This is likely to be a thoughtful discussion about how AI changes educational programming:
3 Likes
Thanks for sharing, Peter. We're currently working with the Raspberry Pi Foundation on a piece about computational action in the age of AI, which is seems quite relevant to Ken’s work. As you know, computational action grew out of Papert's constructionism. A preview of what we're writing up:
Computational action says that while students are learning about computing, they should also have opportunities to create with technology in ways that have direct impact on their lives and communities. Learners are capable of building computational artifacts with authentic, real-world impact from the moment they begin learning to code. Some questions that AI cannot answer for them are the ones that matter most: Why is this an important problem to solve? Who is it really for? Who does it leave out? Is technology even the right answer? Computing (with or without AI) becomes the means rather than the end.
But a big worry is what happens developmentally if a student only prompts and never actually learns coding or computational thinking. Those habits of mind are built through doing, and things like abstraction, modularization, logical thinking, and debugging are really important to develop for life, even outside of coding. A student who has only ever used AI to generate code will have a lot of difficulty judging whether what came out is correct, or good, or actually usable by anyone.
Looking forward to hearing what comes out of the event. I will sadly be traveling at that time but I hope you can report back!
3 Likes
We see questions about using AI more and more on the community. Users making extensions using AI but are unable to correct error because they do not understand the code that is generated.
A lot of users, especially children, see AI as the holy grail of generating code, images, music, stories, reports, etc. It makes them feel powerful and they see the result as something they made, not something that was generated by a computer using a really big database. We also see that sometimes in our CoderDojo/Code Club meetings.
Children don’t think about how all that data came into that database, where it is coming from, the impact that running an AI data center has on the surroundings and the environment. That everything they do in an AI model, is watched and stored. That only children with rich parents are able to use the expensive AI models and some children only can use the free models.
Talking about AI changes very easily in a PRO and CON situation. As a healthcare worker I can see that really great things are happening using AI in developing personal cures for patients. And I can see that AI can do terrible things in war, because they let AI decide who to target and k i l l.
I just got a ticket for the event.
3 Likes
Dear @natalie , @Peter ,
I totally agree with all you've said (obviously, being an old embedded software engineer).
It is said that AI learns from its mistakes, but who can tell AI that a code is wrong if nobody is capable to read and understand it ? Who can explain to somebody that he has been accidentally killed due to a wrong line of code generated by AI ?
On the opposite, my elder daughter is an MD and though she has took help from AI when studying, she has also spent a lot of time in hospitals, to learn directly from people, how is the "real life" (and ilnesses).
I see big clouds on the horizon...
2 Likes
A lot of software companies are hiring back programmers after finding that the AI-generated code has bugs and no one on the team knows how to fix it. We still feel it’s important for young people to understand how to code and how to make impactful artifacts, perhaps with the help of AI, but with an understanding of how it works and what it does.
3 Likes
A good one for the mix
I see a brilliant sun in the cloudless sky and a new golden era for humanity 
What a time to be alive. 
AI is out. 
We’re talking about SI (Super Intelligence) now. 
1 Like
Yep !!!