AI courses will be taught in some South Florida schools
More South Florida students will soon have the option to enroll in coursework centered around artificial intelligence, which is part of a University of Florida AI education program that began last year.
Broward County was one of the three school districts last year to welcome the program in its infancy, and Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties are following suit this year by becoming two of at least 11 school districts, including Broward, to add the program into its curriculum for this school year.
“We’ve been building out this supportive pipeline for AI and data science in the state of Florida with the ultimate goal of infusing AI throughout the state’s public school curriculum, from kindergarten through 12th grade,” Nancy Ruzycki, a professor at UF’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering and one of the coursework architects, said in a news release.
AI Foundations is a three-year program consisting of four courses with increasing complexity. But high school students who wish to take the courses do not need any prior computer programming experience to participate.
The first course is called Artificial Intelligence in the World, and its aim is to help students identify AI around them and recognize how it works. In the second course, students look at how AI is used in different fields to solve problems, and they have the opportunity to construct their own AI systems to address issues they’re passionate about.
The other two courses teach students how to build AI applications they have become familiar with and then use those skills to get an entry-level job or further their education, according to the news release.
Juan Tovar, a teacher in Kissimmee, said more than 20 of his students received certification for Microsoft Azure AI, expertise typically intended for developers and data scientists.
“The job we’re doing right now in this area is important for everybody,” Tovar said in a statement. “I feel we are writing history.”
Teachers also will have the chance to learn, too. UF researchers also created a development program to prepare teachers about how to instruct their students on AI, and corresponding summer training boot camps for those teachers began last year.
“Our teachers are gaining a clear understanding of the technology before they pass it on to their students, so they can arm them with the skills necessary to thrive in an ever-evolving world,” Ruzycki said in the statement.