In an effort to help learners come to grips with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and what Artificial Intelligence means for their future, more than 1200 children participated in ‘hackathons’ during the July and August Winter breaks.
Hackathons were hosted by 14 schools in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape, as well as virtually for children in Kenya and the Netherlands. Plans are in place to reach a further 10 schools by the end of September.
These hackathons were hosted by Mindjoy, which is helping kids come to terms with the realities of the 4IR and with being back in classrooms.
Mindjoy is an edtech start-up that’s for kids. It coaches kids aged 8 and over in building their coding skills using real programming, in a collaborative, peer-learning environment, with small teams led by coaches who learn with students.
Mindjoy’s hackathons immerse students in a world of code and allow them to learn with some of the most advanced AI technology in the world - GPT-3 created by OpenAI.
Students are given “kid-shaped” problems - such as doing their homework - to solve, and a technology to use to build solutions to the problems.
Post-COVID children
Page Lotze, Mindjoy’s community manager, is spearheading the project.
Lotze said that after the fractured learning during lockdowns, “learners have been struggling to problem-solve independently” and that “teachers say students are even more fearful of making mistakes than they were before the pandemic”.
The hackathons have been a chance for them to learn, again, that it’s okay to ask lots of questions and actively participate in their own learning experiences.
This year, the Department of Basic Education wants schools to incorporate coding and robotics into their curricula, but Lotze says many teachers are feeling lost and confused about where to start.
“In the hackathons, they see for themselves that coding doesn’t have to be complex and can be used in a variety of different subjects,” Lotze says.
Teachers learn too
According to Richard Knaggs, director at Parklands College in Cape Town, feedback from teachers have been particularly positive.
“It made our teachers think about what they are asking of our learners and opened up the opportunity to explore deeper questioning,” he said.
Leon Heavyside, a technology teacher at Rhenish Primary in Stellenbosch, said his grade 7 learners were fully engaged in the experience.
This was echoed by Nokhanya Chonco, an IT teacher in Grade 8 and 9 at Waterfall College in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal.
Chonco said that the experience helped the students gain coding skills with the Python language, which was something new to them, although some were familiar with block coding.
Susan Lee at St Mary's DSG, Kloof, said: "We had such an inspirational time with the facilitators from Mindjoy. Watching the students explore the power of code and artificial intelligence was a delight. The program is well designed for different skill levels and produces maximum results in a short time. It was a fantastic event."
More information for schools that want to join future hackathons is available here.
Education