An invaluable exercise for beginner programming students is to teach them new ways to think. This lesson was written with the intention of introducing students to machine learning using image classification. Complexity has long been a barrier to exposing students to artificial intelligence.
Students will begin the lesson by watching an entry event video. The video engages students with the challenges a growing human population is causing on our planet and the need to further investigate human impacts on the environment.
Students will continue their planning and design of a CubeSat prototype and corresponding project proposal to The Aerospace Corporation. They previously selected a human impact to study and learned how CubeSats can be used to collect data on their selected human impact.
Students will use systems design to propose ideas for using semiconductor automation systems to improve their communities.
Students will investigate machine learning by participating in a short simulation, and then will run through a series of station activities including building a microchip, and a coding activity.
Semiconductor chips may be tiny, but they have a giant impact on the world around us. They power how we communicate, travel, entertain ourselves, and live our daily lives.
Students will learn about wind as a type of renewable energy--and how its kinetic energy can be transferred to another object--by building a wind-powered car.
Working in pairs, students will develop an invention or product using semiconductors that has the potential to solve a problem.
Working in teams, students will build microchips using LEGOs, while practicing their soft skills in order to prepare the chips so they are ready for manufacturing.