Montour School District to offer artificial intelligence curriculum
As Justin Aglio watched youngsters tinker Tuesday morning with video game controllers in the glow of a computer screen, he saw something bigger than kid doldrums of late July and early August. He saw the future of the Montour School District — and perhaps someday public education everywhere.
The students, who traveled from around the globe, are in Pittsburgh for the World Artificial Intelligence Competition for Youth at Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Aglio, Montour’s director of K-4 academic achievement and K-12 innovation, was there to observe and take lessons back to his district.
“What if we don’t teach them this?” he said of the fast-expanding world of artificial intelligence, from self-driving cars to robots. “That’s what scares me.”
Mr. Aglio is helping lay the groundwork for Montour this fall to launch what it says will be the nation’sfirst artificial intelligence curriculum in a public school. The program will start at David E. Williams Middle School, with the potential to eventually expand to all grades if thingsgo well, Mr. Aglio said.
The curriculum will include data literacy, autonomous robotics, ethics, career awareness and so-called moonshot thinking — in essence, striving to do what has never been done. Montour will
partner with CMU and numerous technology companies, including Google and Amazon.
The program will largely be housed in a newly renovated 3,000- square- foot classroom in the middle school.
Thomas Barclay, president of the Montour school board, said he hopes the program will give students a leg up in the eyes of colleges, trade schools and fut u r e e m p l o y e r s . H e marveled at how far the classroom offerings have come since he was a student in the 1970s, and what may lie ahead.
“What they’re able to do today is simply amazing,” he said, citing a computer program that allows students to perform virtual animal dissections.
Course titles will include “Introduction and Pattern- Finding Through Gaming” and “Recognizing Computer Patterns Virtually and Through Algorithms.” Montour plans to eventually host a regional robotics competition, building on momentum from the program.
Montour has about 2,900 students and serves the communities of Ingram, Kennedy, Pennsbury Village, Robinson and Thornburg.
Details are still in the works, but STEM teacher Bill Black believes the program will inspire students to pursue high- paying, technologyfocused careers they might not have otherwise considered. All Montour middle school students will participate, not just gifted students. And it could particularly benefit low- income students, he said.
“Some of our kids don’t have internet access at home,” he said. “So for them to be able to get this at school, it could spark that interest and help them find their niche.”
Mr. Black said students are often surprised to learn that artificial intelligence isn’t exclusively confined to the future or science- fiction films: It already abounds. Examples include music- streaming services such as Spotify and Amazon’s popular virtual assistant Alexa.
And robots? That’s a big part of what attracted Mr. Black to teaching artificial intelligence. “They’re not going away,” he said.
Montour will host a grand opening for the program this fall. Learning to use Cozmo, a toy robot, during an event Tuesday that is part of the World Artificial Intelligence Competition for Youth are, from left, Garen White, 11, of Franklin Park; Kaamil Jackson, 11, of Upper St. Clair; and Kias Dreher, 12, of Upper St. Clair. The Montour School District, in cooperation with Carnegie Mellon University and technology companies, is preparing to launch what it says will be the country’s first artificial intelligence curriculum in a public school.