Material Class: ECE, Pre-K through grade 2

Artificial Intelligence in Education – 10 Questions About AI

AI in Education – 10 Questions about AI material is an introduction to AI aimed at the teacher and his group. The material can be utilized in both early childhood education and basic education groups. The material has been built as part of the development projects of early childhood education and basic education funded by the Finnish National Agency for Education, within the Innokas network. The link to the digital material can be found here: AI in Education ThingLink

In addition to the digital version, the material is also available as a poster. The poster is distributed as a printed version at trade fair events such as ITK days and Educa fairs. You can also print the poster here yourself (please note that downloading the poster may take some time due to the large size of the file). Digital material and the poster can be used in parallel, for example, so that the questions that have been answered with the materials of the digital version are marked on the printed poster as the journey progresses.

How do I use the AI in Education – 10 Questions about AI material?

The material explores intriguing and even tricky questions related to AI. Under each question , you will find sub-questions, as well as an info box , a warm-up task, and exercises of different levels. We recommend that the teacher familiarize themselves with the digital learning material in advance and plan the use of the material suitable for their group. Please note that the contents are intended to be reviewed together under the guidance of a teacher.

Example of using the material

The material can be introduced, for example, in morning assembly. Choose the first question that you will start pondering together, for example, “What is AI?” Look at the sub-questions behind the Question Mark icon. First, ponder related to these questions, what you have already heard about the topic. After the discussion, watch the info video and read the info texts together. After this, do a joint discussion task or choose by drawing lots, which of the exercise tasks will be done in connection with the next morning assembly.

China Collaboration (Parts 1-6)

The Innokas network has collaborated with Chinese schools for several years. The collaboration has been part of the Global Innokas Project, funded by OPH. The teachers participating in the collaboration, Raini Sipilä (SYK, Helsinki) and Jaana Hekkanen, Minna Kangas, and Petri Korpi (Metsokangas School, Oulu), have worked on the material related to the collaboration with China. You can use the material to learn about Chinese schools, collaborative opportunities with Chinese schools, and the experiences of teachers on collaboration.

1. Basic information package: You can get an overview of Chinese schools and cooperative experiences with schools with the basic information package.

2. 2016 collaborative projects: Videos of the collaborative projects from spring 2016 compiles together the projects planned and implemented by Finnish and Chinese teachers in collaboration. In the beginning of spring 2016, Finnish teachers began working with a team of two instructors, with whom they designed a joint project. Both teachers implemented the project with their own students during the spring 2016. In June 2016, the Finnish teachers traveled to China for a conference, where they met the pair of Chinese team members. The Finland-China pairs of teachers took part of the project to Chinese students as part of the conference program.

3. 2016 GEC Conference: This video from the Global Educational Community (GEC) conference in Summer 2016 walks you through the event co-organized by Finnish and Chinese organizers. Projects designed and implemented by pairs of Finnish and Chinese teachers formed a key part of the conference program.

4. The Chinese School in Childrens Eyes: In this video Chinese students describe their school day and their favorite subjects.

5. Visiting Chinese Schools: These videos bring you to a visit to Chinese schools – and see the school buildings and learning environments in the new and old campus of the Zhongguancun NO.3 Primary School in Beijing.

6. Teachers’ Experiences on Collaboration: In this video, Jaana Hekkanen and Minna Kangas describe their experiences on Innokas Network China Collaboration.

Programming in Basic Education Poster

Download the Programming in Basic Education Poster and get to know the learning path for coding in the school! The poster is based on the new Finnish curriculum for basic education and summarizes over 10 years of Innokas Network development activity. Print one for your learning space wall or pick your printed poster at our stand in events like Educa and ITK-days!

Programming in Basic Education Poster

The Innovation Process for Multidisciplinary Learning Modules

On this video, Innokas Network coordinator Kati Sormunen explains the Multidisciplinary Learning Modules concept in the latest Finnish National Core Curriculum and provides guidance on how you can make use of innovation process when implementing these modules.

Programming Basics Part 1: What is Programming?

Watch the first part of the Programming Basic video series and get excited about teaching programming and robotics!

The video provides an introduction on programing and robotics for both students and teachers.

Make sure you also watch the second and third part of the series: Tools for Teaching Programming (part 1) and Tools for Teaching Programming (part 2).

Programming Basics Part 2: Tools for Teaching Programming (part 1)

In the second part of the Basics of Programming video series you get to know the tools, software and hardware used in learning and teaching programming and robotics. The video provides a good introduction to programming and robotics kit for students, teachers and parents.

Before watching this video its a good idea to watch the first video in the series, What is Programming?

Mechanical Toys

Children have always been fascinated about mechanical toys. How do they work? What’s inside them? Could we build our own toy? This material gets you familiar with different toys and includes instructions for building three animal toys with moving parts.

Mechanical Toys (in Swedish)

Fun on wheels!

Wheeled vehicles never cease to fascinate children. This material presents a group activity around wheels where children also present their own wheeled vehicle builds.

Fun on wheels! (in Swedish)