Recording an Unplugged AI lesson for the ANU STEMbox project

15 Jul '24

teachingcomputing educationAI

I had the opportunity to contribute a video to the ANU STEMbox 2024 initiative, a community outreach program from the ANU College of Science that sends hands-on STEM activities to schools and community groups around Australia.

My contribution was an unplugged AI activity: “How AI Learns to Play Games”. The idea is to develop an imaginary “program” to play tic-tac-toe by writing rules to cope with different situations that come up during a game. No computers required for this lesson, just a pen, paper, and some careful thinking about strategy.

It’s a great way to introduce the concept of AI without needing any programming experience. By working through the process of writing rules for tic-tac-toe, you start to see how breaking down decisions into simple steps is at the heart of how many AI systems work.

The STEMbox program includes activities from researchers across the ANU College of Science covering topics from chemistry to physics to computing. It’s a fascinating initiative for getting real science out to communities across Australia.