While AI is changing our surroundings rapidly, many teachers and parents are seeking ways to introduce today's youth to how they will live and interact with AI as adults.
Fortunately, there is no need for AI to be an overly complex topic of study; today’s digital tools provide young learners with the means to learn about AI by turning abstract topics into engaging educational experiences via games, stories, and fun challenges.
By introducing children to AI early on, they can further develop their ability to think creatively, solve problems logically, and refine their thinking processes as they learn about the technology behind some of their favorite apps and games.
Top AI Learning Resources for Kids
The following learning platforms were developed specifically for children; all are fun, appropriate for children’s age, have interactive lesson plans, and create challenge activities that allow the child to explore the world of AI at a level that is best suited to their developmental stage.
1. CodeMonkey
CodeMonkey is a game-based educational environment that allows kids aged 5-14 to learn programming by completing interactive puzzles while creating their own games with actual programming techniques.
In addition to learning core coding skills, CodeMonkey also provides AI courses that have been developed as an introduction to learning basic artificial intelligence concepts in a fun and educational way that will appeal to 5th-8th-grade level students. There are 16 lesson plans that provide the students with the ability to explore many of the fundamental concepts of AI.
The course breaks down into three parts:
Foundations & Generative AI
- Defining AI and Ethics: Students first learn about what Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are, how they differ from regular coding, and look at some of the ethics of using AI, especially on data privacy and AI's inherent bias in algorithms.
- Exploring Generative AI: The lessons introduce students to the power of generative models that produce entirely new content. This includes the student's ability to understand the inner workings of Language Models (such as chatbots) and Image Generation Models (such as DALL-E).
- Practical Skills: Students develop a practical skill of writing commands for the AI models using Prompt Engineering, applying strategies and techniques necessary for creating effective commands for the AI models.
Machine Learning & Mechanics
- Machine Learning: Explores supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement learning.
- Mechanics: They are exposed to the internal workings of artificial intelligence and the role that data plays in the process of training an artificial intelligence model.
Hands-On Application
- AI Model Building: Students build a simple model based on real-time information from image/pose detection (using webcam), in a safe and compliant with COPPA environment.
- Game Development: Students take the model they built and incorporate it into a program, so that they can create and customize a game or an interactive experience for themselves.
- Creative Capstone: This is a culminating project that allows students to apply both their knowledge of machine learning and their knowledge of how to write code to create something new and enjoyable, unique to them.
Pricing Plans
- Free Plan: Good for a beginner who will have access to a few beginner challenges and some basic coding projects. The free plan allows you to test out how the system works and get an idea of what type of learning you can expect from the program.
- Home/Family Premium Plan: Gives the user complete access to the full course library, which includes all game-based coding, more challenging coding projects, and more.
- Classroom Premium Plan: Designed specifically for teachers, the plan gives access to the full course library, as well as several additional tools to help manage classrooms, create reports on students, provide guidance on lesson planning, and more.
- School/District Plans: This plan provides a more extensive set of tools for educators to use within their classrooms, as well as many additional tools and resources for the school administrators.
These options, assignments, tracking progress, and managing learning paths make it great for both home and classroom use. Kids can build simple games or interactive scenarios exploring logic that echoes foundational AI decision-making.
2. Tynker
Tynker provides a two-way path to learning AI with Tynker's coding lessons starting at a foundational level by teaching students how to write block-based code and continuing on to teach students how to write in JavaScript to introduce them to more advanced topics in artificial intelligence.
Key Highlights
- Foundational AI (Block Coding): Students are able to develop interactive projects that they can make with their webcam, which teaches them about computer vision and object detection (face, hand, body tracking). The students will be able to build simple chatbots and interactive stories using the code blocks provided as an introduction to natural language processing (NLP).
- Advanced AI (JavaScript): This course will help students to develop an understanding of some advanced AI concepts, such as model training (training and classifying AI models - i.e., handwriting recognition), mechanics (neural networks and reinforcement learning), and ethics (the social responsibility and implications of AI).
Pricing
- Free Plan: Basic starter lessons with limited access for trying out Tynker.
- Premium Home Plan: The learner gets access to full courses, game-design tools, advanced coding paths, and progress tracking.
- Premium School Plans: You will get all curriculum units, classroom tools, student dashboards, and teaching resources.
Tynker is a wonderful resource for teaching children how to program, as well as offering a structure for learning both programming and logical progression through beginner to intermediate levels.
3. Kodwise
Kodwise offers an online school format of live classes to a maximum of four students per class. Kodwise's AI & Data Science Course is a specialized, advanced course that focuses on building AI solutions by developing AI projects via coding (real-world programming) as opposed to coding using visual blocks. The Kodwise AI & Data Science Course is suited for older students, generally 12 years old or older.
Core AI Language & Data Foundation
The focus of this part is to teach students the language of the industry and the essential concepts needed to develop intelligent systems.
- Expert-Led Live Classes: All of Kodwise's courses are delivered in a live format through online classes led by expert instructors.
- Programming Language: The primary programming language used in Kodwise's AI & Data Science Courses is Python.
- Data Science Basics: Collecting, analyzing, and visualizing data is a necessary component when developing the models used in the Kodwise AI & Data Science Course.
Creating Models with Machine Learning
Most of this part is about the process for creating models using Machine Learning algorithms.
- Machine Learning Fundamentals: In this section, you'll learn several types of machine learning techniques, including both regression and classification-type algorithms.
- Model Pipeline: The course will teach you all the steps involved in the AI development workflow: extracting information from your raw data.
- Critical Thinking: Throughout the projects, you will develop the critical thinking skills needed to analyze data and understand the thought process behind a machine learning model's decision-making.
Pricing
- Free Plan: Offers basic starter lessons and limited access to try the platform.
- Premium Home Plan: Grants full access to all courses (including AI), game tools, advanced paths, and tracking for up to 3 children.
- Premium School Plans: Provides licenses for classrooms/institutions.
Kodwise provides an extensive, text-based AI curriculum in Python for older students. The primary value of Kodwise lies in its focus on live, small-group instruction and an inclusive methodology that teaches the entire AI process for actual use in the real world.
Summing up
Using quality online learning tools, kids are able to engage with AI concepts in both a fun and structured manner that is suitable for the child's current skill level, whether it be through coding games, interactive lesson plans, or beginner-friendly project tools.
Take the first step in helping your children develop a love for learning by showing them how to access the educational AI resources that are most appealing to them and will also grow with their developing interests. As long as you provide an environment where your children feel confident in using AI, they will be able to begin developing a sense of self-confidence that will continue to aid them for years to come.