Lessons Learned from Teaching Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing to High School Students

Authors

  • Narges Norouzi University of California, Santa Cruz
  • Snigdha Chaturvedi University of California, Santa Cruz
  • Matthew Rutledge University of California, Santa Cruz

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v34i09.7063

Abstract

This paper describes an experience in teaching Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to a group of high school students over an intense one-month period. In this work, we provide an outline of an AI course curriculum we designed for high school students and then evaluate its effectiveness by analyzing student's feedback and student outcomes. After closely observing students, evaluating their responses to our surveys, and analyzing their contribution to the course project, we identified some possible impediments in teaching AI to high school students and propose some measures to avoid them. These measures include employing a combination of objectivist and constructivist pedagogies, reviewing/introducing basic programming concepts at the beginning of the course, and addressing gender discrepancies throughout the course.

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Published

2020-04-03

How to Cite

Norouzi, N., Chaturvedi, S., & Rutledge, M. (2020). Lessons Learned from Teaching Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing to High School Students. Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 34(09), 13397-13403. https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v34i09.7063

Issue

Section

EAAI Symposium: Full Papers