realized that robots were actually being used for various data assimilation and analysis jobs abroad. When I asked my class teacher to help me understand this concept further, she told me that this idea of artificial intelligence is very far-fetched and I should focus on my studies instead of the gaming world,” said Kamat. Another student Abhinay Sutar (12) also faced a similar situation in school.

“My classmate and I recently asked my computer teacher in school whether she could give us a few basic classes in coding. After giving us a blank stare, she told us that she had to follow the syllabus and told us to work on our paint and MS word theory. She told us that all the unnecessary information should be sought during our free time at home,” Sutar said.

While many academicians are still unaware about the age of artificial intelligence, a select few schools have actually started holding workshops for their teachers on this subject, its importance and implications.

“It is shocking and unfortunate that many teachers are still not well versed with the pros and cons or even the existence of artificial intelligence. We as teachers need to keep updating our knowledge pool so that we can actually train our students. While students learn a lot on their own through the internet these days, we need to kindle that curiosity and guide it correctly,” said Revathi Srinivasan, principal of Sulochanadevi Singhania School. “Besides speaking to teachers about how various mutual funds, media and other companies abroad are actually run by robots or through Artificial intelligence, we even held workshops for them informing them about the pros and cons of this trend and how it will impact the careers of our students in the future. We have also starting holding coding workshops for students and are starting training fourth graders itself,” she added.

 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com