A2 Teach a Machine

1. 1Get ready
2. 2Do it
3. 3Check yourself
4. 4Show a grown-up

1Get ready

You need:

• Paper
• Pencil

2Do it, step by step

1. Write down 6 things you know that use a computer inside: for example a calculator, a toaster, a game, an app that suggests videos, a translator, a voice helper.
2. Make two columns: FOLLOWS FIXED RULES and LEARNS FROM EXAMPLES.
3. Put each of your 6 things in a column. A calculator follows fixed rules. A video suggestion app learns from what lots of people watch.
4. Not sure? Ask: “Could someone write down every rule for this?” If yes, it probably follows fixed rules. If it needs thousands of examples, it learns.
5. Without peeking, write your own sentence: “AI is…”
6. Now compare it with this one: AI is a computer that finds patterns in lots of examples instead of being told every rule. Change your sentence if you like.

Explain what AI is in three short sentences, in simple words for a primary school child.

Is AI the same as a calculator? What is different? Answer in three short sentences.

3Check yourself

4Show a grown-up

Next: Lesson 2

1. 1Get ready
2. 2Do it
3. 3Check yourself
4. 4Show a grown-up

1Get ready

You need:

• 10 small pieces of paper
• Crayons or pencil

2Do it, step by step

1. Draw 5 apples and 5 bananas, one per card. Make each look a bit different (a yellow apple, a green banana, a short fat banana).
2. On the back of each card write A or B. Shuffle them.
3. Take ONE card and look at its answer. This is your first example. Put it in a memory pile.
4. Take 3 mystery cards one at a time. Guess each one by copying the label of the card in your memory pile that looks most like it. Peek to see if you were right. Write your score out of 3.
5. Now add 5 more cards to your memory pile (answers showing). Test again on 3 cards you have not used yet. Write your score.
6. Three new words: the cards are DATA. The letters A and B on the back are LABELS. Putting cards in your memory pile is TRAINING.
7. Next: draw 8 cards for a snack machine: “healthy snack” or “treat”. Include some tricky ones such as fruit yoghurt or a muesli bar. Train and test again. What happened with the confusing ones?

Sort these into “healthy snack” or “treat”: yoghurt with sprinkles, banana, cake. One line each.

Here are examples. Apple = healthy snack. Carrot = healthy snack. Chocolate bar = treat. Crisps = treat. Now sort these: yoghurt with sprinkles, banana, cake. One line each.

Add one tricky example of your own, such as muesli bar. Say which group it is in and why. Then ask the AI to sort a new tricky item.

3Check yourself

4Show a grown-up

Next: Lesson 3

1. 1Get ready
2. 2Do it
3. 3Check yourself
4. 4Show a grown-up

1Get ready

You need:

• 16 small pieces of paper
• Pencil or pens
• A timer (optional)

2Do it, step by step

1. Pick two groups to sort. For example: round things (ball, sun, wheel) and square things (box, window, picture frame). Draw 8 round drawings and 8 square drawings on 16 cards, a bit wobbly and all different.
2. Write R or S on the back of every card. Put 10 cards (5 round, 5 square) in a TRAINING pile and 6 cards (3 and 3) in a TEST pile. Do not look at the test pile!
3. Lay the 10 training cards out face up. This is your memory pile. This is the machine’s learning.
4. Take a test card, turn it over so only the drawing shows. Find the training card it looks most like. Copy its label. That is the machine’s guess.
5. Peek at the real answer. Write a tick or cross. Do this for all 6 test cards.
6. How many right out of 6? Which drawing confused the machine? Why?
7. Want a digital version? The Try page has a machine you can teach by clicking.

Try the digital machine

Here are examples. Round things: ball, sun, wheel. Square things: window, box, picture frame. Now sort these into “round” or “square”, one word each: [DESCRIBE 6 OF YOUR TEST CARDS IN A FEW WORDS EACH, FOR EXAMPLE “a wobbly circle with a smiley face”].

3Check yourself

4Show a grown-up

Next: Lesson 4

1. 1Get ready
2. 2Do it
3. 3Check yourself
4. 4Show a grown-up

1Get ready

You need:

• Your cards from Lesson 3
• Paper
• Pencil

2Do it, step by step

1. Use your picture sorter from Lesson 3. Draw 10 new cards (5 of each group). These are NEW, so the machine has never seen them.
2. Make a tally chart on paper: two columns, RIGHT and WRONG.
3. Test the machine on each new card using your memory pile. Make a tally mark for each result.
4. Count the tally marks. Write: “The machine got __ right out of 10.”
5. Look at the wrong ones. What kind of card did it get wrong? Draw 3 or 4 better example cards of that kind and add them to the memory pile.
6. Test the same 10 new cards again. Make a second tally chart.
7. Did the score go up? Why do you think that is?

Write 10 questions where YOU know the answers, such as: How many sides does a triangle have? What is the biggest planet? What is the opposite of “hot”? Ask them one at a time and ask for a short answer.

Which is heavier: a kilogram of feathers or a kilogram of bricks? How many times does the letter “r” appear in the word “strawberry”? (They may or may not trip it up. Find out.)

Ask one of the tricky questions a second time.

3Check yourself

4Show a grown-up

Next: Lesson 5

1. 1Get ready
2. 2Do it
3. 3Check yourself
4. 4Show a grown-up

1Get ready

You need:

• Paper
• Red, green and yellow crayons
• Pencil

2Do it, step by step

1. Draw 6 RED apples and 6 BANANAS on cards. Label them APPLE and BANANA on the back.
2. Make a machine from these 12 cards (memory pile) but ONLY use red apples as the apple examples.
3. Draw a green apple and a yellow apple on 2 new cards. Test the machine. What does it say? It has only seen red apples!
4. Ask: “Who or what is missing from my examples?”
5. Fix it: draw 3 green apples and 3 yellow apples and add them to the memory pile.
6. Test the green and yellow apples again. Is it better?
7. Write your fairness note: “Our machine was unfair to ______ until we added ______.”
8. Try it on a screen: on the Try page, press “Only teach the Hill”. Look at where the machine goes wrong.

See unfairness on the Try page

Name 5 famous scientists.

Now name 5 more, from different parts of the world.

3Check yourself

4Show a grown-up

Next: Lesson 6

1. 1Get ready
2. 2Do it
3. 3Check yourself
4. 4Show a grown-up

1Get ready

You need:

• Everything from Lessons 3 to 5
• A big sheet of paper
• A grown-up (for sharing)

2Do it, step by step

1. Plan on paper: what does my machine sort? Which examples did I use? How did I test it?
2. Finish your machine. Add a few more examples if you can. Test it one last time on new cards. Write the score.
3. Write your fairness note. What does your machine do well? What might it get wrong?
4. Make a small poster: the name of your machine, the score, and one way it could fail.
5. Show it to a grown-up. Ask them to try and trick it with a card that is hard.
6. Draw yourself a badge. You made and tested a machine!

A child made a paper machine that sorts drawings into round things and square things by copying the most similar example card it has seen. What could go wrong with it? Give 3 short ideas.

3Check yourself

4Show a grown-up