Abstract
While there is a growing body of research studies on AI education in school settings, some research has highlighted that not all resources for teaching AI are not adaptable and accessible to learners in low resource settings. Unplugged activities, including pencil and paper activities, problem-solving, storytelling, board games and role play are a promising instructional strategy for enhancing students’ computational thinking skills in school education and have started to be used in the context of AI education at the primary and secondary level.
Meanwhile, AI has recently been added to the school curriculum in Ghana, with specific learning objectives at the Junior High School level (ages 12-15). In this presentation, we will examine the role of unplugged activities in supporting learning, and describe resources developed for teachers in Ghana including role play activities and a board game. We will also share unpublished findings on how Ghanaian computing teachers have experienced this approach to teaching about AI.
Sue Sentance
Sue is a research professor at the University of Cambridge and has been involved in computing education for over 25 years as a teacher, teacher educator, academic researcher, and as a leader of many projects and initiatives. She established, and has been the Director of the Raspberry Pi Computing Education Research Centre at the University of Cambridge since October 2021. Her research spans physical computing, programming pedagogy, teacher inquiry in computing education, curriculum change and AI education. Her research on the PRIMM methodology has had an impact on computing teaching all over the world, and she enjoys working on research projects that are both participatory and have a direct impact on practice.
Salomey Afua Addo
Salomey Afua Addo is a third year PhD student in the Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge focused on AI education in schools, having previously studied at the University of Ghana and AIMS Ghana. She has worked as a lecturer in data science at Leuphana University, Germany, and as a teaching assistant, as well as voluntarily supporting outreach activities while studying. Salomey’s PhD research involves investigating AI Education in schools in Ghana and she has recently designed and implemented contextually relevant unplugged AI resources to support computing teachers in Ghana in the teaching of AI topics.